I'm back!

[bladespark]

I forgot to take photos of the reptile show, or of the hotel, the camera got left behind for the one, and we just never got around to it for the other. But the trip was a lot of fun! I did the following:

Looked at a ton of critters. I saw some etremely pretty snakes, including a whole litter's worth of tiger reticulated pythons. Stunning, but at a max size of well over twenty feet, too big for me! The babies were twice the size that Anthony is now.

Held a stunning young adult rainbow boa that I wanted to steal! It was a beautiful dark red Brazilian, somewhere around 4-5 feet long. Also held a really amazing ball python morph, but I've forgotten what it was called. Might have been a bumblebee? It was sort of butter colored, and the black areas were very small. Extremely attractive snake! But neither of those were for sale.

Failed to find a suitable rainbow. There were, other than the large display-only snake I held, just four rainbows there, all Brazilians. Three of the four were just plain. Brown tones with maybe a little orange in them, they nearly could have been Columbians. Not impressive at all. The fourth was... okay. A little red in it, but still very, very dull. If they'd been cheap, I might have gotten and liked any one of them, but they were priced from $140 to $160, which is significantly more than I'd been looking to pay, so no rainbow boa for me. I may end up ordering one on line, or I may see about getting one locally.

I ate the best steak ever! It's funny, really, how you can't remember the details of flavors sometimes. I remembered that I had thought it was the best steak ever, but I couldn't remember exactly how it tasted. It had been something like three years since I'd been there last, after all. But man... so wonderful. Soooooooooooooooo worth the price tag. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. (If you ever want to blow some money on really amazing food, see if there's a Ruth's Chris near you. They are a chain, but a very small and upscale chain.)

I spent way too much on books at Powells. I didn't even get that many, just four. But one was a Watership down picture book that was made from stills from the movie, which I couldn't resist, and another was a brand new Mercedes Lackey book from her fairy tales/elemental master series, and it was the Puss in Boots story, and I really didn't want to wait for that to hit paperback. So I bought two big hardcovers, which really eats into one's money fast.

I also got a new set of clothes, though I can't say I "bought" it, because JJ's mother basically gave it to me, she wanted me to pick out something nice and put it on her card, which JJ is authorized to use. So we did. It took for-freaking-ever to find something I'd be caught dead in. Modern fashion for women just now is alternately 80's-tastic, loud, and trampy. Ugh. But I did eventually find a very nice outfit. JJ had a worse time, he was looking for some pants, and apparently cargo pants have gone out of fasion just now, because we had a time and a half finding any.

Then I made the mistake of going into this cooking store, and they had Scharfenbergers! Nearly the whole line of baking stuff! So I bought a block of the pure unsweetened chocolate, and a bag of cocoa nibs. I've always wondered what those tasted like, now I get to find out! I also found a See's and bought some apricot delights, which I love and haven't had in way too long.




Yes, I bought a snake. It's a corn snake. He's probably nearly as long as Anthony, but not even half as wide. I never really had much interest in owning a cornsnake before, but... he was so pretty, and I was so dissapointed in the rainbows I'd seen. He's far brighter than any of them, even if he's not irredescent. He's also of indeterminate gender, and is about a year old, being something of a "runt" who didn't grow his first year because of being a picky eater, but who the owner finally got on f/t mouse pinkies, and who's been doing much better since. Or so I'm told. He is quite mellow, doesn't seem to be bothered by anything, and is much more active and exploratory than Anthony. He's already gotten down my shirt twice and is currently exploring my hair. Very friendly and personable, and was only $25. He's some kind of morph apparently an unusually bright and striking "normal" not a morph. His color is neat though. It's brightest on his head, as you can see in the pictures, and fades to a darker, more subdued color along his body. (JJ helped pick him out, and I'm pretty sure chose him over the others because the darker spots on his back are Penterian Red.) He's living in Anthony's food dish, which I cleaned out for him, until I can get him a proper tank.





Now I just need a good name for him!

Comments

[flykat.livejournal.com]

that is an awesomely cool snake :)

[harliquinnraver.livejournal.com]

ooh hes gorgeous!! congrats!

and welcome back! :D

[ellixis.livejournal.com]

What a lovely corn!

[malakim2099.livejournal.com]

Welcome back... for some reason, I think Orville when I look at the snake. I don't know why, I just do. *grins*

One of these days, I must take a vacation to a real city, and discover all these cool places you talk of.

[tarathene.livejournal.com]

*ahem* It's a snake, a snake.

Very pretty! I for one would love to be able to have a twenty foot snake, or any, really, but not for now. Maybe someday I can move up from taking care of someone else's cats and fish and into the category of Acquirer Of Rare Antiquities Pet Owner.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

The problem with owning a twenty foot snake is that it's quite possible for the snake, not even maliciously but purely by accident or instinct, to kill you. They say that a person alone should never ever handle a snake longer than ten feet, and one person for every six feet worth of snake is ideal. Well, that's one problem. The fact that it needs a bedroom of its own to have a proper enclosure, and the fact that it will eat things like chickens, rabbits, or even small pigs or goats are a few other problems.

They're awesome, and I love to look at them, but I'd never want a giant constrictor. Although if I did get one, I think a tiger retic. would be awesome. That or some flavor of Burmese. You could not pay me to keep an anaconda, people who own those are insane.

[tarathene.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know it's not easy, and I would never try doing such a thing by myself. It would be a group effort most assuredly! I doubt many places even allow them to be kept without special permits and such for one on that scale. Small snakes are nice, I'd like to be able to pick my pet up and have it glide around on me if it wants to without worrying about dying. *grins*

[reaverta.livejournal.com]

...okay, he's downright nifty. Pretty!

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Oh good, you're not insane! *grins* I do appreciate the appeal of a large snake, but to me a 7 foot big redtail boa is "large." It's dang heavy to carry, at least! And coils all over you. Very neat. I've thought about getting a redtail, but visually they're not that appealing to me.

[tarathene.livejournal.com]

No, I try not to be insane when it comes to things like that. Just other things, since I very clearly am insane at times. ;) I know at least one person I would very much like to be living with who enjoys snakes also, but I doubt even she would want anything that large. That is the kind of thing best left to a really good zoo that treats their animals properly, or just simply left to be in the wild. Very few people could ever handle an animal that size, even with help.

NEET!

[aazhie.livejournal.com]

he is lovely! i think he will be gorgeous. yeah, big snakes can be spooky, especially since people theoretically can be killed by even large corns and balls if they wrap your neck too tight. Haven't heard of it, but i suppose it's possible.

Re: NEET!

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Uh. You'd have to be sound asleep or drugged out of your mind, or suicidal and just sit there, and even then it's not likely. I've managed to pry a 6+ foot redtail boa off of my neck when he coiled around it without much difficulty. Getting killed by a much shorter ball, or a both shorter and weaker corn may not be possible at all. Especially as the strangling strategy they use has nothing to do with the neck, when they're killing prey they wrap around the chest, and constrict in every time it lets out a breath, so it can't take a new one. Since your neck doesn't go in and out like that when you breathe, their instinct wouldn't lead them to constrict it powerfully. The one that wrapped around my neck was just trying to anchor himself while climbing me so he wouldn't fall off.

[lightgreendryad.livejournal.com]

I think of the name Jim when I see him. No idea why.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Pretty! I snuck a corn snake home once, but one of my cats let his loose, never to be seen again. Alas.