Not exactly cats or dogs, and not exactly in the garden...

20 Jan '07 2:57 am

Well you know, there is the constant hissing, like a gas leak, but I don't think the neighbours can hear it.

Seriously, they hardly make any noise at all, except sometimes they "rattle" their tails in their substrate (we use wood chippings), trying to sound like rattlesnakes, but of course they don't have the bit one the end of their tails!

26 Jan '07 7:26 pm

Hi, Bambi-

I echo everyone else's comments, and now I, too, know why they're called "corn snakes"! I really had a laugh at Anna's comment about whether or not they chase cars!! I just conjured up a vision in my mind of how that might look and play out, especially if they caught a car!! Think of the driver's reaction!! It would be great for a cartoon, with a snake rather like Daffy Duck. You know - somewhat of a know-it-all!

I hope we'll get to see pics of the rest of your no-footed family soon!

AND, I must remember to try to get a picture of my little Sam, the black snake who lives in my garden when he/she reappears next summer!

Cheers-

gordonf

p.s.- How do you tell the difference between a male and a female snake?? They all look the same to me!

27 Jan '07 3:51 am

Thanks Gordon, yes Anna’s imagination certainly is active, and she’s so funny too! Laughing

Many many apologies for being so useless in getting decent pictures of all the snakes Embarassed

, but I’ll see what I can do this weekend…

You ask a difficult question there, Gordon – how do you tell the difference between a male and a female snake

– it can actually be quite hit and miss and, in fact, when I call Baskerville “she” or Watson “he”, I could be getting it completely wrong (and we might have to rename Mrs Hudson if she turns out to be a male! Laughing

).

Basically, female snakes usually have a longer, more slender and tapering tail (measured from the vent to the tip) and the males’ tails will usually be broader and will taper much more quickly; and that’s pretty much it as far as external differentiation goes!

You can have your snakes “probed” which involves inserting a tube into its vent and, if it goes quite far in, the snake will be a male; if it only goes in a short distance, the snake is a female. Understandably, this procedure should only be carried out by trained people because it could cause internal damage if done incorrectly.

When a snake is young, it can be “popped” in order to check its gender, which involves squeezing it gently around the vent area and, if the hemipenes come out (which are normally inverted inside the body), it’s a male but if nothing comes out, it’s a female. Again, you have to be really careful doing this, just as with probing.

Hubby and I aren’t very keen on either of these methods because of the risk of damage and also because it can be stressful for the snakes, and it doesn’t really matter to us if they’re males or females anyway. When we come to breed them, it’ll be trial and error, and we’re happy to take the chance. You never know, we may have three females and one male, in which case, we could have up to about 90 squiggly squirmy little snake babies on our hands as they lay between 5 and 30 eggs each! Shocked

Here endeth the lesson... Wink

27 Jan '07 2:03 pm

Wow, Bambi!

I don't blame you for being reticent to using those methods to determine the gender of your snakes! I wouldn't want to try it, either!

I'm glad that I'm not the only person who can't tell the difference, but, as you say, who really cares if you love your pets!!

Thanks for "the lesson"!! Very Happy

-gordonf

14 Feb '07 1:02 am

We used to have iguanas...youd be surprised how many people freak over our scaly friends..lol
I love your slithers...very beautiful...and the visual of a snake on a leash had me in stitches!!
Shaggy Dog with Tim Allen...Id love to have that snake! The tail the barking...the people running and screaming...lol

14 Feb '07 2:02 am

Hee hee, you're so right, Angie - my colleagues at work think I'm really wierd and say that all the children in my road must run past my house, calling me the "scary snake woman"! Rolling Eyes

In fact, that's not true at all, but my colleagues like to take the michael so I just sit back and let them because, as far as I'm concerned, they're the wierd ones for not being fascinated by each and every creature they encounter on this amazing planet of ours! Very Happy

Oh, apart from daddy longlegses of course - I can't stand them! Wink

14 Feb '07 3:41 pm

BAMBI!

I'm surprised at you! Not liking Daddy Longlegs! They won't hurt you! Very Happy

I have lots of spiders both in my garden and in the house (perhaps I'm not the best housemaid Smile

) I love it in late summer when they have their babies and my back fence is covered with hundreds of the little ones! Of course, there are only one or two dangerous types around here, so there's not much to worry about. I think the only poisonous one around here is the Black Widow, but I may be wrong. In any case, I tend to leave them alone and just watch their antics!

I have one very lovely kind of spider in my garden that I love to antagonize just a bit! It's a fairly small, stocky, black one with a red back and muscular (for a spider), hairy legs. It has beady little black eyes that move around as it watches you, and, if you come too close to it, it turns to protect itself. Quite a feisty little character. I haven't yet discovered what its name is, but perhaps this summer I'll find out. But they are quite a lot of fun to tease once in a while!! Twisted Evil

Anyway, that's my scolding for now! Cheers!

-gordonf

14 Feb '07 10:01 pm

Gordon ! I just LOVED your spider description and your excitement! In fact, in my house we have some lovely spiders during the summer months , and whenever I see them , I hurry to protect them from my cat, or my Nicholas --who learnt being afraid of them at school...

15 Feb '07 7:36 am

We get lots of people phoning to offer some sort of service or another. The ones I am the 'rudest' to are the spider proofing with nasty chemicals - we will spray your house - ones. I always remove my indoors spiders outside, and clean the remains of old cobwebs. But I love the great work the spiders do! We have one NZ spider which is poisonous, called a katipo, and I've never seen one. They have a red warning spot on their back!

There are others which are around, probably in my garden, which can bite a bit badly - I think they're called white-tails? Some people tell big, bad stories about ther bites. So far for me, so good.

There's a saying - know thy enemy. I guess sometimes, if you don't know, you won't ever find any! Oops. Happy spider gardening, Gordon!

15 Feb '07 10:25 am

Where I live we are full of squirming, crawling, creeping lil critters. We have whats called Banana spiders...they are huge...the picture of the one that I have attached is as big as a hand! Spiders dont bother me generally, we have very few poisonous ones here. We have the black widow and the brown recluse. Ive taught my kids not to kill them and to come and get me to get it out of the house. Personaly Id rather a spider over a rat in the house, but there again I like PET rats...lol

Not exactly cats or dogs, and not exactly in the garden...

Snakes That Chase Cars!!

Snake Gender

ssssssuper

Daddy Longlegs

NZ Spiders