Other pets (pics and discussions)

[EasternGirl]

Funny thing...my dog is under my bed barking at nothing right now. He thinks he sees "other dogs" in the house sometimes and runs around looking for them and barking...and apparently right now, the "other dogs" are under my bed.

[PINJOHN]

A likely story .....get that man out of the house whats his name Jack Russel

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

There is a two-headed Cornsnake (I think) on one of the forums that is for sale for $12,500! Would anyone spend that?

Holy CRAP. That's ridiculous. We just built an entire new snakeroom... framed it, drywalled it, insulated it, installed electric, painted it, floored it, bought a heater, and moved everything in. For $600!!!! Yes it does help that my dad does drywall for a living and my husband's an electrician... but just to put that into perspective.... I can only imagine the facility that I could build for my herps with 12,500!!! in the next year or two when we get a house I will easily be dropping thousands on a BIG facility. This snakeroom is temporary... we moved the snakes so we could use the room they were in for a nursery. And even with painting the nursery and buying stuff for the coming baby cost has remained under $1000..... this is why I can't see some people paying the money they do for the latest and greatest morph snakes or especially two snakes with one body! Will I someday fork out a grand or so for a pair of indigos? you betcha. And then a few hundred on their caging. But I'll be damned if I'm going to ever spend $5,000-10,000 on the latest jungle woma butter spider peanut butter and jelly WHATEVER ball python or boa. And then what kills me is that there are people that will take this snake they just dropped their life savings on and put it in.... a small plastic shoebox. with.... a water bowl. And newspaper. In a rack system that is turned sideways in the corner of their living room or bedroom. Now I don't have a problem with rack systems when the animal's needs are met as far as temps and food and all that jazz... but I feel it's a bit backwards to drop thousands on one snake and then give their snakes the bare minimum of care instead of spending that $$$$ on better equipment, better caging and maybe some stimuli (multiple hides, pieces of wood... fake plants) for their herps!

[kibakiba]

I'm sure people see it as more of an investment, not something like a pet. If they have that morph, and another morph... They can (maybe) create better morphs and make even more money, maybe even making back the loss they had with that snake.

That said, I see morphed snakes as just something beautiful (in some cases, at least) to look at, and things like that for me have to be 100 or less.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I'm sure people see it as more of an investment, not something like a pet. If they have that morph, and another morph... They can (maybe) create better morphs and make even more money, maybe even making back the loss they had with that snake.

That said, I see morphed snakes as just something beautiful (in some cases, at least) to look at, and things like that for me have to be 100 or less.

Ok I am bored and i have to keep my feet up to reduce the swelling per the doctor so...

You are right, it is an investment... but.... that's the thing. People get so caught up in the dollar signs they see that they seem to forget they are working with living, breathing creatures. if you are going to use a snake as an investment why not treat the thing like royalty?! Besides... there are so many investments we could make that would not involve a living thing.... but like I said. I don't take issue with people as long as their snakes are cared for entirely on at least, a basic level. if you want to buy investment snakes, because you truly LOVE keeping snakes and you'd like to make money doing it, and you are not cutting corners at the expense of the snakes, then that is AWESOME. But i do take issue with the people who come into our hobby with that "I am going to breed snakes and get rich quick!" attitude and with that in mind, will attempt, on purpose, to keep cost at a bare minimum to maximise their profits. It's easy to spot those who came into this hobby with a passion, and to sort them from the ones that made the choice to enter after seeing the high dollar values some animals fetch. unfortunately even some of those that started out with a true passion for herps lose their way eventually. In this little community, we do not see it going on for the most part, as we are simply a group of people that loves garter snakes and many here have just that, some garter snakes, similar species, and nothing else! For those of us that are much more involved in all aspects of the reptile hobby, it's a bit more obvious. I am sure though that I am not the only one here that tires of having to skip half of every reptile show I visit because half the tables, sometimes more than half, are ALL ball pythons. Don't get me wrong, BP's are nice snakes, they are the perfect size, easy to handle and maintain... heck, I even once had about 10 of them myself! But I quickly realized, they are not for me and neither are the majority of people associated with them..... and they come in every shade of... er.... brown. and yellow and... white there is! :P I mean heck, the more morphs you stuff into one, the less pattern it has and the whiter it gets. What is not to love? LOL. But on a serious note I don't blame the snakes, but it's pretty obvious that money is the deciding factor of wayyyy too many people and it interferes with those of us with a serious interest in something other than one or two types of snakes! Not to mention the "dumbing down" factor even I, in my short time, have witnessed. When I first started going to Hamburg at 14 there was a lot more variety, and people who had their special niche and could tell you ALL about the snakes they are working with. One of my favorite tables was a guy who did all asian rats. Now it's a struggle to find a single healthy asian rat that's not a flipped animal..... or a vendor that actually knows a good deal about the animals they keep even if it IS something other than BP's. And having vended last show, I had a king rat snake and a pair of mexican night snakes at my table. Only a handful of people were able to ID those animals the entire show. But what baffled me more was how many people "IDed" my night snakes as "jungle corns". And quite a few people seemed to think my king rat was a bull snake. LOL!!!! And of course there was the usual complaining about the prices on the garter snakes at my table because they are "just garter snakes". Apparently when it's "just" a male elegans terrestris or "just" a female sauritus nitae $50 is far too much to ask! They sold anyways because luckily there are still some competent herpers wandering the crowds. But they are getting harder to find. And I am frustrated.... can you tell?!?!

I'll admit.... I do make it harder for myself. I mean.... I take interest in the oddest of creatures. Like the masticophis (coachwhips) genus. Do you know how HARD it is to find any sort of masticophis at a show? Or people that are even willing to entertain the idea of them as pets?! I have 7 masticophis, including a pair of the MAJESTIC Sonoran Whipsnake (google it!) and no one even believes me when I tell them they CAN be kept and they can even be handled. They are like keeping a cross of a giant garter snake and a bird. They take a good deal of patience to win over but I think most garter people would enjoy one if they were willing to give them a try! Maybe some day when I am feeling brave enough to breed mine and tackle the task of rearing tiny spawns of satan... you all can have some!!!

[kibakiba]

You have a tiny spawn of satan in your belly right now, how hard could it be to raise 20 more, smaller spawns of satan?

(I am kidding in case you cant tell )

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

You have a tiny spawn of satan in your belly right now, how hard could it be to raise 20 more, smaller spawns of satan?

(I am kidding in case you cant tell )

hahahaha! Sometimes I swear she kicks me in the ribs on purpose!!! ouch! it hurts. not to mention her head feels like a mortar and pestle on my bladder at times and that hurts even more :P

I'm totally ready to be done with the pregnant thing.

20 additional spawns of satan would probably be a baaaad idea at the moment. Coachwhips can be some of the most difficult baby snakes to start because they often come out wanting to eat lizards. And getting lizards as feeders is a drag.... at least for me it is since I live in PA. So there would be the task of obtaining plenty of lizards to start the stubborn babies with.... and then switching those onto mice before I can sell them! All of my adult coachwhips are LTC and have eaten f/t mice from the start.... so I know they at least consider rodents to be food. It took months for my westerns to trust me enough but now they will even eat them out of my hands. My easterns and my sonoran whips will still only eat mice that I "hide" in their hideys and they magically disappear overnight. I am still earning their trust. My pair of red westerns I have cracked pretty good. The male even comes to me and "begs"!

[EasternGirl]

Sorry to change the subject but...I just got back from the vet...my dog, Presley, has to stay overnight...he got one of my son's sleeping pills and ate it earlier tonight. So they have to monitor him overnight...he was showing some signs of decreased heart rate but they are giving him IV fluids and they said his prognosis is good. And speaking of money....$800 for this emergency vet visit....luckily I have it on credit and I have pet insurance to reimburse me. Long night...

[snakehill]

That sucks! Hope he is okay!! I worry about my animals getting into my Prozac

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Hope your doggie is okay! It's always scary when they accidentally eat things....

My cheek is currently bleeding... I just took a full on chomp to the face from my female sonoran whip snake!!! It was so cool... she looked me dead in the face and used some incredibly good eyesight to nail me from 4 feet away! Full body launch.... I love a smart snake.