ladyq1
Often lurking...
Hi, thought I'd stop in and introduce myself. My name is Beth and I'm 28 (for a little while longer). I live in Central IL, where I'm about to finish working on my Vet Tech degree, with hopes of working with rehabilitation, exotics, and wildlife.
My fiance and I have a small zoo here, but we love them all!
~5 cats, 2 bengal-x rescues (Stargazer and Mara), 2 maine coon x rescues (Sooty and Sophie), and a shorthair mix rescue (Forest)
~8 rats (my babies! Chortle, Schee and Gus are all pedigreed (Chortle has been shown), and Yakko, Wakko, Dot, Harry, and Ron are all rescued guys)
~1 mouse (a rescue from school as well, Asiago...her sisters Kasseri, Swissy, and Cheesy have passed on)
~1 leopard gecko (Ella, an adult adopted from craigslist)
~2 red tail boas (Nigel and Fialka, both approaching 30...I believe Fialka is a year older than me and Nigel is a year younger, both rescues)
~18 tarantulas (*=adults....*Flower and *Zaphod-G. Rosea RCF, Nyx-L. parahybana, Lawliet and Ryuzakki, A. metallica, Cian - H. lividum, *Beast - Haplo (sp?), Clotho- A. versicolor, Black Hole - A. geniculata, Corrundum - E. pulcherimaklassi, Aphrodite - C. elegans, Bitty- N. chromatus, Fuzzbucket - B. albopilosum, Aidan - B. boehmei, Bob - B. smithi, Branwen - G. pulchra, Digger and Mole - B. vagans)
~4 freshwater aquariums - endlers, danios, plecos, fiddlercrabs, barbs, etc.
As you may have notied in all that - no corn snakes...yet. Our boas are WAY up there in age, and I know I want to keep having snakes - I enjoy them so much! But I also would prefer to keep snakes a little smaller than our 2 are, preferably something docile, attractive, can generally be maintained on F/T mice instead of rats, don't need a giant custom made enclosure that can never be moved, etc....with a brief bit of searching I came across corn snakes...and with a tiny bit more I started seeing pictures.....and now I want them!!!
So I ordered and have read through corn snake books by Bartlett and Bartlet, Philip Purser, and the Comprehensive Corn Snake guide by Kathy and Bill Love, and started browing the web for information, pictures, etc, and found this forum! From my experience with tarantulas, I know forums are a great source for information, so I signed up!
I'm still trying to decide what variety I want to START with...since I'm already fairly sure I want several types, but I also know that I have room for ONE baby right now (MAYBE 2...but that would be pushing my space ALOT)...I'll have more space in the future though!
I love the silver and black anerys, though it seems like so many of them brown out alot, which is kinda sad - the super high contrast of the pale silver and black that some of the babies have is such a neat look! The charcoals are also nice, and theoretically have less yellow, so may brown out less, from what I've read...
I have seen some amazing pictures of lavenders out there! Really rich, bright purples...but it also seems like many of them tend towards greys at some point. Still gorgeous though!
I've seen one labeled as "moonstone" which was an anery lavendar - a very pale, silvery gray color, but a very attractive snake too! Haven't found many other pictures of those out there though.
Sunkissed lavender is GORGEOUS!! I think I need to get one of those...but not my first one, seems like its a more expensive one, I may want to wait a while for that one!
The Okeetees are a beautiful coloration too - I love all the bright colors, contrast, and markings that they have! They are very stunning...
I'm thinking of either an Okeetee or Anery for my first one (though I won't completely rule out lavender if I see one that really calls to me!), but I'm having a hard time deciding. I did read that Okeetees can be a little more nervous, and aren't good for first time snake owners...but having the big guys I'm not sure if this would be a problem or not for me....any opinions or feedback would be welcome though!
There is an expo (http://www.allanimalexpo.com/) that I'm going to in a couple weeks to pick up a bag of rat food, and maybe a tarantula...and I definitely am planning to look at the corns when I'm there and see if one of them catches my eye (I'm sure a ton will, LOL) I may have a new little friend to introduce on here after that if all goes well. I've already cleared a space for a tank (I have a 10 gallon that I need to get top locks for), and a bowl, undertank heater, and hiding space, so I think I'm in good shape to consider bringing a new friend home!
Anyways, enough rambling from me!
My fiance and I have a small zoo here, but we love them all!
~5 cats, 2 bengal-x rescues (Stargazer and Mara), 2 maine coon x rescues (Sooty and Sophie), and a shorthair mix rescue (Forest)
~8 rats (my babies! Chortle, Schee and Gus are all pedigreed (Chortle has been shown), and Yakko, Wakko, Dot, Harry, and Ron are all rescued guys)
~1 mouse (a rescue from school as well, Asiago...her sisters Kasseri, Swissy, and Cheesy have passed on)
~1 leopard gecko (Ella, an adult adopted from craigslist)
~2 red tail boas (Nigel and Fialka, both approaching 30...I believe Fialka is a year older than me and Nigel is a year younger, both rescues)
~18 tarantulas (*=adults....*Flower and *Zaphod-G. Rosea RCF, Nyx-L. parahybana, Lawliet and Ryuzakki, A. metallica, Cian - H. lividum, *Beast - Haplo (sp?), Clotho- A. versicolor, Black Hole - A. geniculata, Corrundum - E. pulcherimaklassi, Aphrodite - C. elegans, Bitty- N. chromatus, Fuzzbucket - B. albopilosum, Aidan - B. boehmei, Bob - B. smithi, Branwen - G. pulchra, Digger and Mole - B. vagans)
~4 freshwater aquariums - endlers, danios, plecos, fiddlercrabs, barbs, etc.
As you may have notied in all that - no corn snakes...yet. Our boas are WAY up there in age, and I know I want to keep having snakes - I enjoy them so much! But I also would prefer to keep snakes a little smaller than our 2 are, preferably something docile, attractive, can generally be maintained on F/T mice instead of rats, don't need a giant custom made enclosure that can never be moved, etc....with a brief bit of searching I came across corn snakes...and with a tiny bit more I started seeing pictures.....and now I want them!!!
So I ordered and have read through corn snake books by Bartlett and Bartlet, Philip Purser, and the Comprehensive Corn Snake guide by Kathy and Bill Love, and started browing the web for information, pictures, etc, and found this forum! From my experience with tarantulas, I know forums are a great source for information, so I signed up!
I'm still trying to decide what variety I want to START with...since I'm already fairly sure I want several types, but I also know that I have room for ONE baby right now (MAYBE 2...but that would be pushing my space ALOT)...I'll have more space in the future though!
I love the silver and black anerys, though it seems like so many of them brown out alot, which is kinda sad - the super high contrast of the pale silver and black that some of the babies have is such a neat look! The charcoals are also nice, and theoretically have less yellow, so may brown out less, from what I've read...
I have seen some amazing pictures of lavenders out there! Really rich, bright purples...but it also seems like many of them tend towards greys at some point. Still gorgeous though!
I've seen one labeled as "moonstone" which was an anery lavendar - a very pale, silvery gray color, but a very attractive snake too! Haven't found many other pictures of those out there though.
Sunkissed lavender is GORGEOUS!! I think I need to get one of those...but not my first one, seems like its a more expensive one, I may want to wait a while for that one!
The Okeetees are a beautiful coloration too - I love all the bright colors, contrast, and markings that they have! They are very stunning...
I'm thinking of either an Okeetee or Anery for my first one (though I won't completely rule out lavender if I see one that really calls to me!), but I'm having a hard time deciding. I did read that Okeetees can be a little more nervous, and aren't good for first time snake owners...but having the big guys I'm not sure if this would be a problem or not for me....any opinions or feedback would be welcome though!
There is an expo (http://www.allanimalexpo.com/) that I'm going to in a couple weeks to pick up a bag of rat food, and maybe a tarantula...and I definitely am planning to look at the corns when I'm there and see if one of them catches my eye (I'm sure a ton will, LOL) I may have a new little friend to introduce on here after that if all goes well. I've already cleared a space for a tank (I have a 10 gallon that I need to get top locks for), and a bowl, undertank heater, and hiding space, so I think I'm in good shape to consider bringing a new friend home!
Anyways, enough rambling from me!
