Hydra

[aquamentus_11]

Finally decided on a name: Hydra. Here she is. Still not eating, but my little buddy: she runs away from food, but comes toward my empty hand when I put it in the tank




This is how I found her tonight: about an inch below the lid. She's loves the dark and is especially active around 8-9pm when temps have dropped down into the mid-low 70's.




Here's her toad-killing face.




She's not quite as orange as these pictures makes her look. I think the camera is adding some yellow because her head is green not brown.




She loves to curl up in the soil underneath the bottom-most leaves of the ficus with only her head poking out. Wish I had a pic.

My desk is in the direction she's facing: she is trying to blend in and spy on me.

[guidofatherof5]

Good looking little scrub.

Have you tried putting some food in a dish under the hide and leaving it overnight?

[aquamentus_11]

Good looking little scrub.

Have you tried putting some food in a dish under the hide and leaving it overnight?

thanks, she's a real sweetheart.

yeah, I've tried that a few times without success. I guess she'll start eating once she becomes desperate enough....

[aquamentus_11]

I love how finely patterned her tail gets as it tapers. Makes you appreciate the similarity between them and the red-spotteds. You can sort of see how thin her tail is, Hope that's normal.



This gentleman (Ted) has taken quite an interest in the young lady and his intentions are not on the up and up. He isn't used to me not taking his side with smaller edibles. He goes outside all the time so I'm sure he knows what she is. She keeps a very close eye on him at all times. When she reaches 3 feet though, he might change his mind about her.

[aquamentus_11]

The black patches behind their heads also really show the relation to the Natrix spp. other members have posted. I wonder what the value of the red markings is. I'd guess something to do with enhancing the "flattening out" threat display. Anyone have an answer to this?

[EasternGirl]

I'm not sure about the head markings...interesting question though. Good name choice... She is a very pretty girl. I don't think that her tail looks odd in the fact that it gets thin like that...I think that is common in some females...I was wondering though if she had some wounds or retained shed on the end of her tail...it looked a little bumpy or something...could you post a pic of a close up of the bottom of her tail? It may have just been the pic. My cats also like to sit and stare at my snakes...not sure who would win if it came down to it though. My cat, Ian, actually found Cee Cee in my flower bed. He had her cornered and all of the sudden he went flying backwards...I looked to see why my cat flew backwards out of the flowerbed...and there was Cee Cee...coiled and striking! I think it's safe to say Cee Cee won that one!

[aquamentus_11]

haha it's always worthwhile when a cat finds out that he bit off more than he can chew. they need that to tame down their egos.

yes, she did have a few little scrapes down there. that was the one part where her shed didn't come off fully and needed my help. i just grabbed the end of the shed and she scooted out of it. i've also been keeping an eye on it because of the bumps, but i think those are just scabs. i'll get some better shots of it this afternoon.

[tress29]

haha it's always worthwhile when a cat finds out that he bit off more than he can chew.

Yesterday my boys had the ferrets out in their playpen. Our cat, Houdini likes to get in there and play with them. I don't know how he got on Farin's bad side, but she had hold of his bottom lip and he was bawling like a baby! Sure wish I had been home to see that!

[GarterGuy17]

She looks just like jade !!! Very nice .

[aquamentus_11]

That's what I said when I watched Jade's video. We must have a thing for redheads.

Being anal, I had to go check on her tail. She exploded on the scene when I woke her up: like literally erupted out of her hide and stopped dead-still in the middle of her tank haha. Her tail has a little scab on the dorsum which is healing pretty nicely. Tail is fully functional and has great grip strength all the way down. I'll still get you those pics.

Steve, I tried leaving some more food in last night, but no dice.