| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Verhus |
Posted - 28/01/2014 : 23:48:10
The latest photo's of Cornflake, I hope I've done this properlly re. size etc! |
| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| smart bunny |
Posted - 30/01/2014 : 13:40:27
Oh no poor Cornflake - I bet Teigan felt awful! I expect he'll be right as rain next time you get him out though. If he is a bit more skittish then don't worry, just take it slowly again and he'll soon be OK again. |
| Verhus |
Posted - 30/01/2014 : 00:28:31
Thanks for that Smart Bunny, it makes sense as I didn't think he was quite that long but it's very difficult to measure him as he's never straight and still long enough - he's only ever still when he's curled around an arm, or something, having a cuddle. Razee, I will check the skin again to be sure (never thought of that either!) but I think he's fine as his eyes aren't blue at all and look good. The skin is at Teigan's school at the moment, she couldn't wait to show it off as her teacher is scared of snakes apparently.
Today was his handling day but it was cut short to just 20-mins as Teigan knelt on the end of Cornflake's tail!! It looks fine, no apparent damage, but he certainly wasn't a happy bunny at the time, poor wee thing. The end of his tail is so delicate and minute, I hope she hasn't damaged his ability to rattle it or something - not that he does that often anyway but I just hope he's okay. He just ran off and hid under the pillow at the time but when I lifted the pillow away he sat up in defence - like you see in those snake-charmer pictures - but he didn't strike. I figured he'd had enough of us at that point though. I'll check it when he's out again tomorrow or Friday. |
| Razee |
Posted - 29/01/2014 : 20:21:39
Wow, he had no problem with that mouse.
Just check one thing - you said the skin has eye holes in it? Have a look, if the eye caps are there, on the skin- if there were holes, that could mean he hasn't shed the eye caps. I'm sure they will be there, when you look, as it sounds like he shed with no problems. :-)
Congrats on being confident handling him as well, and glad your daughter is enjoying him, too :-) |
| smart bunny |
Posted - 29/01/2014 : 11:29:40
Sounds like you are all getting on really well, so glad Teigan loves her present :D He certainly looks to be taking that large mouse no problem :)
Snakes always tend to be a bit grumpy whilst in blue - not surprising as they can't see very well and feel vulnerable, so it's not unusual for them to just hide away the whole time (you do get exceptions of course!). Sheds tend to strecth, so the shed will be a bit longer than the snake. For a rough estimate take off about 10% to allow for the stretching. |
| Verhus |
Posted - 29/01/2014 : 00:58:45
These have turned out a bit too big again, sorry, but I don't seem to be able to make them a better size.
I have been away from the forum for ages and LOTS has happened with Cornflake since then! I want to Thank EVERYONE in the forum. All of your help, advice, and just reading how you all get on with your own snakes has helped more than I can say - I've gone from being really quite scared of Cornflake to him now being a brilliant addition to the family, in just 2 months.
My 8yr old daughter (Teigan) LOVES her Xmas present and kept the name Cornflake for him. She's not nervous at all with him and has started to make/build wee obstacle courses / adventure sites for him (using cornflake boxes and cardboard tubes etc) which he's loving! (He seems to be sort of smiling and plays peekaboo.) She's also really excited showing him off to visitors who mostly seem to assume that snakes are either terrifying or boring - nothing could be further from the truth! Cornflake enjoys going up the stairs (uncarpeted) via the bannister and coming down via the steps which looks cool - zigzaggy! He really doesn't like carpet, he just moves creakily as if to say "Eww, this feels nasty". He just loves the chance to stretch out on handling days (he's still in the too-small viv) and we've upped them to half an hour at a time, 3 days per week.
As you can see from the photo's, we've upgraded him to Large mice now and he's coping with them fine - although the greedy wee sod keeps poking his head out of his den afterwards as if to say "What, only one?" as we built up to it by giving him one medium and one small for a few weeks. He seems to like them slightly warmed first, although that makes them smell bad. Are there other things, apart from mice, we can feed him? Would he like a bit of variety or would it upset him?
He gave us a fantastic Hogmanay present by shedding his first skin, with us. It was a huge surprise as I thought the 'blue' period would take longer but it was just over a week and he only missed one feed. His skin came off in one entire piece and it was amazing to see the little eye-holes in it - hadn't expected that - as well as the wee 'bottom' area which we had wondered about (about 5 inches from the end of his tail). He left the old skin wrapped around his log for us to find in the morning, very considerate of him, eh? We measured the old skin and it was 5 foot 2 and a half inches long! Longer than I'd thought he was. His pattern still looks the same but he felt gorgeous afterwards, smooth as silk with a soft wee belly. How often do snakes shed their skin? Does it make them feel ill? He seemed a bit, well, upset I suppose but he seemed to handle it fine and I didn't do anything different with him that week. Just left him to get on with it really and made sure he had fresh water (which he didn't seem to use, as usual - I've never seen him drink or go into the water).
Anyway, after all of your help (direct and indirect) I just wanted to let you know how things were going with Cornflake. He's pretty amazing 
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