'Death in a Cupcake'

Finally completed his new cage. Was kinda grumpy about being evicted from a rather spartan Neodesha and switched to a fully naturalistic set up.Ungrateful little brat :joy:

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Wow, can we get a A few more pictures of this incredible enclosure? Maybe even a full size shot? It looks incredible!

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I will try and take a few tonight.

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That set up looks great. Ungrateful little brat. Love it🤣

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Yes PLEASE more pictures if possible!!! Brat? Yeah right! Lol :joy::lizard::frog::snake:

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Did I see that stick, sticking out your back seat before :rofl:

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Seriously though, I don’t know anything about scrub pythons. Are they pretty much hands off in nature? I only ask because of the title of your post! Lol!

He has got the “I’ll bite your face off” pose imho! :lizard::frog::snake:

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At least he’s equal opportunity with his hatred because he had plenty of it when I had him :joy:

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Priceless! His new enclosure looks worthy of his beauty, lack of gratitude notwithstanding.

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That specific stick? No. However, the rest of the hardscape you see in the pics below were all in the car photos LOL

Full:

Left side:

Right side:

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Wow. It is so beautiful Travis! Honestly, if I could , I would buy a scrub or an amethyst python in a few years. They are absolutely gorgeous and so misunderstood as creatures.

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That is more an inside joke.

Kind of long story time here:

Many many (many) moons ago, I was a raft guide and we used to call the final, lowest-rated rapid on the river ‘DiaC’. The rapid was around a blind corner so the could not see what they were going into. We made a huge deal about how crazy the rapid was to get the guests super focused thinking they were in for a huge ride and we would get them all set up and prepared for it. And then, right as we started around the corner…
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…The guide would bump a little rock
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…Which would spin the boat around backwards
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…Whereupon the guide would quietly fall out of the boat
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…And then wait to see how long the crew took to notice that they were guide-less and heading in to “Death in a Cupcake”

With my cooking/baking, I continued the tradition. Every time someone (usually family) asked me what I was making I would answer ‘DiaC’, mostly just to be a smart aleck.

Flash forward to this guy. I name all my solidly “pet” animals and eldest has picked up that habit. When he first came, she did not have a name for him. So, in the vein of being that same smart aleck, I started calling him ‘DiaC’. Eldest hates it, but I get a laugh every time :crazy_face:
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Aaaaaaaaaaaany way

So… Scrubs, by and large, tend to be fairly high strung and defensive. However, under the right situations or after a bit of familiarization/conditioning, they can be pretty amicable.

As examples:

  • This was a 2.4m amethistina that spent the better part of three hours being passed around at NE CarpetFest. This animal, and a 3.5m one, were very calm from the owner working with them for years to get them that way

  • And this is ‘Cupcake’ the day he arrived. Without having a “territory” and not knowing the pecking order, he was quite a bit more complacent.


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His current attitude I kind of sort of blame on eldest. Technically, this is her snake. He lives in her room and she feeds and cares for him. When he first settled in to his old cage, he now had his “territory” and he became a bit cage defensive in his willingness to defend it. Eldest made the mistake of letting him see that he could intimidate her and, as a result, he got pretty gutsy.

I am hoping that, with the switch to the new cage acting as a bit of a disruption event, I can get in there and start working with him daily to break him a little of the “bite your face” attitude. I am also hoping that all the new cover space and foliage will encourage some cryptic basking so that he feels more comfortable being out and observing but not feel threatened by our presence

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They are a very interesting and, as you note, misunderstood genus. But they are definitely not “whim” animals. They require a real willingness to put in effort. And some of them can get BIG! so I strongly advocate doing your homework before committing to one.

Our boy is Simalia nauta, the Tanimbar scrub, and they are the smallest species in the group. They are also very sparse in the hobby. The Wamina and Merake localities of amethistina tend to be a little smaller and more tractable to work with. But most of the animals you will see are going to be Southern form amethistina and likely to get pretty large

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Oh my goodness what a rafting story! It’s a hoot to me but I am on dry ground! :joy:

I love those pictures! I think it’s so important for young folks to get a little experience/one on one with snakes. It just irks me when someone will ask me about my snakes and the first thing they want to know is do they bite. :angry:. And then they want to know if they are “poisonous! :rage:

Thank you for explaining a bit about the Scrub Python too! If I was a little younger……It sounds like they have “personality plus”! Bless their little hearts!!! :lizard::frog::snake::wink::+1:

And you too for sharing!

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@caryl AMEN Caryl! Well said! :lizard::frog::snake:

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Wow! Beautiful set up! He should be 1 happy scrubby doo! :lizard::frog::snake::+1::wink:

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@t_h_wyman On a “heavier” note, I went to the doctor today and if I don’t quit eating sweets and gaining weight I am going to suffer death BY a cupcake! :joy::rage::upside_down_face::weary::rofl::cupcake::cupcake::cupcake::cupcake::cupcake:!

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Love the “DiaC” story! That’s a pretty hardcore prank. Lol

I also love everything about sharing the passion with young people. It’s truly a wonderful thing to share the passion and the joy with the future generation of hobbyists.

I’ve never seen an amethystina before. The coloration of the one shown reminds me of my corn snake Artephius, who has been compared to a Woma python. Really beautiful!

Your enclosure looks fantastic. Your handsome, defensive boy is bound to feel happier about his life in there. I’d also expect that the move will act as an opportunity to reset his behavior. I’m sure you’re right about that. Well, I’d be sure if he were a corn snake (that’s what I breed and know well). I don’t have any experience with this guy’s species but I trust your judgement. :wink:

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I hear your frustration but let me advocate that rather than getting upset, turn it in to a teaching experience.

I frequently do presentations with my animals and these are almost universally the first questions that get asked, even before I actually start talking.

Reframe it in a way that helps to remove the fear

“Do they bite?”
… … “Does your dog or cat bite?”
… … “Anything with a mouth can bite”
… … “It would be really hard for them to eat if they could not bite LOL”
Now that you have them thinking, hit them with the education
… …“Yes, sometimes a snake might bite, just like your dog might. But you have to think about why snakes would bite you. Without arms or legs, what do snakes have to defend themselves when they feel like they are being attacked?” <Wait for them to answer with “Their mouth”> “Right, they have to use their mouth. So what is the best way to make sure a snake does not bite you? Stay away from it and do not try to grab it so that it does not feel scared of you.”
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I do similar with “Are they poisonous?”
… …“It would be pretty stupid of me to hold a poisonous snake, right?”
… …“Do you think the school/camp/your parents would let me bring something dangerous?”
… …<Stick my hand in one of the bags, scream, fall down convulsing, lay still for a minute, jump up and say> “BOO! Just kidding”
And again, now that you have their full attention, hit them with the education
… …“There are certainly venomous snakes out there but I do not keep any. And the only reason we are able to do this today is because I have been working with and keeping snakes for a long time and I know these ones are safe. If you find a snake in the wild, unless you are like me and have been doing this for thirty years so you know what ones are safe, the best thing to do is to leave it alone. Because the only way a venomous snake can bite you is if you get too close to it by trying to grab it or kick it. If you stay away from it then the worst that can happen is that it will crawl away really fast so it can get away from you.”
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Let me tell you about the Tranha, my friend…
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There is a lot of variety among the different scrub species. Our Tanimbar is an Axanthic. This species also has a Patternless morph. The wildtype for them is gold and patterned.

A lot of the southerns and highland types have pretty distinct black markings. And the Barnecks have, surprise surprise, bar-like markings on their necks

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Yes. This is absolutely golden. :100: for education. My classroom always included living things. Corn snakes were part of our classroom habitat, and I frequently took them to educational/outreach events. People do ask this, and your post is a great one for ways to help steer the conversation into thinking about things instead of being fearful and reactive. Helping people to understand creatures they don’t understand is a wonderful, positive thing.

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