Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Naming of the Clowns

The two clowns (ball pythons) are Lucy and Ethel! It took them awhile to tell me who they were. They are settling in nicely and should be ready for their pictorial debut soon.

I'm not really moved to name the pinstripe Ricky or Fred, as I doubt he will court either of the ladies, not that he would mind. He'll tell me who he is in time.

I'm still stunned and amazed at how tiny GloWorm is. I knew they were small, but I'd never actually seen a young GTP, and the adults look so mysterious and all knowing. Glo may know things, but he's too little to speak up very loud. He does do that python threat display-gaping jaws and I laugh with delight every time he does it. When Tarzan did it as a baby it was cute, and even at 5 feet it was kind of funny. Glo, at less than a foot and about the width of a thick strand of yarn, is just hysterical.

My snakes are all captive bred, as is my parrot. The wild needs the wild ones left alone, and there are plenty of breeders around in the pet trade now. Ok, maybe not for GTP's, but if you want one, pay extra, get a captive bred one and leave the wild ones out there.

9 comments:

BBC said...

I don't think I would want to be responsible for snakes. Or many other living things for that matter.

On any given day I barely take care of myself and my needs. I suppose it would be cool to have them, I just don't have the time though.

Debra Kay said...

All we really have is time, and we don't have it for very long.

Mim said...

I love having pets and having to be responsible and take care of them.
The little gloworm sounds adorable. Do they get to the point where they know you and don't do that scary open mouth thing?

Debra Kay said...

The gaping is pretty much a baby thing-baby snakes are terrified of everything-it's in their DNA...but some snakes don't gape at all-I've never seen a ball gape. They will hiss, or they'll strike (a bump not a bite) or they'll just bite.

I'm beginning to suspect the gape may be a male thing-but that's in inexact guess. Bette turned out be a boy, and she/he was the most reasonable and gentle of all my snakes.

Hmmm, maybe it has to do with body type. A big, heavy bodied snake like a ball would have to expend a lot of energy to rare up and gape, but for Tarzan (who was a young retic) and tiny little GloWorm, it wasn't hard at all.

Because this is a public blog:
If a snake gapes at you-leave it alone.
If you see a snake in the wild and you don't know what it is, leave it alone.
If you DO know what it is and it's poisonous and you have no experience handling a snake, or you do and you've been drinking, yep, LEAVE it alone.
If you don't like snakes at all, go buy a couple of mice and rats and let them breed for a few months. Imagine a world full of them. Think about your good friend, the snake.

studio lolo said...

One of the things I love about getting new animal companions is naming them. Pinstripes reminds me of gangster suits or dapper men in the forties. Just my two cents ;) I love your advice to the public looky-loos!

Debra Kay said...

I was calling him Fedora for awhile, but that is silly. Maybe I'll call him Godfather. (Pretty Boy Floyd is just too too fruity).

soulbrush said...

gloworm is adorable, howlarge will he become? ha ha the names are priceless, what about al capone while you're about it?

Anonymous said...

A lot of people don't understand that captive bred animals don't survive in the wild. I can tell you take good care of yours :)

Michele said...

Wouldn't it be great if when we have children, we could wait for them to tell us who they are instead of being forced by the hospital/state to name them within two days before we go home : )