So the compulsion has begun....

[Char361979]

So we started off with Binky, then Chris decided to accept John's kind offer of a second snake.... then I am told, very quietly and almost as an aside as he leaves the room, that He has said he will take another from him. Within two weeks we will have gone from zero to three snakes. If we continue to gain snakes at this rate one of us will have to move out to make space for vivs.

My mother may never visit again....

[infernalis]

Welcome to our world...:cool:

[GarField000]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee, when you say this is the last snake, then you know your're hooked :)

I started with 2 kornsnakes in 2009 with garters beginning of this year.
I now have (including 16 more to come next week) 42 thamnophis and 4 cornsnakes.
I must say from the 42 there are 19 marcinaus for sale, and 14 scotti's.
9 are for keeps.

[chris-uk]

This will be the last. We don't have room for more than 3.

[guidofatherof5]

Famous last words.:D

[Char361979]

We don't really have room for three. I swear it's a ploy to keep my mum away.

[infernalis]

Famous last words.:D


Yep... We have a snake room, and there is still 7 cages in my living room.

[RedSidedSPR]

Yup. That's what I thought when I got my second snake... and my third... and forth... :D I say that now with my fith. 5 is my limit!! Cant fit more! 5 is the perfect number!! Just like 2 was.. and three. Three was a nice number. And four...

Yeah right.

[chris-uk]

3 is a perfect number. I don't know why anyone would ever want more... :)

[RedSidedSPR]

I thought the exact same thing when I had 3 (not long ago at all). I now have 5.

[joeyjoe9876]

3 is a perfect number. I don't know why anyone would ever want more... :)

Why wouldn't you want more? :D

[thamneil]

It seems like just yesterday when I started with my baby carpet python...

[kibakiba]

I started with one, then got 3... I swore I wouldn't get anymore... then I got 4 more... Then Mama gave birth (5 babies) and then got Hades. Trust me, you'll make room soon.

[jitami]

It's the subliminal messaging written into the forum programming ;)

I started with just one 9 years ago... stayed that way for a very long time, several years... came here and within a few months I had four just like that. lol I now have 5 and need to give hubby a little time before I add another :D He's awesome and has always been supportive, but the question of 'how many pets do you need' seems to be increasing in frequency lately so I'll give him a little break.... unless that perfect opportunity comes along... have I mentioned the next snake on my want list is a rubber boa? Just throwing it out there. LOL

[d_virginiana]

It's the subliminal messaging written into the forum programming ;)


I think that's a distinct possibility :D I had my one snake for 11 years, then after getting on here I ended up with another within two months. The only thing stopping me from getting out of control right now is that I'm in school housing and couldn't have them with me if I bought them :rolleyes:

[count dewclaw]

Shelving units! Rack up those cages....you can squeeze quite a few cages in a fairly small area.

[Char361979]

Don't encourage him. We're trying for a baby, I'd like to keep some room in the house for a crib. As for pythons and boas... I like my cat too much.

[PINJOHN]

Don't encourage him. We're trying for a baby, I'd like to keep some room in the house for a crib. As for pythons and boas... I like my cat too much.

I think i can help your there as well Char, i have six kids just say the word and i will drop one off with the checkered's on sunday, perhaps you eerr might consider two:eek: :D

[chris-uk]

I think i can help your there as well Char, i have six kids just say the word and i will drop one off with the checkered's on sunday, perhaps you eerr might consider two:eek: :D

I think we'll pass on the children. They're just a little too old for us. If you had some around the same age as the snakes.... :)

[Char361979]

I think we'll pass on the children. They're just a little too old for us.

Good point. Given that I'm 32 a kid in it's 20's would not really work. I can see us buying a crib and me getting home to find the baby in a small viv and the crib converted in to a dirty great habitat for the garters!

[chris-uk]

I can see us buying a crib and me getting home to find the baby in a small viv and the crib converted in to a dirty great habitat for the garters!

Hmmm... Crib bars, cut grooves down the bars, insert glass panels to make solid walls. Replace the mattress with aspen. Replace the pillow with a hide... I think it would be do-able. :D

[katach]

Love this idea!

[RedSidedSPR]

Yeah man, go for it!

[Char361979]

Don't even think about it Chris. It's bad enough that we will have snakes in our bedroom as of tomorrow night. I love snakes but having them in my bedroom will take a little getting used to.

[RedSidedSPR]

They do love hiding under blankets.:) so cute! And pillows! It must be the warmth...

:D

[Char361979]

That's not helping

[snakehill]

Hey Char! Does it ever bother you that Chris calls you "the wife" just curious!:p

[guidofatherof5]

Could be a lot worse:D

[RedSidedSPR]

That's not helping

What waking up with a snake, that nice morning breath, doesn't appeal to you? :eek:

[snakehill]

Hey Char! Does it ever bother you that Chris calls you "the wife" just curious!:p I'm sorry! Did I say something wrong???:o

[Char361979]

Hey Char! Does it ever bother you that Chris calls you "the wife" just curious!:p

Never really thought about it. It's kind of an English thing I guess. Sometimes it's "the missus". Just something people say here.... Could be worse. I just shout "Oi, Dibben" at him when I want his attention and tend to refer to him by his surname alot of the time.


What waking up with a snake, that nice morning breath, doesn't appeal to you? :eek:

It's more the slithering over you in your sleep thing. We have a cat for morning breath contributions.

[Char361979]

There was one garter in the house this morning.... now there are five.

[guidofatherof5]

Love that garter snake math.:D
Sounds like you found George :D

[chris-uk]

George in disguise. :)
We'd picked out the 3 we had planned. Somehow we ended up with a 4th because Char thought it's colour and patterning was prettiest. I have to agree, the 4th has beautiful colouring, it's not one of the better eaters in the litter but I'm sure she'll catch up.
It was good to meet up with John. His garters were the only ones in Doncaster today, so many pythons, boas, kings, rats, and corns...

John - all 4 are settling in. We have one of the bigger 2 in with Binky. The other 3 are together and were active in their new viv for a good couple of hours, they seem to be resting now.

[chris-uk]

I'm struggling to embed images from my Picasa album... anyone else using Picasa and embedding them in a forum post? Attaching an image to a post looses quality.

Anyway, working around the Picasa problem, here's a pic of two of the new four:
2530
And a link to it in my Picasa album.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/vifmfa88dvkf4fxyItSZDQ?feat=embedwebsite

I'm liking the reflections in this pic :) Shame it's camera phone pic, that would have been good taken with a proper camera.

The new guys seem to be a lot more active than Binky. Three of the 4 are in a tank in our bedroom, the other is with Binky. We've seen all 4 new guys out already this morning, Binky likes her bed in her cool side hide...
https://picasaweb.google.com/chrisdibben.mci/CJDPublicAlbum?authuser=0&feat=directlink

[PINJOHN]

Great to see the photo's and to hear they are active and curious, looking forward to watching these fella's developing, that's the good news, the bad news, i was halve way home when i realized that i never got my coffee, i shall now add your names to the list with pete[scorpion0151] of coffee bilker's'
whats a man gotta do to get a free coffee around here ,:D

[chris-uk]

whats a man gotta do to get a free coffee around here ,:D

Next time make sure you get your coffee before disappearing into a room crowded with a thousend other people ;)

[kibakiba]

I like that darker one at the top! He looks like a little rebel ;)

[chris-uk]

I like that darker one at the top! He looks like a little rebel ;)

We think the darker one is female but they're a bit too small to be certain. She's our favourite too, she's called Eskarina (I'm sure Char will correct me if I've got the name wrong), and she seems to be the most inquisitive of the bunch.
I just went to check on them and I think they're all chilling in the warm-side hide, at least there was one head poking out of it.

[kibakiba]

Well, I call everything a "he" if I'm not certain of the gender ;).
I love the inquisitive ones, it's fin to watch them explore and check everything out.

[chris-uk]

Well, I call everything a "he" if I'm not certain of the gender ;).
I love the inquisitive ones, it's fin to watch them explore and check everything out.

Funnily enough we called them all "he" until Char decided on names for them. We may need to switch names in the future, but we have some good male names as well - all sticking to the Terry Pratchett character theme. :)

[guidofatherof5]

Good looking snakes.

[chris-uk]

They are Steve. Don't tell Binky, but I prefer the natural colours. The fun is going to come in learning the subtle differences in colouration so we can tell them apart, at the moment there slight variation in size between all of them, but we won't be able to rely on that forever, and two of them I can only tell apart when they are side by side.

[RedSidedSPR]

Awesome snakes! I love checkereds! I'm with ya on the normal look.;)

[RedSidedSPR]

I'm struggling to embed images from my Picasa album... anyone else using Picasa and embedding them in a forum post? Attaching an image to a post looses quality.

I've never even heard of picaso. I use and love Imageshack.

x2WzKHyB-ww
x2WzKHyB
(only one should work but are both the same, stupid iPod)

[drache]

lovely snakes - congrats
and trust me - you can coast with just five for a good while, particularly if you're planning on a baby
human babies tend to eat up an enormous amount of resources when compared to garters - I figure it's got to be multiples in the hundreds, or possibly thousands
outside of that, there is the fact that there are only so many hours in the day, and I have come to find that there is in fact a limit to how many animals I can spend time with, and that beyond that they become animals I take care of, but do not get to know in depth
while the numbers vary for each person, I do believe that for most people there is a comfortable number of animals to keep, and that more is usually not better

[katach]

Very pretty!

[Char361979]

Eskarina (the smaller darker one in the picture) has proven to be a greedy guts. Could not get enough food!! Se has had her first piece of pinky and yummed it down without any encouragement. Lightning (the other snake pictured... I didn't pick the name, the two little girls who will end up with him after xmas pickd it) Is bigger than her but ate a little less. Bethan (Binky's new housemate) doesn't appear to want any food and also appears to be starting to shed. It's little Angua we are worried about. She's a darling, very quick around the viv and extremely curious.... but is incredibly small and refuses to go anywhere near food let alone eat it. We are trying to isolate her with a small ammount of food to see what happens, but I'm worried.

Binky looks huge near the new arrivals and is just as lazy as ever.

[RedSidedSPR]

My checkered has never refused a single item of food, never needed or anything he just eats it whatever it is.

Glad they're doing good.

Has the one that's not eaten yet, eaten before you bought it?

[Char361979]

Has the one that's not eaten yet, eaten before you bought it?

Don't know, John can't be 100% sure who of the mass of babies has eaten and who has not.

[RedSidedSPR]

oh... so how are presenting the food?

[Char361979]

We've tried feeding tongs, leaving the food in the viv and taking her out of the viv away from the others and leaving her in a small container with a makeshift hide, kitchen paper substrait and tiny bits of food.

[RedSidedSPR]

Ok well she may still be settling in.. don't stress it too much yet.

What have you tried feeding?

[chris-uk]

Ok well she may still be settling in.. don't stress it too much yet.

What have you tried feeding?

I've offered her salmon, hake, and a pinky leg scented with fish. John was feeding mainly salmon so we'll try some more salmon tomorrow. If she doesn't take it tomorrow I expect one of the others will appreciate a snack.
We won't worry too much yet, if she's still not eating next week we may start to get concerned. She's a lot smaller than her siblings, so she's clearly not the most enthusiastic eater. But she's pretty and inquisitive, and very, very quick (made a break for freedom this evening, but didn't get all the way out of the RUB I was trying to feed her in).

[RedSidedSPR]

Live feeder guppies, and chopped nightcrawlers (or whole earthworms) are what id try feeding. Hope she eats for ya!

[chris-uk]

Live feeder fish aren't easy to get over here. I could try digging in the garden for some worms, or find a fishing shop. If she gets a taste for worms that will be a pain in the arse, all the others are happy with fish or pinkies.

[RedSidedSPR]

Best way to find worms, is to head outside, make sure to bring $3 and dig around in the sporting goods section at Walmart.:D

Oh....Unless you don't have Walmart.

[katach]

Lol! That's funny! :D

[chris-uk]

Yeah, no Walmart over here. And none of our supermarkets sell fishing bait. There's got to be a tackle shop nearby, I know someone who fishes so I'll make enquiries.
At the moment our non-eater is separate in a RUB with some salmon pieces. Hoping a couple hours on her own will bring her round.

[PINJOHN]

[QUOTE=RedSidedSPR;182112 has the one that's not eaten yet, eaten before you bought it?[/QUOTE]

all the babies had eaten at some point, but a few of them were taking the bare minim to stay healthy, they were fed communally, but i ensured that their food was cut up very small to avoid fights, food was left in longer than with the adult's to allow the more timid to feed after the initial stampede and i even tried leaving it over night, but of course doing this means you are then in no position to know just how much the individual has eaten.

[Char361979]

We know you've done a good job John, I don't want you to think we don't think that (does that sentence even make sense? Lol). I'm just worried about the little monkeys.

[PINJOHN]

We know you've done a good job John, I don't want you to think we don't think that (does that sentence even make sense? Lol). I'm just worried about the little monkeys.

i wasn't being defensive Char,:D just trying to put out as much info out about them as i could, the more you seek information and worry about them the more obvious it is they are in excellent hands :)

[Char361979]

So the lttle one (Angua) that refuses to eat still refuses. She actively backs away from the fish and although she has shown more interest in the earthworms we've given her, she hasn't eaten any of them. Bethan (the shedder) still refuses to eat and has baggy skin and visable rough scales on her belly. We've also noticed a fair bit of unshed skin that will not come away, so Chris has popped her into a shed box. Really starting to worry that we may loose Angua and Bethan.

On the otherhand, Lightning is a gannet and will just keep eating. He's been having a bath this afternoon and rubbing his face on the edge of his pool, so he may be thinking about a shed. Eskarina is also a good eater and really likes being handled.

Binky has started to come out of her shell since she's been given a house mate and spent a good 2 hours out of her hide (which she only normally leaves if she has to) having a really good explore. She's getting bigger and is eatting extremely well. Pinkies are her favourite. She must be due a shed soon.

[kibakiba]

Keep in mind that garters can go months without food if their weight is good enough. You just got these guys, so give them a chance to settle in before you think that they're going to die.

[chris-uk]

Of the two that aren't eating I'm not worried about the bigger one, she's obviously eaten well so I can think it's just the change of home and the shedding that's put her off. The small one I'd estimate at about 1/3 the size of her larger siblings, I know she can go a while without eating, but she doesn't have a lot of weight to carry her.
I'm confident both will eat, we just need them to settle and keep offering food.

[scorpion0151]

Great to see the photo's and to hear they are active and curious, looking forward to watching these fella's developing, that's the good news, the bad news, i was halve way home when i realized that i never got my coffee, i shall now add your names to the list with pete[scorpion0151] of coffee bilker's'
whats a man gotta do to get a free coffee around here ,:D


We'll all have to meet up next time and fill you up with coffee :p

Chris I wouldn't worry about only having 5, I started back into snakes 2 years ago with 1 chekered garter now I have 30 snakes and almost half of them are garters :)

[chris-uk]

Next year then. We can meet up, have a coffee and look at row upon row of corn snakes. :(
We could get organised and get some garters there, although none of ours will be breeding for a while.
I fancy a granite, I think I'd be tempted to push it to 6 for a granite. :)

[scorpion0151]

only babies I have at the moment are melanistic easterns if you're in the market for one :D Next year I might have some albino/het checkereds and a new bloodline of melanistic from my new boy, and John can sort out some Florida blues :)

[chris-uk]

We're having a pause at 5 until we move to a bigger house. :-) Next year I may expand the collection...

John has a clutch of het albino checkereds at the moment. I think that's right... Albino mother, normal father means that they must all carry 1 albino gene (it's been a long week, and it gets more complex as more than one gene is involved)?

[scorpion0151]

We're having a pause at 5 until we move to a bigger house. :-) Next year I may expand the collection...

John has a clutch of het albino checkereds at the moment. I think that's right... Albino mother, normal father means that they must all carry 1 albino gene (it's been a long week, and it gets more complex as more than one gene is involved)?

yeah that sounds about right, genetics aren't my strong suite.