cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/22464890

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/20242450

It's been getting colder around here, so I'm not super comfortable with letting Revy roam around on the cold floor anymore. Instead, I let her hang out on my plant shelf yesterday while spot-cleaning. Because of the grow-lights, the floors of the shelves get up to 40°C in the center - which is very much on the upper end of acceptable basking surface temps, but I'm okay with allowing it for 10-20mins.

And man does she seem into it! She curled up in a cozy spot after exploring the shelf, and when I put her on her perch to go back into her enclosure, she instead scooted right back to the plant shelf instead. I had to actually put her back straight into her enclosure after that, which I don't enjoy doing because it does take away agency, but I had places to be and couldn't leave her on the shelf unsupervised 🥲

In the evening, she was very adamant about being let out, and when I did she crawled right back to th

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/18310392

Royals aren't exactly the most trainable snakes and Revy still isn't super comfy with moving very far, but she's great at orienting towards the target and did really well today 🥰 I'm very proud of her!

If you wanna know more about Target Training, check out Lori Torrini on Youtube! She's pioneering the whole concept, and really really knowledgeable about snake behavior and cooperative care 💕

Any reading recommendations to plunge further into this new rabbit hole? 🤔

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/13705888

It's so scary to see as well, because they look like some sort of neurological issue or seizure 😭

But apparently it's 100% normal and nothing to worry about. Those care guides just never tell you about it!!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14855667

Revy was in there actively exploring for like two hours. The idea was that she'd go back into her humidity box once she's had enough/wanted to hide in a familiar place, but that never happened. So I picked her up and put her on her "you can go back home" perch in front of her enclosure. She refused and started exploring in the opposite direction lol

So she got to go back to the Play Tent and after cruising around for a few more rounds, she finally settled into a paper towel tube. I would have left her to hang out for as long as she wanted, but had other obligations to attend to and didn't want to leave her unsupervised. So she had to go back cannelloni style 🥲

She's been in blue for 2-3 days, so it shouldn't be too long now! The image is from her day 1 of being in blue, she was cruising around like crazy to scout out a cozy spot. She's settled (and immediately pooped) in her warm hide, and stayed in there since.

I was actually a bit worried about an RI before the blue, because she started whistling!! But apparently that's more or less normal for Black Pastels because their noses are weird :')

It was surreal how close they let me get to them. The female was the largest I've ever seen. She was easily over 6ft and bigger around than my wrist.

Péringuey's Adder (Bitis peringueyi) from Swakopmund, Namibia. Venomous.

Spotted Skaapsteker (Psammophylax rhombeatus), mildly venomous but harmless to humans. A Southern African species.

Only a favorite because they're so skinny and wiggly, I like showing the blunt-headed tree snake to students because they're just not what people new to snakes think a snake looks like. There are definitely weirder species out there, but the big eyes and shoelace appearance amuse the non-herpers.

Honduras, June 2023