DO NOT READ! Non-garter Related

[Garter_Gertie]

OMG, OMG, OMG! OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kenabec is no longer an EGGLETTE! Or won't be in the next day or two!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a mother! MY VERY FIRSTEST BABY IS ON THE GROUND or will be in the next day or two.

My very firstest sweetest baby is ALMOST here! He has to eat something twice and then take pinkies for four meals before I can have him - because I'm a newbie. THASS OTAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I'M A MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In six weeks my baby will be with me!!!!!

I'M ABOUT TO GO NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm about to cry! I'm about to get my firstest EVER snake!!!!!!!!!! My sweet Kenabec!!!!!!!!!

My god, my god, my god, my god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KENABEC!!!!!!! Your muzzer loves you VERY MUCH!!!!!

[jeanette]

lol congrats!!!!! glad to see your really happy about it :D

[Lori P]

Sigh... Gertie, hon, I keep telling you. It's OKAY to open up on this forum and share your true emotions... stop being so reticent. :p:p

We're excited with you!!!! Pics, pics, we want pics, want to seeeeeee!!!!!!:D

[Snake lover 3-25]

lol i was afraid to say anything!!!!!! pics!!!!! what kind is it!!!!! details!!!!!:eek:

[count dewclaw]

Congrats to the new "mama"! :D

[anji1971]

Congrats, so glad to hear it!
Hope you don't give yourself a coronary in all your excitement, though.Try to contain yourself, girl!!!:D:D:D

[jitami]

Congrats! Can't wait to see pics of the new baby! (hognose, right?)

[Garter_Gertie]

Thanks you all!

Lori, you're a woman after my own heart! You crack me up!

Tami, how wonderful of you to remember. That was really special. Yup. Western Hoggy. Gonna use him at the park the days I'm there. Gonna use the garter's, too, when I get them. Isn't that wonderful? I can take all my babies to work with me!

Patience is not one of my virtues (if I have ANY). I've waited like two months already for Kenabec to hatch - I DON'T WANT TO WAIT ANYMORE!!! WWWWWAAAAA!!!!

I still can't believe this is me doing this and so xcited about it. It's like waiting for a puppy or kitten. I used to think all snake people were totally nuts. How COULD they like and call a snake a pet - they don't do anything! Just shows one should not be judgemental. At least I'm not rigid. :D

I love that little Hoggy as much as I love Pickles and Mayo, and The Cats. He is mine and he's precious and perfect and the most wonderful Hoggy in the WORLD!

I stopped at Twin Cities Reptile on the way home from work. They have an albino checkered and a 'regular' (I'm guessing) ribbon. THEY WERE SO TINY THEY LOOKED LIKE WORMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Missy Winnie is definitely full grown. I wanted to hug and kiss them so much and thought, "Woman, you best get out of here now before you do something really stupid - like buy a snake - that you'll regret."

I'll just have to wait for my little guy.

I'd like to take the opportunity to continue to ramble - just for a bit here. I want you all to stop and think about "firsts." Like your first car, your first girl/boyfriend, your first dog, your first cat, your first horse... you first snake. Your first Pug, your first Aby (Abyssinian cat), your first poodle, your first child.

You only ever have one first of anything. They're [usually] always the most specialest because they were the first you ever had. Not that you loved following [insert your word of choice] less, but there's always a special 'something' about the first.

Kenabec will be my FIRST snake and my FIRST Hoggy. While the three garters I'm going to get will be my FIRST garters, Kenabec will always be my first snake. Sorry it can't be a garter, but at the time I didn't think I wanted to replicate Winnie in anyway.

I hope I'll be allowed to talk about Kenabec here... You only have one first of anything.

Thanks guys, for your warm wishes and happiness for me. It really means a lot.

[Garter_Gertie]

Otay. I got a 20 gal long aquarium - actually a herp tank with sliding lid - for Kenabec. When I got my big 90 gal the guy gave me a bunch o'stuff for free, one of which is one of those little plastic Critter Carriers. You know what I mean. It's not super small and will work great.

I'm going to put Kenabec in that, in his tank initially.

Here's what I've gotten to mess around with in making my own substrate:

Aquarium gravel; not the TINY stuff, but small, rounded river stones.

CoCo Soft

Some REALLY COOL bark chips which I just smelled and THEY'RE CEDAR (or pine, I can't tell) and I got it from Twin Cities Reptile!!!!!!!! You can bet your bippy THAT'S going back!

Peat moss

Shagum moss (it looks a lot like some of the grasses out in the park)

And... Timothy hay.

Need to still get a pooper scooper; I got my heating pad; I've lights here; going to use the big rock-like snake hidey where the lid has a hole in it and the lid comes off - without the lid and that will be the water dish.

Still have to get logs - I've got wood hideys to crawl into - and the oak leaves. Dave said since Kenabec is going to used in the programs it will be okay if I gather oak leaves from the park. :D

So, now to mess around with the substrate stuff to see what I can come up with.

[Garter_Gertie]

Bump. Just in case you want to read about something UNGARTER related. Like take a break? I don't know!

[Garter_Gertie]

Oh. Called Twin Cities Reptiles (I had my doubts about them prior to this...) and was told that the bark is Western Ponderosa.

Well! I told her "ponderosa" happens to be a pine tree. And then I was told that what they sell/use they have for decades and have had no problems with their anjamuls.

I've got my receipt. The crap is going back.

Jeez.

[beaniesmommy]

Are you this excited naturally or is it artificially induced? I am tired just reading your post...

:D

[Garter_Gertie]

This is the real me. I'm a naturalist and the outdoors and nature is my passion. Overall, I'm a passionate person. Things effect me and I feel deeply. I'm a creative and an extrovert. No, really. I really am an extrovert. :D I have a strong ego and relish life. Everyday there's something new to find, do, play with, investigate, figure out... What can I say? (shrugs shoulders)

[infernalis]

"Re: DO NOT READ! Non-garter Related"

Ok I won't:D

[Garter_Gertie]

"Re: DO NOT READ! Non-garter Related"

Ok I won't:D

Whispered ever so quitely in Dekay's ear... "Ittiz a tease at James - the name of the thread."

[Snake lover 3-25]

lol you're so excited!!!! congrats!!! any updates?????:D

[Garter_Gertie]

Shanley, not really. He's doing fine and just being a growing little Hoggy. This weekend he'll be about two weeks old (I think). I'll check back with the breeder again but he's not anxious to hand Kenabec over until he's like 6 weeks. That's good; I get it. I just don't like it. :D

Yeah. I am excited. I still find it hard to believe all this is happening to a woman almost two years ago would cross the street to keep away from snakes. Now soon I'll have three!

[Snake lover 3-25]

i sure hope you'll love him to pieces!!!:D:D and the others too!!!:D:D

(well maybe not that much:p:p)

[Garter_Gertie]

LOL! I've no idea where the phrase comes/came from, but one I learned as a kid was, "Oh! I could eat him/her alive!" Meaning really cute, precious, darling, stuff like that. That's as bad as loving them to pieces!

[Snake lover 3-25]

lol too funny gertie!!!:D

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I saw you asked about My hognose in another thread. Mine is also a western!

Sledge was disguised inside an empty chocolate tin... I thought I was getting chocolate... hmm. this chocolate is really light..

::shakes the tin::

wht is this eddie? nonfat chocolate?

I was VERY surprised and excited to see a tiny baby hognose, an extremely angry one at that!! To this day sledge is a hisser, and a bluffer.. he plays the "I am a MEAN VENOMOUS SNAKE AND I BITE" game well. They Will puff up their little head and flatten their neck.. and literally THROW their head at you and whack you with their head with their mouth closed while hissing loudly. It is simply SO COMICAL!!! They dont bite... they just smack ya with their face! They will literally CHARGE your hand and CHASE it across the tank, angrily smacking their face on you the whole way.

As SOON as I pick sledge up... he INSTANTLY drops the evil snake act and magically turns into an angel! hahaha... you have to love hognoses and the extreme lengths they will go to with their bluffs.

He also sometimes will sit there for a HALF HOUR or so and do this at his f/t pinkies on the ground before he finally picks them up and eats them. He just sits there and spazzes out.. twitching and hissing at the dead baby mice! Then he says "oh yea? you want a piece of me?!" and he eats them.

Then he often does this cute little thing where he drags himelf halfway over his tub and hangs there upside down while swallowing.
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/008.jpg

Oh, and please do be wary that hognoses will somtimes freeze in place in very awkward sideways or upsidedwn positions that will cause you to think they are dead!!! Don't have a heart attack! Sledge did it to me!

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll86/aSnakeLovinBabe/Snakes/Other/038.jpg

[Garter_Gertie]

Shannon, so nice to have a Hoggy friend here. I know all about Hoggies and their defenses.

Dave found one (Eastern; there are no Western's on this side o'the state or in the park) on a Sat and kept it until Sun so we could use it in our program. I had strict orders to stay away from it as Dave wanted it to have as little human contact as possible so when we did our presentation the snake would play dead. (He'd come across an Eastie one day while doing a hike with 150 grade schoolers and 150 times that Eastie rolled over and played dead in a kid's hand!)

But wouldn't you know it? That Eastie wouldn't even strike! Dave was flailing around, jumping, yelling, got his face right down an inch or so away from the Eastie's - to the horror and screams of our visitors! - and that Hoggy didn't do a thing! Never did play dead - which is what I love the Hoggies so much for - until I let the little booger loose. Within seconds he reverted back to his natural mode.

I'm praying Kenabec will continue to strike and play dead, but am not betting on it. I will still love him. From the time I saw the video Dave got of a Hoggy he came across in the park, I've wanted a Hoggy. They are the big fakers of the snake world and so much fun and Cool!

If I knew then what I know now... Twenty plus years ago while hiking in an other state park I came across a 'dead' snake on the path. If ONLY I knew about Hoggies then!!!

Even though there are no Westerns in this side o'the state I'm going with a Western as I read there's some consideration about Easties developing a fatty liver if raised on rodents. The jury's still out on that but I want to take no chances. And even though Kenabec is not found in the park he IS found in the state, so it will be okay to use him to inerpret to our visitors.

Sledge is such a pretty guy! It took me awhile to come to like the Westies pattern over the common Easties. Also, I think the Easties have a cuter face, their nose isn't as turny-uppy. LOVE the name Sledge. Is so fitting for a Hoggy!

[Garter_Gertie]

What I'm going to need help on is is care. I'm thinking, from what I've been reading here is the garters can get away with no heat in the summer (unless in AC) but my Hoggy is going to need the heat? That I have to keep temps higher for Kenabec? That I'll have to have a more stable graident for him?

[Lori P]

Gertie, just for you-- one of the hognose soaking this morning.

A soggy hoggy!!!!

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/soggy_hoggy_crop_2.jpg

SUCH a CUTE face!!!!!!

[Garter_Gertie]

You've a Hoggy, TOO???????? The Hoggy Muskaterettes! They are cute. Their nose - no pun - has grown on me. I'm so excited to be getting Kenabec!

[Lori P]

I have two, Harry and Hedwig. :-) It was the nose that got me at the beginning. LOVE them. :-)

[Garter_Gertie]

Well look at us girls! We're sssoooo speshul! :D

Love the names!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I actually have always preferred the westerns for their little noses!!! even my boyfriend, in all his manliness... gets all soft-like when he holds sledge!! haha!!!