meet xiuhcoatl
well, i'm up to three pets now. but i learned a valuable lesson: don't hold reptiles at a reptile convention that i'm not 100% sure i want to take home, 'cause my big stupid heart is an idiot. <@_@3
aaanyhow, so i went to the seattle reptile expo with aj, daria, & daniel - the now-usual suspects. we all just wanted to look at everything & maybe hold some things & go home content. none of the four of us were going to buy a new animal... only half of us were successful in that. X)
i was fine until i found paul's booth with west coast captive breeders. he had two leopard morph sonoran boas, breeders that he was letting go of to pursue new projects. the female was beautiful, but i was driven directly to the big male. he was marked at $500, half the price of the female, & his iridophores were beaming rainbows despite being currently in shed.
they let me take him out, & he immediately wrapped around my shoulders & started pushing his snoot at me - all straight-necked & friendly, just like vasuki did. oh my stupid heart. he'd been out about fifteen minutes before he put his head in my hand & fell asleep. james had shown up at that point, & suddenly i had FOUR people standing around me telling me to buy the snake. it was pretty brutal to give him back, & i hard-pouted all the way back to daniel's car while considering & reconsidering where i'd fit a second snake habitat in my apartment. daria let me hold her beautiful new killer bee morph baby ball python on the drive home, but it didn't help.
i always told myself that i'd only get a second snake if i found an IMG boa at a decent price - IMG stands for increasing melanin gene, & it eventually results in an all-black snake with extreme iridescence. they're usually a few thousand dollars, which is about six times what i'd want to spend on a pet. but the leopard gene can also produce very dark boas, & this one was obviously awash in rainbows. usually leopards are also pretty pricey - the ones i could find for sale online were over a grand, & most of them were only het for the gene, & not even visibly leopard!
i spent the next day painting & watching movies, trying to forget that beautiful snake, but it didn't work. it also didn't help that james had posted a couple pictures of us from the expo, with the caption "Went to a reptile expo. Fell in love with a $500 leopard boa. Except he fell in love with Lish and her with him. I hope she finds space for him in her life." GRR. i had taken paul's business card, & a few hours before the expo ended, i texted him to see if the snake was still available. he was, & i got paul to come down on price a bit. i had to decide by 3pm, as it takes an hour to drive to puyallup & the expo closed at 4. i finally decided i could move my dvd case into the bedroom & put a second setup there; the beauty of this snake combined with his super-cool personality (snakeality? herpetality?) pushed me over the edge. at 2:47pm i called paul & offered $400 cash. he paused dramatically, then agreed, & i practically flew there in my miata.
i got to the expo & beelined to WCCB's booth, & there he was - freshly shed, looking glorious. i took him out & started asking the breeder about him when he - the snake, not the breeder - stuck his face in my mouth. i was literally mid-sentence & my lips hit snake. i burst into surprised laughter - yes dear, i'm happy i'm taking you home too! i was just glad my teeth were mostly together when he did it, haha. paul gave me some backstory on him too - the leopard morph was first discovered by hans winner in germany (which i knew), & this snake is first generation from hans's snakes, produced by paul. he was born probably in august 2009 & has been a good breeder, friendly & not so hissy as sonorans tend to be.
james decided to drive back & meet me there for no particular reason, & got to carry several pounds of snake around while i scrambled to buy another heat lamp & ceramic bulb & a couple extra large rats to tide me over before my upcoming run to chessie for a feeder restock. (delightfully, chessie was at the expo & had two XLs left, so i didn't have to worry about rat quality. :) ) i drove home carefully with the new snoot pushing his way around a pillowcase on my lap.
i had to come up with a great name for him, & wanted to keep the theme of reptile gods - vasuki is named for the king of the indian nāgas & shiva the destroyer's pet snake; sobek is named for the crocodile-headed egyptian god of power & protection. i considered some chinese dragon god names, but ended up with an aztec name since he's a full sonoran boa: xiuhcoatl, the "fire serpent", the spirit form of the aztec fire god. xiuhcoatl also guided tonatiuh, the sun god, across the sky, & acted as a weapon against the stars & moon. i couldn't find a better name that carries all his rainbows. ^_^ pronunciation, as close as i understand it to the native language, is shy-wha-ko-AH-tul - so he'll be xiuh ("SHY-wha") or just xi for short.
he hung out with me for hours while i worked facebook reptile communities & craigslist for a temp tank until i can have a proper side-opening enclosure built. i didn't find one i could buy that night, & ended up punching air holes in a big plastic storage container that i had as the backup plan. i gave him a big bowl of water & some aspen bedding, then put a couple gallon jugs of water on top & shut him in the bathroom, just in case. he was fine in the morning, his snoot already up & interested when i checked on him. i found a tank & stand that evening & set him up properly; he explored around for ten minutes, relaxed into a pile, then politely took an XL rat. it's pretty amazing watching him eat - i've never fed larger than the small rats vasuki is currently enjoying.
i know you want pics. starting with the shot james took at the expo, when i thought i had to say goodbye:
the breeder's pic of the sweater box he'd been living in. sheesh.
ALL the rainbows.
the reason the leopard morph was named as such is due to the "whiskers" facial markings. also note that even his head is rainbowed.
this pic also features vasuki - clearly that pillow is a happy place for snakes. :)
so welcome home, xiuhcoatl, my beautiful fire serpent.
aaanyhow, so i went to the seattle reptile expo with aj, daria, & daniel - the now-usual suspects. we all just wanted to look at everything & maybe hold some things & go home content. none of the four of us were going to buy a new animal... only half of us were successful in that. X)
i was fine until i found paul's booth with west coast captive breeders. he had two leopard morph sonoran boas, breeders that he was letting go of to pursue new projects. the female was beautiful, but i was driven directly to the big male. he was marked at $500, half the price of the female, & his iridophores were beaming rainbows despite being currently in shed.
they let me take him out, & he immediately wrapped around my shoulders & started pushing his snoot at me - all straight-necked & friendly, just like vasuki did. oh my stupid heart. he'd been out about fifteen minutes before he put his head in my hand & fell asleep. james had shown up at that point, & suddenly i had FOUR people standing around me telling me to buy the snake. it was pretty brutal to give him back, & i hard-pouted all the way back to daniel's car while considering & reconsidering where i'd fit a second snake habitat in my apartment. daria let me hold her beautiful new killer bee morph baby ball python on the drive home, but it didn't help.
i always told myself that i'd only get a second snake if i found an IMG boa at a decent price - IMG stands for increasing melanin gene, & it eventually results in an all-black snake with extreme iridescence. they're usually a few thousand dollars, which is about six times what i'd want to spend on a pet. but the leopard gene can also produce very dark boas, & this one was obviously awash in rainbows. usually leopards are also pretty pricey - the ones i could find for sale online were over a grand, & most of them were only het for the gene, & not even visibly leopard!
i spent the next day painting & watching movies, trying to forget that beautiful snake, but it didn't work. it also didn't help that james had posted a couple pictures of us from the expo, with the caption "Went to a reptile expo. Fell in love with a $500 leopard boa. Except he fell in love with Lish and her with him. I hope she finds space for him in her life." GRR. i had taken paul's business card, & a few hours before the expo ended, i texted him to see if the snake was still available. he was, & i got paul to come down on price a bit. i had to decide by 3pm, as it takes an hour to drive to puyallup & the expo closed at 4. i finally decided i could move my dvd case into the bedroom & put a second setup there; the beauty of this snake combined with his super-cool personality (snakeality? herpetality?) pushed me over the edge. at 2:47pm i called paul & offered $400 cash. he paused dramatically, then agreed, & i practically flew there in my miata.
i got to the expo & beelined to WCCB's booth, & there he was - freshly shed, looking glorious. i took him out & started asking the breeder about him when he - the snake, not the breeder - stuck his face in my mouth. i was literally mid-sentence & my lips hit snake. i burst into surprised laughter - yes dear, i'm happy i'm taking you home too! i was just glad my teeth were mostly together when he did it, haha. paul gave me some backstory on him too - the leopard morph was first discovered by hans winner in germany (which i knew), & this snake is first generation from hans's snakes, produced by paul. he was born probably in august 2009 & has been a good breeder, friendly & not so hissy as sonorans tend to be.
james decided to drive back & meet me there for no particular reason, & got to carry several pounds of snake around while i scrambled to buy another heat lamp & ceramic bulb & a couple extra large rats to tide me over before my upcoming run to chessie for a feeder restock. (delightfully, chessie was at the expo & had two XLs left, so i didn't have to worry about rat quality. :) ) i drove home carefully with the new snoot pushing his way around a pillowcase on my lap.
i had to come up with a great name for him, & wanted to keep the theme of reptile gods - vasuki is named for the king of the indian nāgas & shiva the destroyer's pet snake; sobek is named for the crocodile-headed egyptian god of power & protection. i considered some chinese dragon god names, but ended up with an aztec name since he's a full sonoran boa: xiuhcoatl, the "fire serpent", the spirit form of the aztec fire god. xiuhcoatl also guided tonatiuh, the sun god, across the sky, & acted as a weapon against the stars & moon. i couldn't find a better name that carries all his rainbows. ^_^ pronunciation, as close as i understand it to the native language, is shy-wha-ko-AH-tul - so he'll be xiuh ("SHY-wha") or just xi for short.
he hung out with me for hours while i worked facebook reptile communities & craigslist for a temp tank until i can have a proper side-opening enclosure built. i didn't find one i could buy that night, & ended up punching air holes in a big plastic storage container that i had as the backup plan. i gave him a big bowl of water & some aspen bedding, then put a couple gallon jugs of water on top & shut him in the bathroom, just in case. he was fine in the morning, his snoot already up & interested when i checked on him. i found a tank & stand that evening & set him up properly; he explored around for ten minutes, relaxed into a pile, then politely took an XL rat. it's pretty amazing watching him eat - i've never fed larger than the small rats vasuki is currently enjoying.
i know you want pics. starting with the shot james took at the expo, when i thought i had to say goodbye:
the breeder's pic of the sweater box he'd been living in. sheesh.
ALL the rainbows.
the reason the leopard morph was named as such is due to the "whiskers" facial markings. also note that even his head is rainbowed.
this pic also features vasuki - clearly that pillow is a happy place for snakes. :)
so welcome home, xiuhcoatl, my beautiful fire serpent.