Other pets (pics and discussions)

[mikem]

oops, double post!

[mikem]

Nice king, Inge! Everyone I've kept have had amazing feeding responses. Open the cage, out comes the king to eat my fingers, lol!

[CrazyHedgehog]

Nice king, Inge! Everyone I've kept have had amazing feeding responses. Open the cage, out comes the king to eat my fingers, lol!

Yep, I think thats why I was given him! very pleased though!

[guidofatherof5]

Nice addition Inge.

[CrazyHedgehog]

Anyone any good at sexing king snakes visually? I'll probably get him probed next week, but I am thinking Male..

[ConcinusMan]

A reasonable guess but kings/milks don't usually display a significant and obvious difference between sexes like garters do.

[guidofatherof5]

Tank:

He spent most of the evening in the bath tub. Around 2200hrs I went in and found him asleep so I carried him to his bed and attempted to put him in it. He was having none of that and decided he wanted to go to the kitchen. I closed all the doors and turned off all the lights. This left the only light on to be my laptop. After a few minutes in the dark he came back to the living room and I attempted again to get him in his bed. He resisted once more. This time he went to his water enclosure and climbed in. About 10 minutes later he came out and snuggled in beside me on the floor. I grabbed on of his blankets and covered him up. He stuck his head out from under the blanket and rested his head on my arm. He sat a listened to me explain how late it was and that he needed to get some sleep. After our conversation he pulled his head back in the blanket and got comfortable and went to sleep.
What a strange and wonderful animal. He could have gone to his bed or any other place to sleep but he chose to sleep beside me. Not normal in any stretch of the imagination for a snapping turtle.
So. here I type with him pushed up against me.
I've got a buddy and he's a 22 pound snapping turtle named Tank.

[d_virginiana]

Everyone's favorite animal! It came in a bit dehydrated and hypothermic, but it's sleeping next to the reptiles' heater right now snuggled into some possum colored micro-fiber cloth. Not getting too hopeful yet, but best case scenario is I can release him in a few months.

Possum1.jpgPossum2.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

Do they require a special milk?

[d_virginiana]

Do they require a special milk?

When they're still in the pouch they require a lot of care; since they're born so underdeveloped they need both milk and antibiotics. They also can't keep their body heat up at all, so he's right next to a heater to keep him as close to 95 F as possible. I've heard that both pedialyte/water and certain brand-name milk mixes work best. Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out. I've never had one quite this young before.

Luckily the jaw is fully developed, which is a sign that he's old enough not to need antibiotics. This was an emergency rescue, so all I could get on such short notice was kitten formula (which doesn't hurt but isn't the best). My husband drove about six straight hours to pick the little guy up