Daenerys's Bunny Blog, Reptile House

[Cabrissi]

Just wanted to comment that your snakes are goorgeeouuusss! I had a corn snake and a kenyan sand boa before I left the US and miss them heaps. One day I'd love to get a Black Headed Python, they are stunning although quite expensive.

 

[jcottonl02]

Wow okay. What an honest answer about snake/human relationships. Yeah I can see that- although I read it wrong and thought you said 'snakes are natural losers' !!! Lol! I was like...that's not very nice!!! :rofl:

My uncle has Boa Constrictor named...wait for it..Bo:expressionless

Lol.

But she is fully grown now I think, and am I right saying that females are usually smaller than males? If so then males must be HUGE cos she is just massive.

He has always owned snakes, of sooo many varieties lol. He is a really brilliant owner, from what I can see, and she is a lovely, calm snake from all the socialising and handling he gives her.

Have you ever thought of getting a Python like Sunny?

Jen

 

[Daenerys]

cirrustwi wrote:

You have beautiful animals! Please just ignore anyone who is anti any of your animals. Everyone is here for rabbits, pet rabbits, but almost everyone will respect your love of animals in general.

I am also a huge animal lover and have a bunch of animals. I really need to start a blog, but my camera has gone missing and I want to post pics with them. LOL But like you, I have rabbits and reptiles (turtles, bearded dragons, a veiled chameleon and 3 ball pythons) and cats and dogs and I have had rats and ferrets and chinchillas and so on and so forth.

Keep posting!

I used to have a cat, until one day a dog (not one of mine) attacked her and she died from internal damage :'( I want to get a Bengal cat someday!

I also want to get either a box turtle or a Russian tortoise Those guys are SO CUTE! But I think I am set for now with what I have.

undergunfire wrote:

Adorable rattie boys :biggrin:! I have 4 neutered boys myself. I love looking at blogs with a variety of animals, but sometimes I have to be careful because of frogs. I'm extremely terrified of them to the point where I have really bad panic attacks if I even see a picture of one. Whenever I visit Ren's blog I have to scroll VERY slow to make sure I see the word "frog" when pictures are coming up, so I take that as my warning to either exit out or scroll super fast past the frog pictures :whistling.

We aren't getting Aragorn neutered because we want baby ratties for snake food... >.> We treat Aragorn and Arwen as pets, though. They get yogurt treats and banana and toys and stuff. ^_^

Terrified of frogs? Lol that's a new one! My froggies are just adorable. Once again I don't understand the fear.

Wabbitdad12 wrote:

Quite a variety of animals you have. Well we all have our likes and dislikes of different animals, some rational and some irrational. My little zoo compared to yours, 15 rabbits, 2 dogs and 2 cats keeps me plenty busy. Sounds like you have your hands full there. Do you spend a lot of time cleaning cages? What do your snakes eat?

I clean cages fully at least once a week and do spot cleaning when necessary. Today is my snake carpet cleaning day, the snakes in tanks have repti-carpet and that gets thrown in the washer and dryer with our clothes. The sand boa and the pygmy rattlesnake live in/on sand, so for them its mostly spot cleaning....scooping poo like its a cat litter box For the rattlesnake we have a pair of hex armor gloves, the stuff bulletproof vests are made of. They're made of three layers of the stuff and are completely bite proof (they've been tested thoroughly by us with cottonmouths and copperheads...hoping to test on gaboon vipers some day -- 2 inch fangs!!!) and we ALWAYS wear the gloves when we're doing stuff in his tank.

My snakes eat appropriately sized mice and rats (if they're big enough), all f/t (frozen and then thawed, so no live). "Appropriately sized" means no larger than 1.5x the largest part of the snake. So, for example, Drake and Lyra eat "fuzzy mice", meaning baby mice who have just gotten their fur. Aphrodite on the other hand can eat adult mice, or mice-sized rats. Rats are higher in fat content though, so only Asmodaeus eats them as a staple in his diet. Everyone eats once a week except Asmodaeus because he is already full grown. He eats every other week.

Cabrissi wrote:

Just wanted to comment that your snakes are goorgeeouuusss! I had a corn snake and a kenyan sand boa before I left the US and miss them heaps. One day I'd love to get a Black Headed Python, they are stunning although quite expensive.

I just saw one of those black headed pythons in person for the first time this weekend! You're right, they ARE gorgeous! But I have only heard of them as woma pythons before then so it took me a while to make the connection between the two, lol. My boyfriend had to point it out. The one I saw had a tumor on its intestinal wall down near its vent, it was pretty large. Hard to do things like surgically remove tumors in snakes, too...

jcottonl02 wrote:

Wow okay. What an honest answer about snake/human relationships. Yeah I can see that- although I read it wrong and thought you said 'snakes are natural losers' !!! Lol! I was like...that's not very nice!!! :rofl:

My uncle has Boa Constrictor named...wait for it..Bo:expressionless

Lol.

But she is fully grown now I think, and am I right saying that females are usually smaller than males? If so then males must be HUGE cos she is just massive.

He has always owned snakes, of sooo many varieties lol. He is a really brilliant owner, from what I can see, and she is a lovely, calm snake from all the socialising and handling he gives her.

Have you ever thought of getting a Python like Sunny?

Jen

Hahah no they're not losers! And Bo for a boa isn't any worse than Sandy for a sand boa. No creativity from your uncle or my boyfriend! That's why he lets me name all the animals now XD

In snakes generally the females are larger than the males. In red tail boas, generally females can get 12 feet long where males usually top out at about 8 or 9.

No, I would never get a python like Sunny. They are just TOO HUGE! I do love Sunny, but I will be happy to go play with him at my friend's house rather than getting one myself. I think she got rather lucky that since she got him when he was already 5 years old and 10 feet long that he had such a docile temperament.

 

[DeniseJP]

Daenerys wrote:

And on that note about Burmese pythons, you should only get a Burmese if you have adequate experience dealing with other large constrictors. They are a HUGE handful, and can be extremely dangerous if you don't know exactly what you're doing. They get MASSIVE and if you don't handle it enough when its young, it can grow into an adult over 20 feet long and over 100 pounds with a nasty temperament. That size snake could easily kill an adult human. My friend with the burmese has had at least 10 years experience with reptiles, including large ones, before she got Sunny. Sunny is a very docile Burmese because she is very careful to make sure he is desensitized to being touched in "sensitive" snake places like his face, and he is used to being lugged around and cuddled with and whatnot. Even with all that "training" and "socialization" he is still potentially dangerous around feeding time because sometimes he will chase your feet thinking they're rats. He is only half the size he can potentially get, too, at 11 feet long. These snakes are not for the beginning reptile owner, and colubrids like corn snakes or other species that are generally under 6 feet really don't prepare you for these snakes. Perhaps large red tail boas could be a good start, because females can get up to 12 feet. I can't tell you how many Burmese pythons I see on criagslist because owners get overwhelmed when they start getting bigger. I see more Burmese pythons and other large constrictors than rabbits. Its the same in Florida, owners get too overwhelmed with their large size and just let them go instead of being responsible and finding them a new home.

I heard of one strangling his owner inan apartment in Brooklyn, NY some 10 years ago... the guy was dead in bed and the snake was curled up next to him.

I know about their size and strength, hence, while I love them, owning one involves more experience and knowledge than I have... it was tough enough handling Scratch when he/she gets in a mood... and my friend's ball python was three + feet of strength...

Would love to see more pictures of Sunny, too!



Denise

 

[Daenerys]

I wouldn't believe every story you hear, especially if its on the news. While it is true that these snakes can and do kill human owners, its not always because they're out to get people. Snakes know when something is too large to eat. While a 20+ feet long snake is massive and might appear large enough to eat a person, snakes usually can't stretch wide enough to get past our shoulders.

These snakes are actually large enough that they could a kill a person without even meaning to. According to your story, Denise, I am more inclined to believe that this guy was an irresponsible pet owner who either let his snake run loose or didn't secure the snakes tank properly and the snake saw the bed as a nice warm spot to lay and crawled up there while the guy was sleeping, and the sheer weight of the snake sitting on the guy was enough to suffocate him before he could get it off. Sunny is only thirty-something pounds, but I know if he laid across my arms while I was in bed I would have a difficult time getting him off because at his length his weight is just so awkwardly dispersed throughout his body that he could easily pin me down like that.

So its not always the aggressive snakes that can end up killing people, its the irresponsible pet owners who let these snakes run loose that cause all these death-by-python stories to appear in the news and give all reptiles and reptile owners a bad name.

 

[Daenerys]

Here are some more Sunny pictures:

Sunny all curled up

Her 5-year-old daughter and Sunny

His mouth open

Being chased by the tortoise

He thinks Sunny is a giant banana

We often use Sunny at school as the Herpetology Club mascot. Everyone loves Sunny, if our club is doing anything on campus we get at least a couple people ask "Where's Sunny?" if he isn't already there

 

[RandomWiktor]

Ooooh, Daenerys, I like you Great, educational posts so far. A burm is part of my family, and I like to see accurate information being spread - both about the fact that they are misunderstood & demonized AND that they aren't good pets for the overwhelming majority of people.

 

[jcottonl02]

'Being chased by the tortoise' LOVE IT!!!!! So cute!! I can just imagine the tortoise ambling along behind him thinking 'Mmmmm yomma-banana!!!' LoL!

I think you are totally right about irresponsible owners. Not just reptiles but dogs too!!! And who gets blamed...
NOT the irresponsible owner completely at fault...but the poor animal.
Yes, sometimes, SOMETIMES, it is just an aggressive animal that hasn't been rid of its primitive instincts.

But usually...it's owners. Like with children too.....rubbish parent who lets the child do whatever they want...child DOES whatever it wants..and then grows into an adult who does WHATEVER it wants.

But that is another thread

Jen

 

[Daenerys]

I don't know if this link will work because this is a video on Facebook, but here is Mwomba (the tortoise) chasing Sunny:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=1335575864414

There is one important fact about reptiles to remember, though, that makes responsible pet ownership even more important: reptiles are not domesticated. That is why it is so important that owners are responsible and raise their pets in a way that makes them used to human ownership and handling and everything else.

 

[jcottonl02]

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: Hahahaha aw sooo cute!!!! Does Sunny care? I doubt it- cos Mwomba is so slow! Hehehe

Jen

 

[Myia09]

Wow he look a lot bigger in these photos!

Have you ever seen a lavender albino?
http://gallery.kingsnake.com/data/198female_lav_albino_tiger-med.jpg

There is one at my mom and pop petstore..so beautiful.

and your tortise is hilarious!

 

[jcottonl02]

Wow Myia that is gorgeous!!!!

Jen

 

[Myia09]

Yeah, the one in the store is even prettier. Only $800.00 (Which is a great deal)

But I am going to rescue and have to wait until I can build my outdoor enclosure (which unfortunatly will be years)

Daenerys do you have any photos of her enclosure?

 

[Daenerys]

The tortoise is not mine

No I don't have any photos of Sunny's enclosure. I can describe it though. It is L shaped, with the shorter part being about 3 feet long and the longer about 6 feet long. Its about 2 feet wide and 2 feet tall. It is set in the corner of their office above her fiance's desk. Its getting to be a bit small for Sunny now so they are going to be building a new one for him. They usually give him run of the house during the day as long as they're there so he isn't in his enclosure all that often besides at night.

I don't know much about Burmese python morphs so no I have never seen or heard of a lavender albino, but it sure is beautiful!

 

[DeniseJP]

Daenerys wrote:

I wouldn't believe every story you hear, especially if its on the news. While it is true that these snakes can and do kill human owners, its not always because they're out to get people. Snakes know when something is too large to eat. While a 20+ feet long snake is massive and might appear large enough to eat a person, snakes usually can't stretch wide enough to get past our shoulders.

These snakes are actually large enough that they could a kill a person without even meaning to. According to your story, Denise, I am more inclined to believe that this guy was an irresponsible pet owner who either let his snake run loose or didn't secure the snakes tank properly and the snake saw the bed as a nice warm spot to lay and crawled up there while the guy was sleeping, and the sheer weight of the snake sitting on the guy was enough to suffocate him before he could get it off. Sunny is only thirty-something pounds, but I know if he laid across my arms while I was in bed I would have a difficult time getting him off because at his length his weight is just so awkwardly dispersed throughout his body that he could easily pin me down like that.

So its not always the aggressive snakes that can end up killing people, its the irresponsible pet owners who let these snakes run loose that cause all these death-by-python stories to appear in the news and give all reptiles and reptile owners a bad name.

It was a shocking story when I first heard about it and read about it but your version seems much more likely... I don't remember the details about how he kept the snake housed.

The one I got to hold last year was very long and very heavy - she liked my warmth according to her owner/handler but I could see how she could accidently suffocate someone by sitting on them when they were sleeping. She wrapped a portion of herself around my arm and she was quite a powerful snake - I had no doubt about that!

Thanks for more Sunny pictures - what a gorgeous snake!!!

Denise

Denise

 

[TinysMom]

Ok - I may not be a snake person - but your blog is SOOO fascinating and the picture are just awesome.

I don't see myself ever "wanting" one...but I'm glad I decided to be open-minded to at least continue reading about them.

Thanks for sharing - even a "non-reptile" person is enjoying it!

 

[jcottonl02]

Daenerys wrote:

His mouth open

I dunno why, but I LOVE this picture! It's so....fascinating, and weird- like seeing a bunny yawn- you don't often see it, so when you do, it is pretty intruiging!

Jen

 

[Daenerys]

Yeah it doesn't even look like he has teeth, looks kinda like an old person's mouth XD but trust me the teeth are there!! You wouldn't want to get bit by Sunny.

I'm glad a "non-reptile" person is enjoying my blog You don't have to want to own a reptile to be fascinated by them! They are certainly spectacular creatures, but of course they're not for everyone.

 

[Daenerys]

Just wanted to say that today is the Herpetology Club's brickyard day on the NC State campus. This is an event where everyone in the club brings their reptile pets out to the brickyard (a really big brick courtyard in the center of campus) and we talk to everyone about them and let them hold and play with the animals. Brandon (my boyfriend) and I are bringing some of ours out (Ares and Ovid). This is also going on this Friday, too. Sunny is possibly going to be there. Always makes for a fun day!

 

[jcottonl02]

Ooh that sounds really fun and interesting!

Jen