Miracle find

[wolfpacksved]

Is it possible that Scar's absence was due to him attending one of those town hall health care meetings that are becoming the trend these days? Seriouslythough, any radix that ends up in your possession appears to treated like royalty as they well should be. Keep saving those radix!

[guidofatherof5]

He's back home and no worse for the wear. The Vet. said it was an abscess. He lanced and drained it. A week or so of medication and he should be fine. Now he has another scar. How fitting.

[Mommy2many]

Good job, Scar. Glad to hear you are on the road to recovery!

[justme]

Maybe you can submit your story or stories (hell, you have so many!!!) to Animal Planet! I know we would all love to see a glimpse of Life on the T Radix Ranch!

[guidofatherof5]

I thawed out some pinkies tonight. I started with my group of T.s.parietalis(red-sided) The more time I spend with these guys the more I appreciate them. They are really starting to grow on me.
But back to this post.
When I moved to Lucky's enclosure I was meet by Big Girl. She knows that the towel I bring with me has the pinkies inside. I allow her to free-feed.
Then my boy Scar stuck his head out of the logs. He came right over to me and took a pinky from me, then another and another and another and finally his last one. I feel good with his eating and the fact that he's back with the family but I'm also concerned that he doesn't seem to be filling out as quick as I think he should. It may be nothing but I also know that the lack of weight gain can be a bad sign. I think he's an old male and I hope he's just slowing down and changing on me and not coming to the end of his life. I love all my radixes but this male has captured my heart and I hope to spend a few more years getting to know him.
He gives me a look like no other snake has. I see something behind those eyes and it's not eat,poop,sleep and breed.
I do have some radixes that are on automatic pilot but Scar seems to be doing more. I'm glad he's with me again. The 4 months he was gone were long and full of worry for me.
I wish you all could meet this guy.

[Mommy2many]

Again, I say "Road Trip!"

Steve, you have given all of us "a thousand" reasons to come & visit you, your family and your extended family (the radixes).

One of these days...

[guidofatherof5]

I pulled my boy out for a little one-on-one time. I let him have a couple of nightcrawlers and then gave hime a bath. I had to get him cleaned up or the other radixes would smell the worms on him. He let me scrub him down and dry him off. I even rub some dirt off his face and he didn't mind. Now that he's back for being lost the Ranch feels complete. I thought I would share a couple new photos.


As you can see he was named well. I've never seen a snake this beat-up before.

[ConcinusMan]

Wow. Glad he's doing OK. I have definitely found garters in much worse shape then that, and they lived. I'm not surprised that your snake is alive and wouldn't be surprised at all if it lived a full life span in captivity.

He actually doesn't look that bad compared to some T. ordinoides I have found. In just one example, I found one in my backyard around June of 1999 and he/she was missing a very large portion of skin in several places on his back. No scales, just raw, still oozing/moist pink flesh and obviously a broken back, kinked at perhaps a 15 degree angle. It couldn't move very well and just kind of went limp when I picked it up but appeared to be breathing normally. There was no ideal habitat around my house but there was a small open field behind our house surrounded by fresh cut lawns, and urban development so there's really no guessing what happened to the little guy. Anyway, he was only about 6 inches long at the time and I figured he would die. But, in spite of considering euthanasia, I put him in the field behind my house and let him be.

Flash forward to 2004. The field behind my house has been gone for a couple of years now. It's now a dental lab and parking lot. All my neighbors and myself, maintain our lawns and generally have very little cover for snakes. In fact, he's the only snake I have ever found in this residential/commercial neighborhood at all. The nearest lighted intersection was the busiest in the state in 2001, just a couple of blocks away. Anyway, 5 years later, I walk out to my backyard via the back door and I find that same snake, much larger now, perhaps 10 inches, but still a bit slow, and still has the kink in his back and obvious scars where the scales were taken off, but when I picked him up to examine him, to make sure I wasn't mistaking his identity, he put up a fuss and bit me! I put him down and saw him several more times that summer, and he always made a mad dash for a hiding spot he had under a slab of concrete near my backdoor.

I never saw him again after that summer, but it just goes to show you, massive injuries, including a broken back, or even a collapsed lung, is no reason to be sure that a snake won't survive. They can, and do survive such injuries. The injuries to your snake look like they are not life-threatening to me and are healing nicely.

[gregmonsta]

It's hard not to develop a soft spot for these little survivors. Clint was ours until her injury became too troublesome this year. I'll be adopting an atratus with a kinked spine soon. Looking forward to caring for him

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah, I was hoping my backyard survivor would show up now and then, but it's been another 5 years so hope of meeting him again is fading. Too many lawn mowers and cats around here.