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Snakes |
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I got into snakes in 1993, when my ex and I found an injured snake in the road. (More accurately, he found it in the road; I wasn't about to get near the thing!) We put it in a plastic bucket and took it home.
A year or two later, we had 21 snakes, ten or twelve chameleons, and breeding colonies of various chow creatures: mice, tomato hornworms, and giant tropical cockroaches. (Anything worth doing is worth overdoing...) When we split up, I ceded most of the collection to Rob, taking only Isis and Vulcan, of whom I had grown quite fond.
For more information on keeping snakes, see Simon's Snake Site, a great introductory site for beginners. Snakes are graceful, gentle, beautiful animals, and very low-maintenance pets.
I no longer keep snakes, but this page is dedicated to Isis, Vulcan, Astarte, and Hestia, whom I kept for many years.
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Isis, my pride and joy. She's a Brazilian rainbow boa, Epicrates cenchria cenchria--a tropical rainforest boa. She's not only gorgeous, but tame, friendly, and inquisitive--everyone's favorite critter. Even people who don't like snakes generally love Isis. |
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Vulcan, Isis's mate, showing off his rainbow iridescence. All pythons and boas have some iridescence, but rainbow boas are particularly bright. (The iridescence results from a natural diffraction grating in the skin--it splits up the light beams into a rainbow, just as in peacock feathers (which are really colorless). Physics in nature!) Sadly, Vulcan passed on in July 2003--I still miss him. |
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Astarte, their daughter, at 1 year. Babies are born with very little coloration (much like human babies) and take up to four years to reach their adult color. |
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Hestia, my Dumeril's boa. Dumeril's boas are a ground-dwelling Madagascan boa, one of only three snake species on the island. They have beautiful patterns that resemble a forest floor...but they are desert dwellers in nature. I bought Hestia at a gem show about a year ago. Well, actually there was a gem show next door, where I was planning to buy beads... I sold Hestia in mid-2004, as she was outgrowing her cage and I didn't have space for her anymore. |
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Isis pregnant with her second litter. Unlike pythons, boas are ovoviviparous--they don't lay their eggs, but carry them about inside them, eventually giving birth to live young. But 15+ babies means there's no room for food--so Isis won't eat at all for the four months of pregnancy. Fortunately, this won't hurt her at all--she can go 1-2 years without eating as long as she starts in good condition. Neat, huh? |
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Newborn baby |
Another newborn. |
Astarte at 1 year. Notice
how bright she is compared to the newborns! |
Ultrasound of a baby boa. See the coiled-up spine? |
Very newborn baby boas.
The yellow thing in the foreground is an unfertilized egg... |
