vet visit anxiety

[drache]

Yes, today is the big day.
I get to pack up all the Thamnophis and assorted Lizards and take them to the vet.
I am totally wired with anxiety.
You see, I don't own a car, and the vet is about an hour away.
I get a zip-car.
I have to pack all the animals onto a wheelie thing in a thermal bag with a hot water bottle, go pick up my daughter (and her friend) at school, get the zip-car at the neighborhood garage and hope I don't get lost this time.
Every time I've gone there so far, I've gotten lost in a particular area in Brooklyn.
Wish me luck.

[Cazador]

Glad to hear you've got the hot water bottle trick worked out . Maybe you need one large snake for protection in Brooklyn? Best wishes today,
Rick

[drache]

Aaahhh!!!
It's all over now.
I didn't get lost this time.
We were the first appointment to get in after the vet came out of surgery.
All my animals look great.
The Ornate Plated Lizard (Honey) turns out to be a male, as does the T. sauritus.
My greedy Plains Garter, Samantha, is going on a diet.
The T. sauritus (now named Olive Schlange) does have Nematodes, but the vet says they'll just work themselves out in the next three months or so - no treatment.
He says he's never worked much with T. cyrtopsis, so he's not entirely certain, but he's never had problems switching garters to pinkies.
I've decided I want them, even if it's a problem.
I brought him four Lizards and six Snakes to look at and he charged me a total of $75.-
We did have the most spectacular driving weather and sky - bright blue sky with black clouds and blizzardy flurries - visibility changing from blindingly bright to stuff flying in my face.
I have often thought of the ample food supply for rat eating snakes in the subway system, but they probably wouldn't like all the vibration and most snakes might not be smart enough to survive in there.
At one of the stations I wait at often, I once counted eight distinctly different looking rats in a five minute time period.
Other than that I'm not sure what even a large snake could protect me from . . .

[Thamnophis]

All by all good news. And not that expensive too.

But... what is a zip-car?

[drache]

Zip-car is a car-sharing sort of thing, where there are different membership levels, depending on frequency of use.
I have the $50.- per year membership, for occasional use (the vet). Then there is an hourly use charge that depend on the car and time of the week.
I usually get a car that's $10.- per hour during the week ($12.- Friday - Sunday). The fees include everything, even gas.
The cars are kept in a neighborhood garage. Once the car is reserved over the internet, I can just pick it up by swiping my card over a sensor on the wind shield. The doors open and the keys are inside. When the gas goes below 1/4 full I use a credit card that stays in the car to fill it up before I drop off the car.
Of course, switching to my current vet has brought my vet expenses so much, that the Zip-car is practically free.

[Thamnophis]

Thanks for explaining the zip-thing...

[drache]

you're welcome

My friend Fillipine tells me that Kousebandslange is a bean from Suriname

[Thamnophis]

you're welcome

My friend Fillipine tells me that Kousebandslange is a bean from Suriname

That's right. Long, thin beans taht are used in the Surinam kitchen.



But the thing around the leg is also a "kouseband"

[Stefan-A]

But the thing around the leg is also a "kouseband"

But not a "slang".

[drache]

Thanks for that picture of the beans.
They look a lot like a bean that's sold in Chinatown.