mad_andy

Thank you to everyone for their comments - I shall answer them all soon, I promise! I gots to run now - one piece of artwork to finish, a box to sort for Oli (the Burm), and some pron for the boss...

Long story.

See you all soon - think of me tomorrow night!!!

Yanno I said yesterday that I thought Bandita was gravid?

This morning I find her guarding - rather wearily, it must be said - a clutch of five MAHOOSIVE eggs and one slug. Five eggs! I managed to pry her out of the laying box and gave her a gentle rub over to make sure she'd passed them all - she had - and she really didn't have the energy to do more than give a bit of a hiss. I put her back and she slouched off to sit with Zico under his hide; the last I saw of them both as I headed off to work was the pair of them snuggled up together, heads resting next to each other as they watched me leave the room.

Awww!

So, around the 18th of September we should hopefully be hearing the slither of tiny scales!

Excited? You betcha!

(In other news, albino bull still AWOL. Bastard.)

( Under here ;) )

So there y'are. ;)

I just 'fessed up to the South Mountain Reptiles order to Slay.

Three hundred and eighty quid's worth of snakes.

I did it by email. Yep, I am a coward, why do you ask...?

If I vanish offline, he's probably chopped me into little bits and buried me under the patio.

*Gulp*

*Frets*

No reply yet. I suspect I am in for a mahoosive bollocking when he gets home....

( Lots of snakey rambling under the cut! )

Think I'm going to need to rig myself up an incubator at some point, though....

Well, Sam appears to be on the mend. He's a tough sonofabitch....

Now to see if I can get him to eat. Something other than my fingers, that is. Wish us luck!

So I thought I'd do an update on my ophidian brood - Slay is coming home today (he's been in Brazil for a week), so he'll probably be all needy and wanting to be paid attention to when he gets here. So god alone knows when I'll get back online.

Plus, I fully expect a bollocking of Epic Proportions for (a) not doing any significant de-cluttering while he was gone and (b) bringing more snakes home.

( So it goes like this: )

And now Slay is home and thus my train of thought has been totally derailed. *Sigh*

Also, I feel I should make a comment on the latest Rockfic...kefuffle.

I consider those on both sides of the fence to be good, true friends. And it makes me sad to see people I love not being happy with each other.

And that's all.

So.

It's 0440.

I just got back from germany.

See, the boss was going to this huge reptile fair in Hamm, Germany, and at the last minute the guy who was going to help him out backed out. So if he could get cover, would I like to go?

Hell yes. So we went. Long old drive from Oxfordshire to Hamm. (It's near Dortmund.)

Found hotel, hotel nice, shared a room with boss who claims I growl in my sleep (?!). Up at 6am to get to venue, and set up table. We were working the show, see. Much wandering around with armfuls of merchandise.

My god there was a lot of people there.

Selection not what I'd hoped, but I did manage to get my female Mandarin rat snake, huzzah! A snip at 250 euros (about £200, which is £150 less than they retail for in the UK!).

All very pleased with her.

Hall hot, crowded, smelly. Lots of rude people. Got a stinking headache. Worked nuts off all day.

Went for a stroll with boss around the hall after we packed up. Got all excited about a cluster of yellow rat snake babies. Sam is such a character, and Sally is so stunted she'll probably never get big enough to breed - so here was my chance to get one that hadn't been ruined by someone else.

50 euro for all four, the guy said.

I jumped at the chance. Looking in the top of the boxes I saw four well grown yellow rat snakes, all coiled up and ready to strike, half buried in their substrate, looking very alert.

It never occurred to me to ask if I could take them out.

So we drove back to the UK. Long bloody drive. Very bad head. Light sensitivity, sore neck, sickness, the lot.

Finally got home. Settled lady Mandarin in. She's bloody wonderful!

Set up a box for the yellows, opened the first box...

Kinked spine. Badly. Must be OK to feed, so will make a good (if feisty) pet, but no good for breeding. Next box...

Same.

All bloody four are kinked. All four useless for breeding. I'm going to have to find pet homes for all four.

To say I'm gutted is the understatement of the century. I'm upset and angry, but there's not a damn thing I can do about it. Caveat emptor, after all.

What a shit end to a fun - if tiring - few days. And now I'm off to bed for a bloody good sulk.

So, Chris-the-boss took on a female Burm, hatched either very early this year or late last. She's small for her age, and because she hasn't been handled - the guy who had her is an idiot - she's as wild as an eagle and savage as hell.

I've been working with her to try and make her realise that being handled really is OK, and you don't need to bite. She tagged me nine or ten times the first day (including ending up with the tip of my little finger in her mouth which, yes, was extremely painful), none at all the second, and only once the third day. So we're making progress.

( Picture of her under the cut - she's called Fleur. )

Dear Sam The Bastard, you are a rat snake. Specifically, a yellow rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta quadrovittata) - and in the wild, your diet would consist, mainly, of rats.

That's why you're called a rat snake.

So when I put a nicely defrosted, warmed up weaner rat in your cage, you're supposed to eat it. Eat it with the same gusto and lack of table manners you exhibit when I give you mice or chicks. Get it?

Not hide behind your bloody water bowl and cower!

...

Stupid snake.

In other news, the royals fed today (I'm amazed, I only brought them home yesterday and was expecting at least a month of hunger strike), and the hatchling corn I was going to give to my sister for her birthday has caused a row in their household. Because her husband isn't keen on snakes, and is apparently throwing a hissy fit about having another one in the house.

Stupid man.

Also, I am driving down to Southampton tomorrow to see Zico, and of course now I can't sleep. Bah.