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PaganFireSnake — Old Man Stare Down
Published: 2011-09-12 01:09:55 +0000 UTC; Views: 1401; Favourites: 45; Downloads: 11
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Description
Kane, my ml Tangerine Honduran Milk snake. I also call him my "Old Man" b/c he is 15 yrs old (had him since he was just over a yr old) and he is getting into his golden yrs. He maybe starting to get a bit senile but he is healthy as a horse other wise.
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Comments: 48
How is Kane now? He should be coming in to 19 years old this year.
I could relate to you. My California Kingsnake was about 20 years and kept him since he was six months. I know what is like to have a snake as long as you.
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Fifteen years strong! Dang, such a marvelous snake. I love the coloring on this guy!
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15 years - impressive! My Honduran's probably at around 4 years old now. Hope she makes it that long.
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Thank you.
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TY.
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There are so many gorgeous ones. I haven't kept snakes for more than 30 years. Didn't like feeding live rodents so I decided not to have snakes. I'm getting tempted though by all the beauties I see these days.
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Yeah and there is the frozen/thawed option now too.
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Years ago you really didn't see much of the F/T going on and if you bought a snake it likely was only eating live, so hard to get them to switch. Today with them being bred and raised on F/T I guess it's easier. But boy didn't I hate putting that mouse in. My problem is I like all animals, so it was a dilemma for me. I find myself getting really tempted by the snakes again though. I don't have any plans to go there at this point, but I won't say never, because at some point I'm sure I will see one I can't resist. The pictures people post of their snakes on this forum have really reawakened my love for them.
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I can understand where you are coming from. I don't find it easy to feed live when and if I have to. But when it comes to having to do that or a snake starving to death...I am going to do what I have to, to make sure the snake lives. I used breed my own feeder mice and I actually became quite fond of a few of the breeders. You can see a photo I took of one of them in my gallery. The breeders where spoiled rotten and I treated them with as much respect as I would any loved pet. But breeding your own feeders like that is a LOT of work and it just got to be too much. So I now just order in bulk from companies that specialize in feeders for snakes and other reptiles.
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I agree, you do what you have to to keep them eating. I'm grappling with whether to start breeding crickets. Not thrilled with the idea, but it's a long drive and an expense to go to buy them. Can't imagine doing that with mice. Way more work than I would want to do. F/T would be the way to go as far as I'm concerned. Probably I should just stick to my lizards. They don't need prey larger than crickets or superworms, so I don't need to do mice or pinkies. I REALLY can't handle pinkies. My mother gene comes out big time. I'd be trying to hand rear the pinkies myself.
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Oh I have breed crickets in the past too. Kind of a pain too. I get them whole sale as well, directly from a cricket farm. Better for them to do all the work then me! 
It does bother me more when I have to feed pinkies but thankfully I can get away with F/T's with them as well.
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I'm debating about going that route. But I need various sizes, really tiny for my babies, on up through the biggest ones for my Knight Anole, so breeding them myself may work out better.
Glad you can do F/T on the pinkies. I just cannot get past the baby thing with them.
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Yeah when you have babies you have to feed it can be frustrating and hard to get the sizes of food items you need for them. I two baby corns and small frogs so I have to deal with pinkies and small cricket, silk worms....respectively.
Oh you have a Knight Anole? They are so cool!
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I found this guy in a pet store, sitting in a big tall tank with just a water dish and a piece of bark. I asked the clerk about him and was told how he was so vicious, bites, need to use leather gloves, made the guy bleed. In short a pit bull with scales. I said to myself, he needs to come home with me. He's a great lizard. First day just hid, but then realized I wasn't a threat, sits out and watches everything like a hawk! I don't try to handle him because I think he was terrified by the guy in the pet store. But he doesn't make any attempt to bite me when I put my hand in the tank to do stuff. And I don't wear a leather glove either.
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I got my guy also from a similar situation. He was a sub-adult and the person at the pet store told me he was nasty. He was there for almost a month and I finally caved in and got him. I started off with holding out a cricket in my fingers for him to take. Took about a week and I had him sitting calmly on my arm. He never ONCE showed an once of aggression towards me! The second he noticed I was coming towards his tank he would jump on the plants and wait until I opened the top. Then he'd jump onto the rim of the tank and then onto my arm. He was a sweet and VERY smart guy and I miss him dearly. Anoles, and all lizards, are very smart and if others just treat them with respect and try to see the world how they do they can also have a cool and calm animal like the Knight Anole I had.
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I haven't had mine long, only a few weeks. I think in time he will adjust pretty well. Meanwhile he's eating me out of house and home.
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Tell me about it! but I am always happy when I see a good appetite on a reptile. I live in fear of the hunger strikes. Then you know you're in trouble. I will work with him. Apparently he was at the store for quite a while so I think I will not rush the process, but he is very watchful and is not panicky with me. So I'll just go slow. He's really a neat lizard. He shed yesterday so that's a good sign.
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God i had my fair share of force feeding years ago. Hate it. That's why I'm always on pins and needles with new herps until I see them eating well. Thankfully everyone is doing good in that department.
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I am force feeding a corn right now. I don't have any pic of him up yet b/c I don't want to bother him with that kind of stuff until he is eating on his own. To make a long story short. A friend of mine had a clutch of bloodreds. 10, out of 15, refused to eat on their own. I offered to help her out with one of them. So she shipped him to me and I am now working on him. He's so tiny and it's definitely nerve racking. But it's either force feed him or he is going to die. He is totally healthy other wise. Just doesn't want to eat on his own yet. Though he did show a bit of interest in the pinky I left in his tub over night. He still didn't eat it but at least he's not running away to the other side of the tub like he was. So I have hope that he'll get over this stupid food aversion soon!
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God, good luck with that. I really really hate it when they won't eat. That is absolutely the worst thing about keeping reptiles. Watching them slowly starve to death unless you force feed and hopefully get them to start eating on their own.
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Well the one baby FINALLY took a F/T pink from tongs today.
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So you're making some progress then. I hope the other one goes for the F/T tonight.
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Yeah Lycan, the Granite baby, he ate from the start. However he was a bit fearful and wouldn't take F/Ts...I had to leave a live in with him but he at least went after it after a few minutes. Now today he took a F/T right from the tongs..came FLYING out of his hide at it!
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Love the little tombstone icon. I know what you mean. I get nuts when I have to force feed. And I worry like crazy anyway the first few weeks or more until I see they're eating well consistently, get a sense of their activity levels. I'm like a mother checking on the baby to see if it's still breathing in the middle of the night. But reptiles can be so subtle. You really do have to pay attention to make sure they're doing ok. Good luck.
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I actually have really good news...that baby corn FINALLY ate on his own this past Friday!
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People think you're nuts when you tell them stuff like this. They just don't get it that you can be just like a mother hen with these little guys. It's a huge relief when they eat on their own. I'm going through that with my hatchling geckos. the first one started on crickets very quickly. The others don't seem to get it yet. Though I think they are eating some, but I haven't actually caught them in the process so I don't know which ones are eating crickets. Meanwhile I'm rubbing crested gecko diet on their noses to be sure they are getting something until I know for sure. It is very nerve wracking.
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Unless they have had to go through all of the sleepless nights of worry and all of the hard work of raising something so small and delicate most people definitely don't have a clue! And it can be the hundredth or more animal I have worked with...it's still just as nerve wrecking as the first one! I wish you luck with your geckos...at least with snakes they are a bit easier when it comes to assisting feeding...well I find them easier then if I have to force feed a lizard/gecko species. But no matter the species it'll still make you loose sleep!
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These guys are 2 inches long, with an inch of that tail. I can't imagine holding one and force feeding it without crushing something. Right now I smear the diet which is like a paste on their noses and they lick it off. They're so tiny though they're really only minimally handleable.
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OMG that is TINY!!! I can totally understand what you must be going through with them. But at least they will eat what you put on their faces! I had to use a tooth pick to carefully open the baby corns mouth and even that was making me sweat! I'm small myself, 5'2" and petite, and I have small fingers so can carefully handle the little corn...but it still made me hold my breath. I hope your little guys start to eat on their own soon!
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You and me both. The one that has been eating crickets has grown tremendously in the time since it hatched.I see that crickets I put in last night seem to be gone, but again I didn't see them get eaten, so I don't know who is eating them or if they all are eating them now. I put more in tonight, but they're all still there so far. So I'll see what I have come morning.
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Can you separate them? At least so you can better keep track of who is getting what. I'd try that if you can. But they are eating that diet stuff so that's a good thing. I wish you a lot of luck with them. Let me know how they do!
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I don't have any more small critter keepers at the moment, but also they seem to like to hang out together. They actually curl up in little lizard balls, resting their heads on each other's back. So I don't really want to interfere with what seems like an actual social life unless they get sized to where I need to for safety.
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Awe that is so cute that they hang out like that.
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Awe I love cresties.
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I love them. They are so cute and fairly easy to keep which is nice. Of course now I am dealing with hatchlings which is another thing altogether. Nerve wracking until they start eating well.
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Are you breeding them for any specific color morph? I just had a normal male and he was adorable.
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I wasn't actually intentionally breeding them. Just acquired a male and 2 females when I first went shopping for cresties. They did all the actual work! I have 4 hatchlings. The first two were from a clutch that hatched at the end of august, the next two at the end of sept. As far as I know that is it for eggs. The mother laid them in the substrate of the tank and they hatched on their own. Surprise surprise. So I can't take any credit for breeding!
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They were my first lizards as a kid. I didn't have good luck with them though. They never seemed to do well for me. Of course there wasn't much info available at the time. I am always tempted when I see them. Maybe I should give them a try again.
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I've have pretty good luck with them.
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I will certainly let you know if I do. I am waiting to see what will turn up at the reptile show this weekend. Actually I have enough to take care of so I hope i will just go and look. Ha ha.
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Oh it's VERY hard to just look!
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I know the feeling. It's dangerous for me to go into a pet store even for crickets.
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