Steve's Snake Observations

[ConcinusMan]

My (Iowa albino) radixes have come to associate feeding time with ANY time I enter the room and they happen to be watching. They rush out all excited and "sniffing".

If I get very close to the glass tank, they really get into a frenzy. Jeez... they must be starving. It's been hours

The second I start to slide that top (slide lock top reptile tank) Amy starts lunging into the air with her mouth open... as if to say "put it here"

I gotta tell you Steve, radixes are "something else" They are really entertaining characters.

Amy (is really a boy) is blind, or mostly blind so he just lunges at the air with mouth open. He has learned that food will come this way.

I finally (just yesterday) got a trio of normal-looking possible hets.(for Iowa AND nebraska) They won't eat yet and seem quite nervous but I look forward to seeing how they fit in to the group and looking forward to learning about their individual personalities.

Radixes... quite entertaining and quite charming.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to hear Amy is doing so well. I agree with you on radixes being special. I'm so lucky to live in an area with such a high population.
It's been a long very hot Summer and the radixes have been staying under cover most of the time.
I'm sure they've been out in the early morning and late evening times but I don't venture out do to the flood mosquitoes(as I call them) we have in the area.

[guidofatherof5]

Today I had a visitor to the Ranch.
The President of the Iowa Horological Society dropped by to pickup a rehabbed
Bull Snake and to checkout the Ranch.
While giving him a tour of the big snake room I opened an enclosure to show him the occupants.
I pointed to the male red phase radix and told him that the snake was a loaner from our mutual friend(Mark). He stuck his hand inside the enclosure to point at the male and Mr. Mansley rushed him and bit his finger.
You have to understand that Mr. Mansley is a very docile male and has never shown any signs of aggression.
Allen comment on the fact that he always gets bit by garter snakes.
I explained to him that he was a stranger invading Mr. Mansley's territory and he was just reminding him of that fact.
All my snakes were wary of the new person in the snake room.

[guidofatherof5]

It's about 2:30 am and I can't get to sleep so I decided to make a security sweep in the big snake room.
As I walked by the enclosures I shined my flashlight in on them. As usual most all these diurnal snake were out milling about.
With one exception. Not a single concinnus was stirring. They were all in their hide where they belong. All the members of this enclosure will be getting a treat on Saturday.

I also found my girl Brownie out. She was sitting in a bench between two baby enclosures. I reached down and picked her up without incident. She says she told me she was going on an explore but I don't remember the conversation. She's a good girl so there will be no punishment for this infraction.

[ConcinusMan]

Well Steve, the concinnus are growing babies. They need their sleep.

Speaking of growing, you're gonna freak when you see the group I'm sending monday. They're huge compared to the first group since they've been eating well since day one. Petco had a sale on their frozen rodents so I bought up a bunch yesterday. All the babies got a good stuffing of pinkies yesterday.

But yeah, everybody disappears in that enclosure just minutes before the timer shuts the lights off. And they all wake up and start moving around just minutes before the timer turns them back on! They know what time it is!

They know what time of day to expect food as well because I always feed them at nearly the same time (around 4-5pm when I get home from work) and there's a flurry of activity at that time when they become aware that I'm in the room. It's so cool to watch.

I'll miss having the big group of babies but I'll still have a handful of hold backs (including the two high black 3-stripers) to care for.

[ae88weaver]

I wish Freud and Maslow would just eat, let alone be conditioned Here I am getting ready for grad school (BA in psychology and getting my Masters of Social Work) yet I cannot condition my boys to eat or associate food with anything... Steve, do you take in any type of snake or only garters? And are a breeder? I am curious because I see your name come up in almost every thread I read and you seem very knowledgable (plus you have a snake ranch!)... Same with you ConcinnusMan...

[guidofatherof5]

I wish Freud and Maslow would just eat, let alone be conditioned Here I am getting ready for grad school (BA in psychology and getting my Masters of Social Work) yet I cannot condition my boys to eat or associate food with anything... Steve, do you take in any type of snake or only garters? And are a breeder? I am curious because I see your name come up in almost every thread I read and you seem very knowledgable (plus you have a snake ranch!)... Same with you ConcinnusMan...

The only snakes I don't take in are venomous. I have a strange attraction to Rattle Snake but know it's not something I will ever keep. With 5 kids still in the house, I won't risk it.
I do breed garters and hope to breed Bull snake and Gray Banded Kings next Spring.
Thanks for you compliment. Most of my knowledge has come from being a member of this forum.

[guidofatherof5]

Today, I was working in one of my enclosure doing a refit to the hinge safety device. One of the females in the enclosure would not leave me alone. While I worked she kept climbing onto my hands. I would pick her up and move her to the other end of the enclosure only to have her return in a moment. It was comical to watch her do this time after time after time.
I started to get annoyed with her. Then I realized she was trying to tell me something. This is the group of females that routinely get carried over to the worm box to get a snack.
So, being the good pet that I am I carried her over to the worm box where she picked out a big crawler. After she ate it I returned her to the enclosure.
She was content to sit and watch me work, now.
They are so smart.

[ConcinusMan]

My little ones do the same thing. As I'm trying to tong feed one of them, the others will climb up the tongs and get into my sleeve or crawl up my arm. It is annoying but so dang cute it's hard to get mad about it. And the adults... jeez. I can't even clean up a poop spot without them interfering. They are so curious.

[mustang]

checker is smart...he associates my hand with big organism that touches me and runs...but he also has never pooped on a girl so i think he knows very well how to get a treat when ever in public lol