ARGH

[bladespark]

Seriously. The next person who takes a look at a photo of Anthony and immediately starts giving me advice on what I'm doing wrong is going to get beat over the head with a brick! It's happened on LJ, it happened on the snake forums, it happened in a chat room, and now it's happened on Deviantart.

IF I NEEDED ADVICE I'D ASK FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the humorous mention of his initial fear of dinner is NOT asking for advice. Sheesh! A new snake not eating when one has had him for a mere four days is normal, you bunch of self-proclaimed experts! You should know this!

Comments

[harliquinnraver.livejournal.com]

what things are people having problems with?

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Mostly it's feeding advice. Because I couldn't help but be amused by him being scared of his mouse. And of course "he he he, Anthony is scared of his mouse" means I'm having huge feeding troubles and need to be told everything about how to feed a snake. I mean she told me to make sure his mouse was all thawed and not still frozen. DUR! I'm going to feed my snake that hunts in the wild with heat-sensing organs on a still frozen mouse! Dur, I is stupid! Grrrr.

This gal also told me that I MUST have two hides (I do have two hides now, because I want to make sure he's happy, but I really don't think you /need/ two hides, it's just nicer for the snake) and that I needed to get rid of the thermometers and hydrometer I've got and get some particular brand that's supposed to be so much better, because paper thermometers are totally unreliable. (Bunk. They're perfectly reliable, so long as you don't do something to damage them.) She also felt the need to tell me what the correct temperatures are.

Oh, and she offered to answer any questions I might have, which I suppose was meant in a nice way, but it SO sounded condescending. ARGH. I NEVER said ANYTHING about not knowing what I was doing! I didn't even say, this time, that he was my first snake, for all this gal knows I could have owned hundreds before this! *rolls eyes*

[harliquinnraver.livejournal.com]

some people will always assume that they know what is best for YOUR pet. fuck em. if you dont want advice, specify so. some people are just nosy asshats.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Yeah, all my posts with photos of him from now on are going to have a thing about not wanting advice attached.

I just think that should be OBVIOUS. That the default and polite thing to do should be to NOT tell somebody how they should raise their pets. I mean unless you're seeing a case of actual abuse, you should let folks who haven't asked for advice go on without it.

[harliquinnraver.livejournal.com]

reptile people are especially hardcore in that they feel the need to point out EVERYTHING including how you arrange the cage. if it doesnt look like their cage its WRONG ZOMG

[unspeakablevorn.livejournal.com]

I have some advice.

Bite them.

Vorn

[nsdragon.livejournal.com]

Why are you so angry and irascible about small things as of late?

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Of late? I've been posting pissed off rants about stuff like this for years.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

And to actually answer your question - it bothers me. I can't exactly flip some magic switch and be all zen and calm and not bothered. So I vent on livejournal because that's what livejournal is for.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I still advise you to cut up small children to feed him


No-one ever takes my child slaughtering advice. Not even for noisy ones *sulks*

[malakim2099.livejournal.com]

Small children? Nah.

Cut up the nosy people that offer unsolicited advice. Then you solve two problems. *grins*

[svashtar.livejournal.com]

I'd take your advice, but my snake doesn't recognize humans or human-like creatures as food. She's picky that way.

[svashtar.livejournal.com]

Try snakecommunity or snakepictures. They're all pretty friendly, and as far as I can tell, fairly non-judgemental. You can post pictures all you want and not be harangued for it.

Most of the responses I see are of the "ooh, neato" variety, with very little of the "you sux0rs, you're doing it wrong, your snakez gonna dyez, oMG." response.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Ah! I meant to post some stuff to snakepictures, I just keep forgetting. I should go do that now.

(If I get advice there though, I am going to be getting out the bricks and cluebats.)

[glowstickk.livejournal.com]

I am sorry to hear about this. I had the same problem when I first got my blue tongue skink. He didn't eat for nearly 2 months! We took him to the vet, they gave him stuff that should have made him hungry, but nothing. He would drink and all but no food. Then just out of no where, he ate out of the blue. It could be just the new environment, which what you said, is normal. Its a shock to them, and the stress doesn't help them much. Not saying you are doing anything wrong hon. As long as you have read up on them, I would guess you are doing everything right! Hope the people bugger off, and I still want to see pictures of this cutie! I haven't seen any yet.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Here, have a few!

http://bladespark.topcities.com/anthony01.jpg
http://bladespark.topcities.com/anthony04.jpg
http://bladespark.topcities.com/anthony05.jpg
http://bladespark.topcities.com/anthony06.jpg
http://bladespark.topcities.com/kali-tony1.jpg
http://bladespark.topcities.com/kali-tony2.jpg

[glowstickk.livejournal.com]

He looks healthy to me. I dont know what they are talking about!

[realis-kat.livejournal.com]

i stopped sharing pics of my pets when i was told i didn't know how to take care of out bunny, java, apparently letting him hop around the front yard under supervision is bad because he can eats poisonous plants... yeah its not like nature put a pretty clear sense of what he wants to eat and what he dosn't want to in his mind... thats why he eats sock, car tiers, and part of the car down the road...

people are dumb

[web-dragon.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, no advise from me, i have never owned a snake, unless you count the county fair plastic toy snakes.

I just want to see more pics and maybe ask a question or two.

Like what is the proper way to hold a snake? Is there such a thing as a proper way?

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

He he he. Well, sort of. Like any animal there's things you should and shouldn't do. Things about holding snakes:

1. Provide support. Just like you wouldn't pick up a cat by just one leg, or just in the middle, you don't pick up a snake by just one spot, cup your hand under the whole body if it's small. If it's big, drape it over an arm, over your shoulder, etc. so that the weight is distributed.

2. Avoid the head. Some snakes are okay with this, but most don't like their heads touched. Most will flinch away from contact to the head, in fact. A very few may bite if you make a sudden move at their head. (If you have a wild snake, or a very nippy snake that you're worried my bite you, you want to keep a firm grip just behind the head, so you can control the head and keep it from biting, but that's not needed for a snake like Anthony, he wouldn't bite you if you poked him in the eye, he's very mellow.)

3. Be a tree. Snakes are not accustomed to climbing moving objects, and if you twitch and move rapidly and are nervous, they will sense this and get nervous themselves. (This is especially amusing with a big snake, as they will grip tight if you're twitchy, and a big snake has quite a grip!) Hold still, be calm. You can move to support an active snake that's trying to crawl off your hands into space, or you can walk around, or even stroke the snake, but don't make sudden movements, just be calm and relaxed, and they'll be calmer and more relaxed as well.

That's really all I know about myself. There's not that much too it, it's pretty much just common sense.

I plan a photo shoot for this afternoon, so I will probably be posting more photos this evening.