new addition pics, kathyrn and cori will esp like

[schelmischekitty]

yes, he's been soaking a lot lately.  it took him a while to figure out the bowl was a bowl for water and not a nook to hide under!  he's been in there just about all day now.  he's happy as can be now!  no snotty nose today, no weird noises nothing.

[kathryn]

He's gorgeous!  He'll be even prettier once he has a nice shed.  Sounds like the respiratory infection might be getting better with the heat and nice clean environment.  We just got done giving antibiotic injections to our anaconda at work.  So not fun!  How about the name Rojo?

[schelmischekitty]

thanks for the compliment!  i definately know about giving antibiotics to snakes!  cupcake (my first ever R.T.B.) got bit by a mouse and was given oral antibiotics.  that isn't fun either!  (unfortunately the vet was clueless and she died of infection anyways because he didn't know what he was doing!)  rojo is cute, but i'm not sure aiden could say it ha ha.  like peanut...  he doesn't call him peanut b/c he can't say it, so he calls him "no nuts."  go figure.  this time we're gonna try something super easy to say!  he'll eat tomorrow, maybe that'll help jump start a good shed!

[ZooCrew]

Awwwe, what a cutie he is.  I love snakes and am hoping to get a ball python one of these years much to hubby's dismay (he hates snakes........ but knew before we were even dating snakes were in my future).

Luckily I've never had to give injections, but have seen it done.  Have had to help force feed a burmese python though.  Not too fun, ended up biting a keeper in the process by accident.  Poor guy ended up starving himself to death reason unknown.

I wonder if raising the humidity would help with the URI?  Since someone said they were suggested to take theirs in the shower, raising the humidity, along with heat can act as a humidifier to help clear things up.  Poor guy, it can take some time for snakes to get over these things.

[schelmischekitty]

yes, we've already raised the humidity, as well as letting him stay in the bathroom while we take showers.  he seems to really like it like this!  he sure does LOVE attention!  last night i found that he loves to watch tv and he will sit and watch it till he falls asleep (i guess, his breathing slows and he sits still  for over an hour ha ha).  if you move, he'll turn his head towards the tv again real fast, too.  tomorrow is our feeding, the previous owner said he'd feed live food and just hold the tail outside the box where it couldn't run around and let the boy get it.  i really don't like feeding live though, hopefully he'll take pre killed??  we'll see!

[angelsmama]

do you have tongs???  hold it by its tail with  tongs and move it around  in front of him ,  bob wont take them if im dragging it but if i hold it up a little and  do it he will.. he should take prekilled just fine if he thinks its alive

[schelmischekitty]

thanks!  i'm going to try that.  hubby doesn't have a problem pre-killing it, so that it's "fresh" (sorry i know that sounds cruel), i just don't want to risk him getting bit, esp since he may not be smelling quite right yet.

[angelsmama]

no prob , bob was a live feeder so we have to make him think his food is alive,  tongs have yet to fail me

[schelmischekitty]

i've heard they also make a "wrap" type food that's like a pellet of meat.  have you seen them?  do you know how good they are, or if snakes will eat them easily?

[Scootergirl]

He's absolutely gorgeous!! I love the pictures. I absolutely love snakes.

Thanks for sharing.

[kathryn]

I've never tried the pellet diet so not sure how well it works.  My snake here at the house eats frozen thawed so that makes life a little easier than having to go buy live and prekill.  If you want to try the frozen thawed ones a trick to getting snakes to eat them is to microwave the mouse a little to where it warms up or stick the head in boiling water to heat it up. 

[schelmischekitty]

i think we'll stick to fresh lmao.  something about microwaving a mouse    do you use a separate microwave for that? 

[angelsmama]

i do frozen thawed also,  never heard of the wrape type  food? i thaw mine out in  hot water then blow dry em to add a lil extra heat...

[kathryn]

Oh yeah!  Definitely need a separate microwave.    Here's a tip: always stay and watch the microwave and go in small time increments.  Singed mouse fur stinks but it's really bad if you are heating up a rat.  Cori's right the hair dryer would add extra heat also.

I have also heard that for a neonate snake that is hard to start feeding you can use hamster pinks in place of mouse.  Kind of the red meat versus white meat theory.  Might also work with adults.

I've also heard that they make a vegetarian pellet food for snakes.  Carnivores are just not supposed to be forced to be an herbivore.  JMO

[schelmischekitty]

thanks!  we're going to the store today to pick up his food.  wish us luck!  i think he's about to shed, he's looking a little cloudy all over.  hope we can get one meal in first!  i agree on the veg. pellets.  i thought they were meat ones, kinda odd that they're gonna make them out of veggies.  just had to ask about the microwave ha ha.  when cupcake got sick the vet recommended that we get a blender and blend a rat so we could "force feed" easier...  i couldn't do that!  feeding, no problem.  microwaving, i'd burn them, and blow drying them...  cori if i ever start feeding f/t i'll move closer to you or kathryn!