TwistedSerpent's musings Du jour, and sundry

[TwistedSerpent]

Thought I might as well start a simple blog, just because its here. Things arent always quite 'normal' here which for some is very interesting, even if it is a gross I'm going to throw up but I cant keep poking it sort of way.



I am female, 24 years old. My main interests and hobbies are reptiles, anything that has to do with nature, body modification (tattoos, piercings and such), reading, art, photography,music, taxidermy, biology, animal behavior, and genetics.

So to condense everything, I grew up in Minnesota, kept many pets, by the time I moved out of my parents house I had a good sized reptile breeding operation going. Unfortunatly along with moving out comes bills, I was working three jobs to support everything and I must say it was taking its toll. After a year I was breaking down both mentally and physially working from 4pm to 8am daily. My wonderful boyfriend, who was residing in Montana in the Air Force said it was enough and offered me to move in with him. I took the plunge and it was the best desision I have ever made.

So I packed up two dogs, over 50 snakes, two spiders, and a few of my possessions and drove 1,000 miles west. He had just gotten back from a tour in Afghanistan and was dealing with the mess his Ex left him, we both needed a break from life so as soon as I got there in Febuarywe (or should I said I, he doesnt like to drive) headed south through Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, and into Texas where we went on a hog hunt. We fulled my trunk up with about 200lbs of some of the freshest pork, and made the second part of the loop back through Oklahoma, then Kansas, Iowa, and up into Minnesota again to get another load of my things. Spent a few days there then headed out again west to Montana.

Not long after we started to go through the storm that is buying a house, in the end though we got it, a little place on 2.5 acres out of town. Its a double wide trailer but its in excellent condition, and unlike most of the homes with land here its not flat try and dusty. It really is a dream come true for me, its the life I've been wanting to live since I was little. Still a lot of work to do but everything is falling into place.



We were recently given two chickens, and I brought home two rabbits. I plan on more chickens and a very nice garden for next year, and later on in the future once all my bills are taken care of if I have the funds to do so, a horse.

Because of my Boyfriends line of work (he's a chef out in the missle fields) he is gone for 4 days a time, but at home for sometimes 5 days straight. Most of the moving and work I have done alone, but he is around to get the things I cant phycially do by myself. Because of this work though he wont be deployed, and its very unlikely he will be relocated. 9 more years and he will be retired.

We want to become as self sufficant as possible, at least in the food area, wild game and now with what we can produce ourselves means we shouldnt have to buy meat, along with the majority of our veggies in the next few years.



I'll be warning everyone right now that I'll be posting snake pictures, however if I post anything that might be a bit more graphic it will be in link form with warnings so it can be viewed at your descretion.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

So here are some pictures of our new house and the area around it.

The swingset hes since been removed

A fully enclosed gazebo

Our view from the dining room window

From the loft above the garage

Across the street

 

[TwistedSerpent]

The previous owners were big into gardening, these peonys were thriving despite the lack of tending too.

And many bird houses

 

[TwistedSerpent]

And introducing our three dogs. My two are on the left, Bluewater is the blue heeler and Hawk is the heeler husky mix. Mushu the pit/lab mix is his dog.

We just fenced off this section for them and theyve been doing great in it.

 

[Myia09]

What a beautiful place! You are so lucky! I love your dogs!

Are you on bodymod.org? I am pretty heavy into modification too..not just tattoos/piercings but also scarification/suspension.

I think most RO members are Okay with snakes..what kinds do you breed? I bred leopard geckos now. 50 sounds like a really nice stock! You should post pictures. Do you have a rack system? I saw that you posted about the bin cages. It would be great to see photos.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

I am very big into the the more extreme ends of it myself, I have more scarifications/brandings then I do tattoos.

I work with mainly ratsnakes as far as breeding goes, a lot of corns, bairds rats, and my big interest is in the Asian and old world species. I have bred balls before but honestly just find them boring and too problematic then theyre worth. Everything that can fit are in racks, or were in racks as I need to build new. I'll post pictures later of some of what I keep and how I kept them, its time for steak and beer first.

 

[Myia09]

I don't have any myself, but plan on getting a scarification piece. The bigget thing holding me back is my boyfriends family..they are very judgemental.

I love ratsnakes. But milks have to be my favorite. I agree..I don't find balls very interesting or fun. And now red tails are getting there too..overbred..overpopulated..although pied balls are pretty awesome

 

[TwistedSerpent]

The tough thing about scarification is that how it ends up is based entirely on how your body handles it. Personally I prefer burns and branding over cutting, much more painful but the results for me turn out a lot better. One of the pluses about it is that once healed its much more subtle then tattoos or piercings. Most people dont notice it unless they really look, and really no job can discriminate against scars like they can tattoos. The only drawback is the amount of pain you go through, and the risky business of infection and the chance that it will turn out looking like you survived a fight with a lawn mower, and it will be more permenent then tattoos are if done right. My parents would of sent me to therapy if they say anything back then, but even on hands I was able to hide it all.

Too many people in the hobby are focused on the money, breeding for quantity rather then quality. Some of these 'high end' balls out there are so messed up from the amount of inbreeding done its sad, and the looks of them really arent that great. No one is focusing on a good looking adult animal. Other species are following suite too.

 

[usawan]

i have a feeling i will be finding your blog very interesting in the future...i'm on and off into mods, i've had and still have various piercings (retired everything but the tongue, bridge, and ears, but am considering re-opening the holes in my lip) and i have a costly tattoo project in the works (still doing the legwork on locating an artist). i love the look of scarification quite a lot, and i've ruminated on and off about incorporating some into my tattoo design since my skin scars quite nicely, i think.

your property is amazing, i don't even know the last time i saw open fields of grass...and i'd love to see pictures of your reptiles as well. if i had the space i'd have tons of bugs and small scaly friends.

and as a side note, i am a huge fan of taxidermy...i've done a bit of skeletal re-assembly but nothing involving fur preservation yet. my next stop is learning how to mount insects since i seem to be rapidly becoming obsessed with beetles...

 

[TwistedSerpent]

A lot of the piercings I had had to be taken out for work, so right now all I got in are a handful of ears, two nostrils, septum (probably my favorite, it hides so easy), and a few below the waistline. I used to have two in my lip 'snakebites' or whatever they're called, would love to get them back one day along with others. I'm extremely picky about what I want for tattoos, and where I am locally now the quality of the artists is pretty low so what I want is going to wait.

I grew up surrounded by trees and not liking flat land, but there is something very oceanic about it here that I love. There is more sky then land, and everything seems so deep, fluid, and rolling. Even the rivers around here have a higher salt content so with the right breeze it even smells like ocean. Long ago this all used to be ocean, and the land still retains a lot of its sea bottom look, very hilly and water shaped. We do have mountains around us but we are in a lower area so cant see them from the house.
We have tons of insects and spiders in the yard, unfortunatly though havent seen any of the native resident scaley neighbors.

I love bones and skulls, and am getting into tanning hides. Soon perhaps trying my hand at mounting things. Most of my collection though is still in MN, might be awhile before I see any of it, but I do have a freezerfull of things waiting for me here.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

And buffalo jumps that are a few miles from us. Back before horses were introduced here the Native Americans would chase a herd of buffalo towards these, being led by someone dressed in a buffalo hide. As they approached all they saw was a gently rolling slope and they just followed the one ahead that looked like it knew where it was going. The man leading them then jumped off the edge onto a ledge under it, the first of the bufflo seeing that its a cliff try to stop but the force of the herd behind them push them over. A lot of the herd then falls onto the sharp rocks below, where more hunters were waiting with knives and spears to finish them off.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

And as requested, some of the snakes around here-

A female North Mexican pinesnake (whose actualy for sale) Having a major case of PSS, or Pre Shed Syndrome.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

Eppur, the opal cornsnake. He was one of a set of twins I hatched out in '06. A tiny little runty thing.
Here are his baby pictures-

And here he is today

 

[TwistedSerpent]

And Beltaine, the albino boa. He is about 2 years old now. I traded about $500 worth of my hatchlings for him.

 

[usawan]

your opal cornsnake is beautiful ! i was out with a friend today and we ducked into a pet shop that we've only been to once before (they sell all sorts of exotic things like degus and monkeys and white squirrels and so forth) and they have a large selection of reptiles. there are a couple of immense monitor-type lizards which i would give my left arm for (i couldn't read the names because it was a bunch of really complicated kanji haha) but they had some corn snakes and i wanted one so badly. maybe someday when i can afford it...

your landscape is amazing, if i lived in a place like that i'd never be home, i would just stay out and explore for dead things to collect. have you ever gotten lost before ? i can't navigate my way out of a wet paper bag so i'd probably wander off and fall into a ditch or something...

 

[TwistedSerpent]

How expensive are they over there? I have not gotten lost yet, however I have never strayed far from the trail. Distance out here is challenging it looks like something is closeby but it takes forever to walk there, but then suddenly your there. There are a lot of things found dead on the road, however not until it cools down will I attempt at collecting, its mostly just rabbits and gophers. Under our deck I've found the head minus the ears of a rabbit, and in the mountains I've come across the remains of a premature still born fawn. My bf is very into hunting and pest control so he often has goodies waiting for me. A big magpie (looks like a long tailed black and white crow) just flew by the window. The invasive European house finch we actually use as snake food, they come to an area and push out all native birds, so with a bit of control we end up having some of the nicest native birds around here.

 

[Wabbitdad12]

I can see why you love that house,quite the views.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

So we got another chicken today. We have a makeshift run under the porch and got a cute little pair of D'uccles. Just brought home a mixed breed hen to make a trio.

 

[usawan]

How expensive are they over there? I have not gotten lost yet, however I have never strayed far from the trail. Distance out here is challenging it looks like something is closeby but it takes forever to walk there, but then suddenly your there. There are a lot of things found dead on the road, however not until it cools down will I attempt at collecting, its mostly just rabbits and gophers. Under our deck I've found the head minus the ears of a rabbit, and in the mountains I've come across the remains of a premature still born fawn. My bf is very into hunting and pest control so he often has goodies waiting for me. A big magpie (looks like a long tailed black and white crow) just flew by the window. The invasive European house finch we actually use as snake food, they come to an area and push out all native birds, so with a bit of control we end up having some of the nicest native birds around here.

they were all going for about 10,000en and up, so over 100$USD for even the small cornsnakes. that, plus the cage and all the accessories, is just more than i can afford right now. and i absolutely don't have the space for a tank anyhow.

ah i am so jealous, my cousin found most of a deer once and assembled it (i think these things run in my family ha), since then i have always wanted to find a deer. you are lucky to have a boyfriend willing to help contribute while he is out doing his thing...nothing goes to waste, and you both get to enjoy yourselves haha.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

Check this out I think you will enjoy, I was out in this old shed that I'm going to fix up and turn into a chicken coop. There was a ton of garbage in it and it just smelled old, musky, and skunky. The floor of the shed was just pallets laid down, so I started to remove them and ended up uncovering this -

It definatly explains the skunky smell. Obviously has been there for awhile only fur, leather, and bones left.

I was tempted to collect all the bones but the smell was just getting too much, plus I had too much going on. I did keep the skull of course and am now in the process of degreasing it, and will be whitening it to make it that nice blinding bone white.