Hello from Hamilton, ON, Canada

[D'n'D]

Hi all,

I'm a mom to 7-year old daughter Ruxandra and her beloved 5 1/2 month old blooded Elsa. While I have a snake phobia and jump out of my skin every time I come across a garter snake in our garden, I fell in love with Elsa. She has been with us for 2 weeks now, and has already eaten twice (no special efforts - strikes at the mouse right away), shed perfectly once (one piece), and is very calm when handled. Here is a close pic of her head on my hand. We absolutely love her! And since I am a beginner who is determined to offer her a good life, I'll be hanging around here to learn from a passionate community.

Cheers,
Dana

 

[D'n'D]

And here is a picture of here. First attempt didn't work:

 

[Rigby & Marcy]

Hi and welcome. Quite a few of us are Canadians here. Elsa is a cutie!

 

[smigon]

Welcome! She's a cutie, corns have the sweetest faces so they are easy to fall in love with!

 

[D'n'D]

She's cute, indeed. I love her when she peeks out of her hide to see what's going on in the room. Today I'm a bad mother: I couldn't wait for my daughter to leave for day camps so I can play with Elsa on my own. But I'll take her out tonight again for Ruxandra ...

BTW, someone told me that after some time, corns stop burrowing in the substrate. Elsa is on a mix of coconut fiber and forest floor cypress mulch. I'd like to see her instead of guessing where she might be ...

 

[Rigby & Marcy]

Most never really stop burrowing. My adults make tunnels still when the mood strikes them. They're easier to find when they're big though!

By the way, my snakes are also originally because of my daughter. She was 5 when we got them and she's 7 now.

 

[Bullelk]

Hi! Welcome.

Congrats on facing your fears of snakes.

Is it hypo? I don't see much black

 

[D'n'D]

Hi! Welcome.

Congrats on facing your fears of snakes.

Is it hypo? I don't see much black

Yeah, I'm still jumping out of my skin if I am not prepared to see a snake. My Daughter still can scare the bejeezus out of me with rubber snakes ... lol


As for your question about being hypo or not, I don't know. The saddles have a slightly darker outline but definitely not black. Today I finally got to hold her during daylight and she is more reddish-orange than the dark red I thought she was. Definitely no markings on the side and the non-checkered white belly of a bloodred. We didn't have many to choose from - we bought her from a respected reptile store here in Hamilton and they recommended her instead of the hatchlings - indeed, she's well groomed - eating and handling being very successful. They had regular/okeetee hachlings and a creamsicle boy - same age with Elsa. We wanted a girl - so we got her.

Once I take some pics with my DSLR, I'll post them to get more feedback about her morph from experienced forum members.

I wish I knew more about her ancestry. However, most important for us right now is that she's healthy and cute.

 

[D'n'D]

Most never really stop burrowing. My adults make tunnels still when the mood strikes them. They're easier to find when they're big though!

By the way, my snakes are also originally because of my daughter. She was 5 when we got them and she's 7 now.

Is your daughter still interested in the snake? Ruxandra's eyes well up in tears of joy when she holds Elsa - something that I haven't seen her do for instance with our male cat (supposed to be hers, but he loves my husband more than us girls ...)
It seems to me that for Ruxandra, it will be a lifelong interest in snakes - she was always fascinated by them and I always tried not to transfer my phobia onto her. I guess I was more successful than I thought I will be. Not only she loves snakes, but I was capable to overcome it in order to be able to get her a pet snake. Nothing beats a mother's love ...

Cheers,
Dana

 

[hypnoctopus]

She looks like a bloodred to me, especially if she has a white belly with no checkers. Very cute!

 

[Rigby & Marcy]

I agree she looks bloodred. My daughter does still love the snakes. The babies we bought last summer live in her room, but she doesn't play with them as much as the original 2 because until recently they were very flighty. The female has calmed down now but mostly she handles the adults anyway. My daughter absolutely loves all kinds of animals, just like me. We have dogs and cats and we volunteer and foster for a cat rescue too.

 

[D'n'D]

Not to jinx her, but she ate on Saturday morning and today she pooped already. I looks like we got her all conditions in order since she is digesting fast. An 8W UTH, a basking light sometimes during the day and monitoring temp and humidity. We drove the humidity down after she shed. I weighed her today for the first time: 35g sharp. She eats fuzzies and I think we'll feed her one every 5 days since she digests so well and the ones that we have are on the smaller side and are barely visible once in her stomach.

 

[Bullelk]

Have you checked out the Munson Scale yet? It's a helpful feeding chart. Glad you are having so much success.

 

[D'n'D]

Elsa likes holding onto my Fitbit surge (which is made out of rubber and gives her a good grip) and explore her surroundings:

Best friends:

 

[D'n'D]

Have you checked out the Munson Scale yet? It's a helpful feeding chart. Glad you are having so much success.

Yes, that is why I put her on my kitchen scale today, to make sure we are feeding her the right amount. The store was feeding her fuzzies every week, but I guess that she can now eat them a little bit more often as she's jumped into next weight group and the fuzzies that we have (10 of them) are on the smaller side.

 

[smigon]

You can definitely go without using the lamp, they actually do more harm than good for corns. They drive the humidity down (something that is not a huge factor with corns, many of us live in Phoenix, AZ in the desert and don't even monitor the humidity) and cause bad sheds, can cause fires and with some morphs cause eye damage or blindness. The UTH set to 30/87°and monitored with a thermostat is all you need.

That is so cool about getting over the phobia. And the more you play with her the more smitten you get!

I love the pic in her hair, I have several corns that aim straight for my hair when I hold them, one coils and makes herself a "crown" for me! I feel like a princess.

 

[D'n'D]

when we got Elsa earlier this year she was 30g, now she's at 126g - the Munson plan works very well
... and I love her to bits ...

 

[Karl_Mcknight]

she's beautiful, and yes the munson plan is the way to go. My Rufus is approaching 1 year old and he's at about 150 grams right now.

 

[D'n'D]

hanging out with mom today ... love these eyeglasses ... they give you a whole new perspective ...

 

[kdickens]

Welcome Dana and Ruxandra!
Pretty snake you have! You're right, looks like Ruxandra is loving this! And any fear you once may have had seems to be dwindling. Looks like everything is going okay!
Ken