Well....i've been bitten so to speak. As a kid, I loved all things reptiles, but as many can probably relate my mother was quite squeamish about such critters and my childhood was relatively limited to the dogs and cats...albeit there was one episode in which I brought home a rather pregnant garter snake. As a 9 year old I was a more observant of the scales and coloring than the fact that this poor thing was bulging with life....until well...lets just say she birthed her brood in our family rec room and that sealed the my fate in the Hunter household...no tolerance for anything without fur or four legs.
Speed up time to today and I'm a mother, age 44 with an 11 year old daughter who is all about reptiles. We are kindred spirits and the grins and praise from fellow enthusiasts is funny....as one clerk commented to my daughter, "Jeez your lucky your mom likes snakes...my mom HATES them...wouldn't let me near them...I had to move out before I got my first one!".
Anyways....I caught a young garter snake a few years back. He was a happy healthy guy....quite striking and became very sociable, but sadly I underestimated his strength and he was able to pop our screen lid and get loose. We have three cats that were at the ready and capitalized on the great escape. Wish I had seen this forum....I think I would have learned the importance, even with a smaller snake...of secured lids.
I've been missing Percy....and as an early anniversary gift, I was given a baby ball python. I'm mesmerized...he's so beautiful! I've been scouring books, web pages, and all things ball pythons to provide the best possible secure habitat/environs for the snake. We acquired Fergus from an independent pet store in our region on the recommendation of our local reptile farm/museum. So far so good...his first feeding isn't until friday..can't say I'm thrilled about it....but, I shall overcome the squeamishness of dead mice. Pregnant garter snakes fine....frozen dead mice...ick and given that I used to own them as pets...conflicted. Luckily Fergus has been raised on frozen and not live.
In addition to our BP, we...well, my daughter, has a PacMan Frog and a Tree Frog. Today I spent creating a vivarium for her TF (which she acquired on Saturday). The PacMan frog is crazy strange, but fun to watch.
Well, that's about it...I'll be lurking for sure and attempting to learn as much as I can!
I've uploaded a picture of Fergus peeking out from one of his hides....he's still being timid and careful about moving about...so I've not been able to capture a full on picture yet.
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