My little pal GloWorm died. Green Tree Pythons are fragile creatures, subject to stomach and intestinal prolapse. He was fine when I checked him, dead when I checked him next. Knowing that's how it goes sometimes doesn't help much.
Glo took forever to turn green-he was the eternal youngster. He had just started to turn blue-a highly sought after trait, and still somewhat rare....so to get one on your first pick of a yellow hatchling is like grabbing the brass ring.
That he was so special and rare makes his passing that much harder to take, but it's nothing like the mind numbing shock of losing a whole colony. However, I thought he was special and rare before he started to turn blue-he was an amazing little snake.
When I get back from vacation I've decided to cool the ball pythons and see what happens. Not Domino-she's too young. But Lucy and Ethel are ready now, and poor Godfather has been ready for the longest time. I'll be doing a cross that hasn't been done very much-so it will be interesting to see the resulting offspring. I've decided to breed both sisters to the same male, to get a better chance of seeing if anything that crops up is genetic or a random fluke.
It's a choice that means sacrificing sure fire financial gain (Lucy and Ethel are Clowns, a desirable but recessive trait) for the unknown. If I put them with a Clown male, I'd have a pile of little moneymakers, but I'd be a year behind on discovering anything new. On to discovery I say!
Glo did a lot for me, but the biggest thing he did was he renewed my interest in taking a chance. I really love him for that.
6 comments:
oh i remember when you got little glo, and he was a very pretty little fellow.
what do you do with snakes when they die? we used to burn them in africa...but those were wild ones found and killed in the bush.
rip little glo in the snake heaven in the sky.xx
Awww I am so sorry to hear about your little Gloworm fellow. Big Hugs...
I'm singling "Glow little glow-worm now..." in his honor.
Sorry Deb. really I am.
XXX
((((Lolo)))))
Stop reading if scientific stuff/death stuff bothers you.
Soul, it depends. Glo was placed in a baggy and put in the trash can. I left the baggy open so he would decompose, but when the trucks come it would look ghastly for a snake to fall out and on to the street, and if that happened, the trash guys would not pick it up.
Last winter when I lost them all, I put them in the rats in the can without bags-it was still cold so I figured they'd fall in the truck with no problem. (The freezer went out with the electricity-that's where the rats came from). Also included was Alfred, who died earlier in the year. I stuck him in the rat freezer until I could decide what to do with him.
Alfred was a big boy and he slid out of the trash can onto my boot-it smarted and made me giggle at the same time.
If there had been time and a freezer that worked, I might have saved some of the bigger specimens for necropsy and or skinning. As it was, it was just too overwhelming.
I have done necropsies, but Glo was too small to do a decent job and I didn't want to hack him up.
After I had the big loss, I did read a bit about tanning hides, etc. and would really prefer to make art or something with the carcass of anything I can.
I really am sorry Deb - I just saw your headline and my first thought was "oh no- little glo" - so tiny. Sorry to think he is glowing no longer and sorry that you had to go thru this again.
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