Hello, from Snaky and I

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Hi folks :) I am delighted to have found this forum. I have been looking for some information on Google for DAYS now, and am suprised it took me this long to find a Garter Snake Forum! Yay! Well, I *do* have an issue I would like to ask about, regarding my snake, so off I go to find a suitable place to ask it. Sasha

[adamanteus]

Hi Sasha, and welcome to the forum.:)

[Snaky]

Welcome to the forum :)

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard, Sasha. :) Enjoy the forum, we certainly do. :D

[drache]

welcome to this forum, Sasha
nise to meet you and Snaky

[Sid]

Welcome to a great forum.

[zooplan]

Hi Sasha,
ask your questions
we´ll enjoy when we can answere

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Sasha :)
You will like this site :)

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Hi everyone :) and thanks for the cold (as in 'cold blooded') er.. warm welcome :)

So, I am Sasha, and I live in Nova Scotia, on the very east coast of the continent. I suspect Snaky is a Maritime Garter specifically, because according to all the info I can come up with, that's the only member of the Thamnophis family around here.
We aparently have 5 snakes in Nova Scotia; Garters, Ribbons, Red-bellies, Green/Grasss snakes, and ring-neck snakes. Of these, I have personally seen Garters, Green (only one) and red-bellies everywhere. We have 8 acres of land here, mostly un-landscaped and un-kempt, so there are LOADS of snakes around.
I found Snaky while re-stacking our woodpile, and have since build her a nice vivarium out of wood and glass, with a screen top and blue aquarium lighting for heat. She has lots of furniture and hidey-holes, and an above ground swimming pool :)
She loves worms, and salamanders, but her favourite now appears to be pinky mice. Luckily for us, she has no qualms about frozen/thawed pinkies, as winter is very near and I had been worrying about whether I'd have food for her over the winter, should she want to eat. Had she not eaten what I can get, I would have let her go.

Anyhow, this looks like a fun place to read up on the ins and out of Garter keeping. I shall see you all around!

Thanks again for the nice welcome.

Sasha

[adamanteus]

Thanks again for the nice welcome.

Sasha, I've got to ask, I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering...why 'Grapefruit Girl'?:)

[enigma200316]

welcome again....and yes we would like to know if you don't mind.......:D

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Nah, I don't mind at all. There are several reasons sort of combined:

Initially, because I love grapefruits; they're so healthy for us, and delicious too. They're round and yellow, and sometimes pink inside, making them visually appealing :) plus, they come from nice tropical areas, which I really prefer over my native climate.

I have been using the handle 'grapefruitgirl' on most every forum, website, profile, etc., that I join or am a member of, for several years now, so when I sign up somewhere, it's always the first username I try to use. People I know, know who grapefruitgirl is, and while the internet is a BIG place, it is *possible* to have signed up somewhere where someone one knows is also a member, thereby speeding up the process of discovering that your friend is there too :).

If I were to suggest someone here go to Linuxquestions.org and read my thread about <blah-blah>, they would find me by this username.

It's also my email address currently in use, as well as having been used on previous mail systems I have used, like yah** and H*tmail.

Finally, and perhaps most indicative of my nature, is that 'GrapefruiTgirl' is a run-on of two words, 'grapefruit' and 'Tgirl', the former now self explanatory, and the latter explained very simply >HERE< (http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsexual)

[adamanteus]

It's true the internet is huge, but I have also bumped into people I already know...shared interests I guess, so we tend to end up in the same places. The Tgirl part surprised me, but 'hey', whatever. Welcome to the forum, Sasha.:)

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Thanks ;)
LOL Suprises abound on the 'net.

Cheers!

[enigma200316]

well explained and thanks for the info and as I said before welcome and
hope you like it here as everyone else does..............we're all like an extended family here.....................:)

[Lori P]

Hi Sasha, and welcome!! This is indeed a fun forum. Hope you & Snaky like it here.
:-)

[GarterGuy]

Howdy and welcome to the forum Sasha. That's cool that you've got a Maritime garter. I can honestly say they're one of my favorite subspecies of sirtalis, and actually I'm setting up a little "colony" of them. I've only got the two now (which took me MANY years to get my hands on), but hope to get more colour morphs and such in the future. What's your little Snaky look like? Pics would be cool too....always like seeing other people's Maritimes.

Roy

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Hi GarterGuy, and thanks for the welcome!
Wow, it took you years to get yours huh? My property here is riddled with snakes :) though the buggers are hard to find, and QUICK to squiggle away when I find them, unless they're sunning in the woodpile, in which case they are quite relaxed and easy to scoop up :)
I recently saw my FIRST green snake on this property, but he too squiggled away in a flash, and I haven't seen him since.
I will be posting some pics soon, but meanwhile, I'll say she's 'classic' in appearance, very dark olive and black mostly, with a very pale/whitish underside and some yellow around her mouth & neck. She has a well defined checkered pattern along her sides, and for the most part lacks a dorsal stripe.
She's very close to shedding at the moment and likely not seeing very well, so I am having to wait until she's in a mood to come out and have some pictures taken.
When I have some pics, I'll start a thread or album so you can see her!

[Thamnophis]

Welcome here, Sasha!

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Well thank you very much, Thamnophis :)

[Lulu Bennett]

welcome to the forum sasha hope you find and info and help you may need :D

[GrapefruiTgirl]

..and thanks to you too Lulu for the welcome :)

[Lulu Bennett]

you are very welcome sweety i am just sorry it wasn't sooner but not had much chance to access the laptop :(

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Aww :) no worries, I'm pretty slack in my ways anyhow! Goes well with my operating system: Slackware Linux ;)

[Lulu Bennett]

pmsl :D:D:D:D:D

[GrapefruiTgirl]

pmsl :D:D

Enh!? :) LOl I missed that one :)

[Lulu Bennett]

sorry local short hand lol. pmsl = p*ssing myself laughing :D

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Bwuhahahaha >: LOL got rid of the can of Windoze worms almost a year ago now. Used Linux ever since, and I recommend it highly. Maybe not Slackware for everyone, though I do love it, but Linux definitely. There are so many varieties, there's one for everyone!

(Shameless Linux Promotion)

[Lulu Bennett]

sorry but to be totally honest i have never heard of it :o

[GrapefruiTgirl]

Aww hey, don't be sorry - MANY people have never heard of Linux, or don't realize it can be, and IS a very viable desktop operating system that runs circles around Windoze in virtually every way-- especially the pricetag: Linux is FREE. Free to use, to download, to modify as you see fit, you can even sell it :) though if you're selling something free, there's something wrong somewhere :/ :)
Plus, no digital rights rubbish, no crashes, no lockups, no software that costs anything, no spyware, viruses, toolbars, etc.. No antivirus software required :)..
There's a learning curve, but depending on which Linux one chooses to try (there are 100's of variations), the curve can be gentle, or brutal :O and if a person wants, they can install Linux along with Windoze, to compare, OR Many Linuxes can be run directly from a CD, called a 'Live CD' which is fully functional (but you can't 'save' stuff to disk easily), can be downloaded for free, and doesn't install anything unless you decide to install it.

I gotta have supper, but if you are interested, we can chat more about it if you like. Windows killed my last hard drive (literally-- I had to buy a new one) and that was the last straw with Microsofts crap for me.

If you have highspeed internet, you can easily download something like 'Ubuntu Linux Live CD' and burn the disk, stick it in and boot it up, to see what Linux looks like :)

I'll be back after supper anyhow ;) Cheers!

[Lulu Bennett]

lol that sounds quite cool but i dont have my own comp anymore but will chat to ou once i get my own laptop again lol

[Snaky]

It's true that Linux has become much easier, especially Ubuntu/Fedora or similar, but in my eyes it's not something for everyone. Even if you only want to install a new program it's easier in Windows. Aaaaaaand if you have a problem in Linux, it can be quite timeconsuming to fix it... sometimes even impossible.While Windows is usually easier to recover from. And slackware is certainly not for a noob :D

I do admit, it's fun if you're a bit into using the pc and investigating. And the fun is that it's all free. But you do need to have some knowledge and interest towards it, otherwise it will be frustrating.

Linux can also kill your harddrive btw;)

[GrapefruiTgirl]

It's true that Linux has become much easier, especially Ubuntu/Fedora or similar, but in my eyes it's not something for everyone.

Quite true, it isn't for everyone-- it isn't for those who choose to remain enslaved by the oligopoly that is Microshaft, or for people who like their computers locking up on a regular basis, or those who ENJOY being inundated by spyware, or those who don't care what their computer is being used for when they themselves aren't looking. It's not for those who enjoy paying for antivirus software either, or paying for ANY software, for that matter. :)

Even if you only want to install a new program it's easier in Windows.

That's not true. Not at all. Rubbish.

Aaaaaaand if you have a problem in Linux, it can be quite timeconsuming to fix it... sometimes even impossible.

Impossible? Come on... Nothing is impossible. Time consuming, maybe. But so is repairing Windows, and when one adds up the TOTAL time spent in a year repairing and reinstalling Windows, vs the same time spent reinstalling and/or repairing Linux... I'll go the Linux route, from exprience.

While Windows is usually easier to recover from. And slackware is certainly not for a noob.

LOL, see below, near the end for my 'recovery attempt' :D and you're right, Slackware isn't necessarily for new users, but I was a new Linux user less than a year ago, and in less than two weeks I settled on Slackware and don't regret it one bit....

I do admit, it's fun if you're a bit into using the pc and investigating. And the fun is that it's all free. But you do need to have some knowledge and interest towards it, otherwise it will be frustrating.

I don't understand the 'fun' and the 'investigating' part of that statement. I do the same stuff with my computer that I used to do with Winblows, fun or otherwise. Plus, do people who start using Winblows have some pre-existing knowledge that enables them to more easily 'adapt' to using Winblows? No.. Winblows can be frustrating too; very much so. I think it's fair to say that with ANYthing new, one should have an interest, but 'some prior knowledge'? No. People didn't know how to use Winblows when they first sat down with it either. They had to learn that too. Also, 'free' and 'fun' are not synonymous. They're both GOOD :D but not synonymous.

Linux can also kill your harddrive btw.

I can't comment on this from experience-- yet :), but I CAN say that Linux doesn't have a 'System Restore' button, which was the last thing I thought I pressed, and actually the last Microsloth 'button' I have ever clicked to date, before my entire installation was ruined and my hard-drive currupted to the degree that I had to buy a new one. I switched away from Microshaft right then and there. I'm still not 100% sure I didn't accidentally click the 'Completely Destroy The Installation' button, but now I will never know..

Now, it isn't my intention to start a flaming debate about the merits of one or the other OS, but I do get the impression that you have either had bad personal experience(s) trying out Linux, which would be unfortunate, or have no personal experience with it at all, and are basing your comments on stuff you have read, about the way things used to be...

-- Sasha :)

[Snaky]

I was first going to write a big response, but not in the mood for it. You should work on a helpdesk and you'll know why Linux is to difficult for more people than you think ;)

Even nowadays, when people have grown up with the internet and a pc, but even then most of them ( of course, I exclude everybody who studies informatics or related studies, but those are not many ) only know how to play a game, surf, chat and use the basics of office programs... They have no interest to learn anything on the pc that does not cover what they need in the programs that they use. It can be different in other countries, but at least this is in Belgium the case.

I've used Linux while I was at the university and I'm currently using UNIX tru64 at work. So I've got no problem with Linux ;) I just only recommend Linux if you've an interest towards using the pc for more than only the basics. I'm an ict'er, so fixing bugs and experimenting on the pc is fun:rolleyes:

[GrapefruiTgirl]

I don't doubt it :) you must get ALL KINDS on a helpdesk line/website. I suspect it's similar to the many requests that come into LQ looking for help. Unfortunately so many people are too lazy to read instructions and/or other documentation, which leads to an inordinate amount of requests for help.

Tell me, what is Tru_64 ? I haven't heard of that one, though there are probably hundreds I haven't heard of. Is it a UNIX or Linux OS, and what are you running it on, a unix workstation, or...?? I'm curious, because I am sometime going to be building a multilib or 64 bit OS for my computer-- **probably** Slackware, but who knows, there are so many to choose from!

Thanks :)
--Sasha

[Snaky]

Tru64 is UNIX, but outdated, I would not recommend it to you. Even at work we will be moving towards Solaris, but companies really don't take risks, that's why they've waited this long.

I think Slackware would be a good choice:).

To stay in the mood - first helpdesk : http://users.pandora.be/Snaky69/FirstHelpDesk.wmv

[GrapefruiTgirl]

How big is that video? I'm on dialup (28.8K ) yeah embarrasingly SLOOOW LOL.

[Snaky]

hmm, that's slow indeed:D
The video is 2.9M. It's about a helpdesk for when a book was invented. ;)

[GrapefruiTgirl]

LOL, I found a nifty FLASH thing yesterday (I hate flash, btw) which was a cartoon story of the 'little billy' variety, and was about "How to properly ask questions/use a help forum" and was rather amusing. Perhaps you've seen it? it's HERE (http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/posting.php)

:)

[Charlet_2007]

that was really funny but helpfull

[Snaky]

Hadn't seen that, a good one. :)