My Cages Runneth Over...

[Hannibal Lecter]

Good day, all.

Last evening my Lady and I had opportunity to make an offer on some reptiles; specifically, five boa constrictors and one ball python, all being sold by a collector whose LSW was not keen on cohabitation with scaly creatures. Cages, heat tape and the like were all included in this deal; the price he accepted was essentially his original purchase price for only the snakes and the other items were, for practical purposes, free with purchase.

Due to his lack of time to handle them, a couple of the snakes have become a bit irascible and nervous, as would be expected, but should tame down again quite nicely with care and handling.

This will bring the official count in our household up to eight boas and three pythons. There should be at least two Rainbow Boas added sometime next month as well.

I'll post photos sometime very soon. Promise.

It is going to be a very interesting summer...

---
Ta,

Hannibal

[i.v]

where are you going to find 8 cows once a month to feed them?

[Hannibal Lecter]

where are you going to find 8 cows once a month to feed them?

Thankfully they are all small(ish), ranging from about three feet to about six feet in length. The largest ones will take large rats, the smaller ones mice.

Numerous individuals have asked me how I can feed a poor, defenseless mouse to a snake. Easy question: I despise mice.

H

[Fisher of Men]

Wow Hannibal.... I never knew.

That's cool though. So do you feed them live things or dead things? I ask because I couldn't stand to watch them eat live things. I would probably blow chunks.

Wanna see pics

[Hannibal Lecter]

Wow Hannibal.... I never knew.

My interests are many, varied, and generally disturbed...

That's cool though. So do you feed them live things or dead things? I ask because I couldn't stand to watch them eat live things. I would probably blow chunks.

Generally we prefer to feed live food, but for babies we use frozen baby mice. Live is actually less gross than dead/thawed. It is really not as bad as one might think; the prey's suffering is really very brief to be honest. Watching a boa stretch his jaw to accommodate a rat larger than his head is actually kind of neat...

Wanna see pics

I will try to do that sometime Monday at the latest. I need to get them acclimated to their new surroundings before traumatizing them.

---
Ta,

H

[i.v]

how to feed is easy even if you like mice, just put one in there & come back a few hours later.. no mouse, like magic

but these snakes tend to get big.. really big.. really really big.. how will you handle feeding then?

i know a guy who once had a python of some kind, beautiful snake, but it grew to over 10 feet (chickens were no longer enough! )
thankfully, a zoo was kind enough to take the snake from him where it still lives happily probably feeding on whales by now

[greencobra]

Doc, I have applied for the glorious position of killer of spent lab animals (yes, for real) at a local medical school. Maybe we can work out a deal so you can have a resource of unlimited food stuff for your "kids". No charge for the eboli, colera and what ever else comes your way via the furry ones. What's a little disease and pestilence between friends?

Soon I can change my name to DR. greencobra.

[JD Spydo]

Doctor we have more in common than I originally thought. We both listened to too many ALICE COOPER records when we were younger . I have a buddy who knew ALICE (Vincent) personally. He ( Alice) had named one of his boas "Eva Marie Snake" ( after the old Actress Eva Marie Saint).

I knew there was a reason you passed on that Ayoob

Hey buddy this is Spyderco not Snakeyco Hiissss!!!!!

[ghostrider]

Cool Doc.

I used to have a Ball Python myself.

BTW i.v., the ball only gets about 6 Ft. max. Not many Boa's get very big either, depends on which specie. The really big ones are Reticulated Python, Annaconda, and Burmese Python(sp?). There may be others that are big but those are the more common ones. The first two have been known to reach 30 Ft. while the Burmese 15.

Don't know if any Boa's get that large. Anyone?

[Rob]

11 snakes in the house??? You should think about getting a sticker for your door saying "Beware of the snakes!" or something like that.

Sure a better way to keep off burglars than a guard dog

Cheers, Rob

[greencobra]

I know it would keep me away.

[ASmitty]

When I was a teenager I thought a boa would be great to have but as I've gotten older the idea kinda passed. Plus my dog and my cat are great companions (although the cat is a little bit of a bully and beats up on the dog). The idea never panned out in my younger days because my mom wouldn't have a snake in the house (she also wouldn't have the mice or rats to feed them in the house either as she despises all three: snakes, mice, and rats).

[Dr. Snubnose]

I guessing it's not to bad for the mice whose may be dinner for the snake...they are blind ya know....never knew what hit em.....or bit em...or swallowed em....or squeezed em...somebody ought to arm those mice, don't ya think?....Doc

[Yojimbo]

Hi Kurt, i know it might be a tad personal but could you post a picture of your snakes? I like snakes too ( i like all creatures) but my spouse wouldn't allow these wild animals in the house.

Oh and i bet you liked the movies "a series of unfortunate events" you watched with the 6 year old! Snakes and a giant Bowie in one movie! any know if it was a custom bowie?

Greetz

[Stuart Ackerman]

Hannibal,
It must be hard knowing what to feed the pets, and what to eat yourself...
what with having the same sort of food chain?

[Hannibal Lecter]

Hi Kurt, i know it might be a tad personal but could you post a picture of your snakes? I like snakes too ( i like all creatures) but my spouse wouldn't allow these wild animals in the house.

My Dear Yojimbo,

Certainly I will post pictures. The snakes are all a bit traumatized after the day's events, and consequently tonight would not be a good night for a photo shoot. As soon as they calm down a bit I promise I will post pics.

Oh and i bet you liked the movies "a series of unfortunate events" you watched with the 6 year old! Snakes and a giant Bowie in one movie! any know if it was a custom bowie?

Greetz

I don't know about the bowie, but the snakes were good for a laugh.

Pictures forthcoming...

---
Ta,

H

[Fisher of Men]

Doc, I have applied for the glorious position of killer of spent lab animals (yes, for real) at a local medical school.

I read this and it made me sick.

I hate testing on animals. On top of that you also want to extend their pain by getting them after they've been tested on? This kind of thing makes me furious. Why oh why did you have to bring this into the Spyderco forum?

I cannot stress enough how terrible animal testing is and how people should never support it.

I'm sick right now...

[LONE WOLF]

I read this and it made me sick.

I hate testing on animals. On top of that you also want to extend their pain by getting them after they've been tested on? This kind of thing makes me furious. Why oh why did you have to bring this into the Spyderco forum?

I cannot stress enough how terrible animal testing is and how people should never support it.

I'm sick right now...

FOM do you eat meat? Wear leather? Just curious.

[Fisher of Men]

FOM do you eat meat? Wear leather? Just curious.

I eat meat. I go out of my way to not buy things from companies that are blatently treating animals bad. Like Burger King, and KFC. Both are horrible to chickens.

I don't wear leather unless I have to. I try to take every route around it.

It's one thing to kill an animal and eat it. It's another to force the animal to live in crappy conditions, abuse it, make it suffer, and then kill it and eat it.

Also, 95% of animal testing does not need to occur. Perfect Example: A sign I saw at a Sheetz gas station said "long time exposure to gas fumes has caused cancer in lab animals". Really? Wow.......that's really smart. You mean they had to test animals to tell me that? Come on. Any dummy knows that a long time exposure to any fumes can't be good for you. The fact is that for you to get cancer from gas fumes you'd had to freaking practially be in the underground tank for a month breathing that stuff. The testing goes to idiotic levels.

Before someone says something about medical testing I also think that's bad.


I'll stop with this now as it will turn into a heated thread. I can just tell. No more posts for me in this thread.

Cheers,
David