I Love My Little Hateling!

[Snakeknot]

So I've had Saphira, my baby Florida blue garter, for about a week and she is a SPITFIRE! Very tiny and VERY SPIRITED! I think I've got the Jack Russell of snakes here! I pop the top of her tub to check on her and she runs to the nearest corner, coils up to face me, flattens her body and head out like a little green copperhead and tries to do the scale scraping horseshoe thing. ( No tail rattling. ) She's quick to strike and acts so fierce! But if you pick her up, her fearsome attitude vanishes. Its all bluff and bluster.

She's a great eater and cleans up whatever I put in her bottle cap dish. Yesterday I was feeding the other big snakes and when I went to get a frozen rat-pup for my big corn, a leg broke off of the next rat. So I thawed it with the other mice and offered the leg to Saphira. It didn't last 5 minutes! I came back and it was gone and Saphira had a big bulge in her belly. Apparently she likes drumsticks!

She's a fun one! I LOVE her!


Devon

[guidofatherof5]

Glad to hear things are going so well.
Nothing wrong with a little attitude. At least that's always been my excuse.:D

[drache]

it's a healthy attitude
I love mine too

[guidofatherof5]

I have an adult radix with an attitude.
She's called "The Enforcer".

[infernalis]

must be a real brute for you to call it a hateling.

[mustang]

shoulda named it spitfire or twoface

[bkhuff1s]

I'm sure she calms down once she realizes that in fact, she can not swallow you....

[ConcinusMan]

Amy acts like that when I roust her out of her hide. Makes her cranky. She just starts striking in no particular direction and doing the viper impression and of course the "slow tongue" thing. As soon as she realizes it's me, or smells food, her attitude changes instantly to sweet.

[Mommy2many]

I love how they try and be all "Viper" on you!

[Snakeknot]

Surprisingly she is the ONLY snake I own whose cobra impression doesn't scare me. I think she actually hit me a couple of times and I didn't feel a thing. Of course, if she was bigger, I'd be singing a different tune! I'd better get her used to handling before she gets there!;-)

Devon

[ConcinusMan]

Surprisingly she is the ONLY snake I own whose cobra impression doesn't scare me. I think she actually hit me a couple of times and I didn't feel a thing. Of course, if she was bigger, I'd be singing a different tune! I'd better get her used to handling before she gets there!;-)

Devon

Oh no, no no. It doesn't work that way. Remember that she is the trainer.

By the time she's big, she'll likely mellow out just to make sure you don't forget who's in charge.;)

But really, no need for all the drama if you're a big girl. Even the most defensive garter mellows out quite a bit once they grow up to be too big to be eaten by everything. Wild or not, captive raised and handled or not. They still tend to calm down quite a bit as they get larger. Right now she's putting on a display so she's not mistaken for a worm. No need for that when you're the diameter of a garden hose.

[lauwersp]

SO cute. Makes me wanna be a snake uncle...