Pets

[sammythethief]

Slash (a six year old ball python) decided to do some climbing and acrobatics after he ate yesterday.

Spoiler

We pulled the bottom drawer out for him just after I snapped the first picture. He thought he was king of the world when he climbed up there. We had to hold onto the jug at the top (we use that to refill his water bowl) so he wouldn't curl around it and then fall. You can still see some areas of his skin are lighter - it's been so dry here that his shed stuck, and he wouldn't come out from beneath his hide for me to see that he actually was in shed until two days ago. I've been misting the tank twice a day since.

It also seems that the oldest captive ball python lived to be over 48 before she died. Slash is actually a female, too. We took him to the vet once and we said he was male, and they checked and said, "Nope! Female!" But he prefers to be called he and asked us to respect his life choices. So I get to look forward to many long years yet of silly python shenanigans!

And maybe when we have our own house with a designated reptile room, I can get a burmese...


Also, an update on Sora.
He's doing so well Energetic and playful and jumping up and down on the bed six times before he finds a spot to lay down for the night. The cosequin tablets are miracle workers and I shall swear by them for the rest of my life

[TNHawke]

Aren't some things rather obviously with birds? Like in the wild?

Not at all. Especially not with wild birds. Most birds are prey animals- even the birds of prey, if given the opportunity, another animal would happily make a meal of them. Predators will go for the sick and elderly and young; the ones too weak to escape easily. So, in order to avoid being eaten, they will hide their symptoms and act normally for as long as possible. By the time you SEE them acting sick, they are generally extremely ill and need immediate and hard core veterinary care. As a bird keeper, being highly aware of what is normal is essential. Any changes to the color and/or consistency of their poop, their eating habits, their sleeping habits, singing habits, interaction habits, how they sit, and move and breathe: all of these will tell you if the bird is feeling well or not.

Slash (a six year old ball python) decided to do some climbing and acrobatics after he ate yesterday.

Fun snakey! I'm not too keen on the large snakes (I'm more a colubrid person when it comes to pet snakes) but Slash looks awesome. Don't they usually curl up and lay still for a while after eating?

Also... MadameRed is male?

[Anira]

Aren't some things rather obviously with birds? Like in the wild?

Not at all. Especially not with wild birds. Most birds are prey animals- even the birds of prey, if given the opportunity, another animal would happily make a meal of them. Predators will go for the sick and elderly and young; the ones too weak to escape easily. So, in order to avoid being eaten, they will hide their symptoms and act normally for as long as possible. By the time you SEE them acting sick, they are generally extremely ill and need immediate and hard core veterinary care. As a bird keeper, being highly aware of what is normal is essential. Any changes to the color and/or consistency of their poop, their eating habits, their sleeping habits, singing habits, interaction habits, how they sit, and move and breathe: all of these will tell you if the bird is feeling well or not.

A personal example of this was my first budgie.

He was active, playing, and "talking" to me at the pet store, which is why I bought him. Even after I got him home, he was flying around the cage, eating and drinking fine, playing with a paper towel tube, and climbing all over my hand. Next day, it looked like he had tried to fly to the floor of the cage, but more fell than flew. I picked him up and held him, he tried to fly but just laid there flapping his wings. Called the vet and managed to get him over there (3 hour drive one way). They looked him over, but without testing (that probably would have killed him) they couldn't tell what was wrong, but he was sick before I got him. They gave him fluids and antibiotics and sent him home (with more antibiotics for me to give him the next day). It was late when we got home, so I laid on the couch with him to maybe take a nap. Within an hour he died in my hand.

I took him back to the store the next day and got a new one, of course. They have a 14 day guarantee.

[sammythethief]

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Slash (a six year old ball python) decided to do some climbing and acrobatics after he ate yesterday.

Fun snakey! I'm not too keen on the large snakes (I'm more a colubrid person when it comes to pet snakes) but Slash looks awesome. Don't they usually curl up and lay still for a while after eating?

Also... MadameRed is male?

I think Slash is big because he's actually a female, biologically. Females tend to be larger than males. That, and he's always eaten very well - ball pythons have a bit of a reputation for being picky eaters, but we've never had a problem getting him to eat. I suppose that means he's healthy and happy!

They're supposed to, statistically. They're supposed to prefer to go back into their enclosure and allow their food to digest. Not Slash. If I try putting him back into his tank, he literally fights me. He curls around my arm and presses his tail against the lip of the tank and absolutely refuses to go back in until he's had some time to explore.

Nope, last time I checked, I still felt like a girl. The man in the mirror is my husband.

[TNHawke]

lol. silly snakey.

and Ooooohhhhhhh! That's right, someone was holding the camera. Derp!

[Silenxia]

, that snake knows what he wants for sure. I'm feeling so happy now because I'm going to make a story that will be published that is based on my hamster and guinea pig. It's a children's book, but it's kind of in the infant stage. So far Boo (Muka) has gotten out from his cage and is now talking to the guinea pig, Peewee (AKA, Petrie)...it's going to take a while but then Muka travels around the house then finally decides to go home and he is asleep in his corner when his owner finds the door open.

[TNHawke]

You found a publisher before the story is fully written? It does sound cute though.

[Aesop]

Besides being a pet-a-holic, most of my jobs have revolved around working with animals. For my own little "zoo" I have around 16 hedgehogs (I breed, so am counting the babies, although my personal herd is currently 6 breeders, two retired females), four cats (one is my Other Half's cat. Funny enough, the only non manx cat.), two blue tongue skinks, and four horses. Hopefully soon I will be able to pick up a tenrec. Or an African pied crow. I miss having birds.

For my work with animals, I went to school for veterinary technology, and worked for a time as a vet tech, before working on a dude ranch as a wrangler. While doing that, I also did wildlife rehabilitation for song birds. I do not have the ability to bring baby birds to work anymore, so had to give that up. From the ranch I worked on a private farm as the barn manager. Never again. Never again! Now one of my jobs is as an animal control officer. That is one of my more interesting jobs. I am also in the progress of trying to start an educational program doing animal therapy with local children with a few of my pets. I have a mini horse who would be great, a couple of the hedgehogs, and at least one of the lizards.

One of the things I personally feel is sad in the animal world is the number of people who get an animal because they want one, but have no idea how to care for it, or end up taking care of it improperly. I run into so many poorly socialized or trained dogs in my current line of work, or even just abandoned dogs. With the exotics, I do a bit of rescue. So many hedgehogs sent from home to home to home, with socialization issues because people did not know what they were getting into when they got the animal. Sometimes I feel that pet ownership should come with classes, so people will know what the deal is before getting the animal. And don't get me started with the number of cats who get dumped off at the farm. I see a new one at least once a month. Can only trap, spay/neuter, vaccinate, and release.

[MothballMilkshake]

Trap/spay/release is the best, unless they are social enough to be rehomed. We have quite a few non-kill, non-profit shelters here that rescue cats from death row and keep them for however long it takes to get them new homes.

Our budgies currently have three pairs with eggs. One pair we've had breed before, and they produce healthy babies, so they should go well. Another pair we bought paired but they hadn't settled in till now, both of those pairs have six eggs each.
The last pair we have bred before, but she's always neglected her babies and let them starve once they grow to a certain size, and then she interferes with the other babies so they die. So she's in a separate breeding cage inside the big aviary with her mate, and she has 4 eggs, hoping that she will do better this time

[Aesop]

Would that there were such agencies around here. There are a couple of foster groups for cats, but they seem mostly interested in kittens. Easier to find homes for, and not end up keeping for years, I suppose. My folks do kitten fostering for an organization, but they are almost always too full to take on many more creatures.

Bird breeding is fun. I had a pair of lovebirds, who were "both boys" who kept having babies one clutch right after the other. If they were not a bonded pair I would have tried separating them, but that would not have worked for these two. I ended up finding an experienced bird breeder to give them to, knowing I could not keep up with the number of babies. She was far better equipped to deal with figuring out how to keep them from constantly laying eggs, as well. Couldn't have been healthy for the mother, the rate she would lay.