Colubrid friends

[wrenridinghood]

I just wanted to share a sweet friend of mine, Vivi, she is my 8 year old amelanistic corn snake and it was her birthday this week!

This snake has the loveliest temperament, I got her as a baby noodle, and she has never bitten me, and is really into our routine. She has a very large bin right now, that she can fully stretch out in, and every week she comes out a few times for time on my plant shelf which is snake proofed and very interesting to her. She will slowly explore it for hours and pause here and there to curl up amongst the plants under the warm lights, while I supervise, watering and tending to my plants.

She is a very good natured creature and I wanted to appreciate the past 8 years I’ve had her!

This was right after her most recent birthday shed!

After she ate her birthday meal, had a shed and a poo, she wanted to come out and she let me know it. She frequently comes out to greet me in the morning and throughout the day, unless she’s resting or in shed

It always makes me so happy to see a nice full shed

And this pic was right before the shed, so she was in blue, but I think she’s so pretty any time <3

Thanks for coming to my birthday appreciation thread!

[beast-blade-wolf_987]

Well happy birthday/hatchday to your nice noodle. Nice to see your pretty face Vivi and wish I could meet you in person like most of your stunning herp kin I see on here. I can’t wait to get my first reptile hopefully in a year or two (was thinking corn snake but now am leaning heavily towards Uromastyx geyri lizards) since getting veggies and the odd bug is far easier for me than getting rodents for food given my state in life at this point.

[meerkatlyndz]

Just curious… Cause im looking to update all my adult dudes… What size tub do you use?

[wrenridinghood]

I think it’s great that you’re taking your time to plan things out! It will mean you find the perfect creature for you! You’re doing the most responsible thing and waiting until you can give them the best life possible with you, too Vivi! Kudos!

Vivi was a bit of a gift; I knew I wanted a corn snake, but my bf whom I lived with at the time brought me to the pet store to get her. It was 8 years ago, and I didn’t know then what I know now, and was in a bit of a rush about things so I said yes and we got her and that was the beginning of a beautiful relationship with her!

I would never recommend someone to do what I did, don’t buy a snake from a big pet store like that, not when this place and local breeders and rescues exist! I did not really get my “choice” of morph or anything, but I was extremely fortunate with her! and she has been nothing short of the most wonderful snake companion you could ask for! So her origin story is bittersweet.

Vivi has always had a really calm and curious temperament, she has never bitten me but will vibrate her tail if I bother her at the wrong times! Lol. She lets me pick her up no problem, and wraps around my wrist/neck and gently squeeze, while we sit or walk around my place or go out on my balcony.

I have a very big plant shelving unit that I snake proofed and let her explore it, she can’t disappear or get hurt on it. Her bin is on a coffee table in my living room in front of the plant shelving. (I have a special shelving unit coming for her soon! But for now she gets center stage lol)

She will sometimes reach for the shelf in her bin (I have pics, lots of pics of this queen); she seems to enjoy the feeling of the different plants, she will lay between them intricately curled up in them and slowly explore. She can do that for hours if I let her! Which I do regularly, when I’m watering and tending to my plants. I leave her alone the day she eats and 2 days afterwards and also when she is in shed (unless i needs to clean her water, pick up poop or a shed or whatnots)

I was homeless for 2 years and a friend watched over my snake during that time. Now I am in a stable home, a place where I can give my pets the care and commitment they need, for the past several years. Vivi has thrived! and I have done lots of research and purchased a baby coral ghost corn snake from a breeder online over the winter. He hasn’t been shipped to me yet, too cold still where I live, but he is in good hands, and he is gorgeous! I named him Merlin <3

This is what Merlin looks like, from the breeder!

[wrenridinghood]

Heya! I wish I could tell you the size of the bin but I really can’t remember, I just went to Walmart and picked a translucent Sterilite bin with locking handles/top and two wheels on one side and a handle on the other end, I showed my best friend so many pictures but when he saw it in person he said it was bigger than he imagined lol.

I cut a rectangle out of the top and sewed in window mesh, and I was going to do the same for all four sides, so I melted holes to get the cuts started — but had to take a break, and figured I’d try it all out as it was, with lots of airholes melted on all 4 sides and a mesh screen top. I put the thermostat (set to 86°F) and UTH on the outside underneath with aluminum tape, lifted the bottom to vent better with feet hotglued to the corners, and there’s 4" of coco coir /sphagnum moss/bark inside, tons and tons of hides, some are multi-level, and soft fake leaves, and all sorts of textures, and things to rub on, and I bought the biggest resin water bowl I could find for her. I plan to sterilize some really nice dried white oak leaves I have for her, I think she will like them.

[wrenridinghood]

I just wanted to add a couple more photos of her! <3

[beast-blade-wolf_987]

I’ve only ever had dogs all my life and since most of my favorite mammals aren’t really pet/companion material for the most part and my interest in biology (my best subject in school back in the day) and appreciation for nature’s beauty tends to be in constant effect I started looking outside the mammal realm. It started with an interest in getting Tarantulas and Scorpions but my current animal bylaw in my jurisdiction forbids anything thats poisonous and/or venomous no matter how mild and harmless they are so that was off the table quick. After that I started looking into snakes and since I’m not interested in pythons/boas and can’t possess venomous colubrids took center stage. FWC and Cribos are among my bigger dream colubrids while corns/milksnakes etc and hognose were the smaller choices. I eventually decided I wanted a corn for quite awhile. But then I realized that getting rodents for food could be annoying for me so I started looking into lizards especially Agamidae and Iguanas in particular (like pythons/boas with snakes, geckos dont hold pet/companion interest for me although my love of animals and biology leads me to be interested in everything in a more general kinda way).

Iguanas weren’t something I deemed suitable for myself as a 1st herp and I didn’t see myself enjoying a skink or taking care of a tegu for my 1st time so it came down basically to agamids after looking into various other creatures driven by natural curiosity.

Ultimately it came down to Beardies and Uros and while I like them both the Uros more plant less insect diet (as compared to beardies) and their greater overall appeal to me over a beardie led to my decision to go the Uro route instead. I also used to play xbox with someone who had Uros (which is how I first ever heard of their existence). I’m thinking U. geyri or ornata (geyri more likely)…maybe get a ♂♀ pair or 2 ♂ (1 red 1 yellow). Only thing I dislike about them is their love of super high temps. (I’m the oddball kind of human that loves cold enviroments (colder the better) and dont enjoy when the weather outside goes above 30 C (Im from Canada btw) aka 86 F. My preferred temp of my surroundings is lower than anything any herp amphib or invert would like.

More recently I have also decided to add dart frogs (D. tinctorius and/or D. auratus and/or D. leucomelas) to start to my list of cuties to start with. But it will probably be 1-2 or maybe even 3 years before I end up actaully getting a herp with the way I’m going (might be homeless this summer even for awhile) so until then I’ll just enjoy my senior dog who turned 13 this past January (find her in the non reptile pet thread on here for pic) and enjoy all the lovely critters the nice community here has to share. (Or at expos when they start again…I go just to browse and immerse myself in the presence of all the cool herps amphibs inverts birds mammals etc at the expo. Saw a beardie who really wanted me to become its human a few years back and the last one I went to I met a lovely adult corn (I think it was a corn or maybe a diff colubrid) who kept trying to say hi to everyone and being a social butterfly of a snake and an adorable pig who kept wanting me to pet him.

[solarserpents]

She’s lovely! I love that she really exemplifies what makes corn snakes so awesome - their wonderful personalities!