Norma Jean Gambini

[poomwah]

I figured I'd start a thread on our newest family member.
Norma Jean is a Yellow Texas Bull Snake. We got her from Jason Neslon aka Envy Reptiles. Jason is a great guy to deal with and talk with. He has amazing animals and I've never heard of anyone having anything but great things to say about him or his snakes.
Norma was hatched in late August of 2013 and arrived home Wednesday February 19, 2014. She weighed 41 grams.
Not too many pictures of her, she's spent most of the short time we've had her settling in. She was very alert and curious coming out of the box, but seemed very calm. She was crawling around in my hands while I was transferring her to enclosure. Here's a quick picture we took. It looks like she's hiding, but she was actually climbing under herself :P

[poomwah]

It didn't take her long to remember she was a bull snake. She started puffing up, hissing, doing the "hooky" mouth bull snake thing, rattle snaking her tail, and trying to bluff us.
She would sit for an hour on the end of the tank closest to people coiled up and hissing and striking. What a dork :P

I was holding her the other day and asked my wife if she wanted to hold her, she said no, not yet. I told her she was fine, well she looked fine, lol. As soon as I said that she struck at my wife, lol. My wife was like "F#$ that" I had to laugh. I told her she probably didn't even have her mouth open and was probably just bluffing.

[poomwah]

Well, I had her out today, she's had enough time to settle in and digest her last meal that I could actually get her out for a while. I let her strike at me twice to show her that her bluff wasn't going to work. Well, it turns out she wasn't bluffing, LOL. She bit me both times, no marks, just a slight prickly sensation. It was funny. That's twice I was wrong about her. So, I figured she had been given enough "alone" time to settle in, so I scooped her up and out she came. She rattled her tail for a few seconds, then she was fine. She was clearly a bit nervous, but she handled it very well. She didn't even strike when I put her back. Instead of her "I'm going to sit here pissed off for an hour because I hate all of you" pose, she did a lap around the enclosure then burrowed under the aspen.
She's great!!!
If you are reading this, THANK YOU Jason!!!

[sharthun]

Awesome bull! Love that attitude!

[poomwah]

thanks sharthun

I wish this picture came out better. For some reason the camera thought it would be better to make sure the bowl was in focus :\

GOD I love her markings

[Sharlynn93]

is it just me or are their markings/colors very similar to western hognoses? very pretty!

[poomwah]

Originally Posted by Sharlynn93

is it just me or are their markings/colors very similar to western hognoses? very pretty!

I actually hadn't thought of that, but now that you mention it, I can see it

[EL Ziggy]

She is gorgeous Poom. I got my bull from Jason too and definitely agree that he produces some amazing pits. I'm hoping to get a nice snow or ivory bull this fall. Don't let Norma Jean scare you off with all that hissing, huffing and puffing either, she's just bluffing

[poomwah]

thanks Zig,
I'd love to have one of his ivories as well, but right now we are at "capacity"
I was just looking through some old emails from jason and I totally forgot....
I have pics of Norma Jeans parents!!!




See what I have to look forward to :]

[EL Ziggy]

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

[KoLii]

She's lovely! I do love the sassy ones. She reminds me of my hatchling kingsnake, her little tail goes off a mile a minute.

[Tsubaki]

beautiful! love that attitude

[poomwah]

thank you, she is gorgeous :]
Had her out again, and it went even better than before.

[sharthun]

Originally Posted by poomwah

thank you, she is gorgeous :]
Had her out again, and it went even better than before.

Great! The biting will stop and they keep the attitude!

[Terranaut]

Very nice. We need more pit owners on here.