meet vasuki
so i bought a new babby snek! (for those unfamiliar with the "snek" phenomenon, please see this amazing lady.) it's been seven years since i've had a snake, & that's the longest i've ever gone without, as i got my first when i was six. the snakelessness was all on joe, as he'd regularly accidentally leave the apartment windows open overnight... a temperature difference that could've killed anyone cold-blooded (including me). BUT ANYHOW, my apartment is re-snaked!
i, joe, & three of my friends/employees (daria, daniel, & spencer) drove down to the portland reptile expo in january. there's another expo in seattle in may, but i didn't want to wait that long. my vague intention was to buy a dumeril's boa & maybe a crested gecko, but i was pretty open. in early recovery from pneumonia, we borrowed a wheelchair from the holiday inn next door to the expo, & my friends were kind enough to wheel me around the 17k sqft show floor.
i'd seen no dumeril's, & ended up in front of a breeder who only works with boas; he'd seen only one, & it was an adult. but we got to talking, & i found one of his boas in my hands... & fell in love when this adorable little 8-month-old snake straight-necked booped his nose into my own. SOLD.
he's a male anery BCI, born 5-12-14. anery is short for anerythristic, in that he's missing the red & yellow tones common to his species. BCI is the important part - it stands for boa constrictor imperator, & they grow to 6-8' & 15lb. BCC, boa constrictor constrictor, look pretty much identical but get to 15' & can weigh 60lb. to ID them requires counting teeny tiny scales across the top of the head - pretty much impossible when they're babies. as such, they're regularly mismarked in pet stores, & though i love boas, i never bought one because i can't end up with a 60lb pet i can't lift. but the fear of a pet four times the size you expect is removed when buying directly from the breeder! i was even able to meet my snake's mother, who was a very reasonably-sized large BCI that i could easily lift.
with my friends' help on google, i named him Vasuki, after the king of the nāgas who was shiva the destroyer's snake. we all thought that'd be appropriate. X) plus one of the duties of the nāga kings is "protecting other enlightened beings", which amuses me. overall it's an excellent name for this little guy.
after my last "abusive relationship" snake, braeden (so pretty but so mean), it's really nice to have a snake that likes me, doesn't mind being handled (& even cuddles, puts his chin on me, those omg-my-heart type maneuvers pets do), is already tap-trained (bumping him gently before handling but NOT touching him before feeding means he identifies "tap tap tap" as "hey don't eat me okay"), et cetera.
oh, did you want pics? yes yes, of course. his first night at home:
still the first night, adorably stuffed into his hide:
i came home after being gone for a day & a half & didn't see him, started getting worried that he'd gotten out... then i moved his hide & saw this:
turns out this is a common & lethally cute thing for him to do:
the other night, he hid in my pocket for an hour, occasionally sticking out his nose to look around & then go back in. OMG.
here's just a nice photo of him & his anery coloration:
i was wearing my robe after showering, & he curled up in my sleeve for an hour! just hung out there like a little snakey hammock.
& a nice little montage of vasuki's second meal with me. he questioned going from mice to rats last week, & it took him hours to eat, but this was a fast & ready feeding response. :D i love how he's totally being the loch ness monster here.
so yeah, that's pretty exciting. he could live 20-40 years in captivity, so it's a good thing we're already getting along so well. X)
in other news, i get to see FAITH NO MORE in april! i love that they're back after seventeen fucking years. & i love this reemergence of BANDS I LOVE & who haven't played in a decade or two: slint, failure, fnm... who's next?!
i, joe, & three of my friends/employees (daria, daniel, & spencer) drove down to the portland reptile expo in january. there's another expo in seattle in may, but i didn't want to wait that long. my vague intention was to buy a dumeril's boa & maybe a crested gecko, but i was pretty open. in early recovery from pneumonia, we borrowed a wheelchair from the holiday inn next door to the expo, & my friends were kind enough to wheel me around the 17k sqft show floor.
i'd seen no dumeril's, & ended up in front of a breeder who only works with boas; he'd seen only one, & it was an adult. but we got to talking, & i found one of his boas in my hands... & fell in love when this adorable little 8-month-old snake straight-necked booped his nose into my own. SOLD.
he's a male anery BCI, born 5-12-14. anery is short for anerythristic, in that he's missing the red & yellow tones common to his species. BCI is the important part - it stands for boa constrictor imperator, & they grow to 6-8' & 15lb. BCC, boa constrictor constrictor, look pretty much identical but get to 15' & can weigh 60lb. to ID them requires counting teeny tiny scales across the top of the head - pretty much impossible when they're babies. as such, they're regularly mismarked in pet stores, & though i love boas, i never bought one because i can't end up with a 60lb pet i can't lift. but the fear of a pet four times the size you expect is removed when buying directly from the breeder! i was even able to meet my snake's mother, who was a very reasonably-sized large BCI that i could easily lift.
with my friends' help on google, i named him Vasuki, after the king of the nāgas who was shiva the destroyer's snake. we all thought that'd be appropriate. X) plus one of the duties of the nāga kings is "protecting other enlightened beings", which amuses me. overall it's an excellent name for this little guy.
after my last "abusive relationship" snake, braeden (so pretty but so mean), it's really nice to have a snake that likes me, doesn't mind being handled (& even cuddles, puts his chin on me, those omg-my-heart type maneuvers pets do), is already tap-trained (bumping him gently before handling but NOT touching him before feeding means he identifies "tap tap tap" as "hey don't eat me okay"), et cetera.
oh, did you want pics? yes yes, of course. his first night at home:
still the first night, adorably stuffed into his hide:
i came home after being gone for a day & a half & didn't see him, started getting worried that he'd gotten out... then i moved his hide & saw this:
turns out this is a common & lethally cute thing for him to do:
the other night, he hid in my pocket for an hour, occasionally sticking out his nose to look around & then go back in. OMG.
here's just a nice photo of him & his anery coloration:
i was wearing my robe after showering, & he curled up in my sleeve for an hour! just hung out there like a little snakey hammock.
& a nice little montage of vasuki's second meal with me. he questioned going from mice to rats last week, & it took him hours to eat, but this was a fast & ready feeding response. :D i love how he's totally being the loch ness monster here.
so yeah, that's pretty exciting. he could live 20-40 years in captivity, so it's a good thing we're already getting along so well. X)
in other news, i get to see FAITH NO MORE in april! i love that they're back after seventeen fucking years. & i love this reemergence of BANDS I LOVE & who haven't played in a decade or two: slint, failure, fnm... who's next?!