Snakey Faves
Feb. 3rd, 2019 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kraitFor Journaling January - erm, Januebruary? - walgesang prompted me with "favourite snakes."
I have several!
Wild species:
Opheodrys aestivus, the rough green snake. An arboreal species that's very hard to spot, I have had the joy of encountering a couple of these in the wild and it's always so exciting! They are the prettiest emerald-green noodles. :D They are also very fast! One day I would love to keep one as a pet; watching them climb and admiring their colour is fascinating. Any Vonda McIntyre fans out there will know why my future green snake's name would be "Grass." :D
Laticauda laticaudata, the sea krait (one of several species covered by thie common name). My namesake and icon, mostly because I love pretty much any blue animal - but it's also an interesting animal in its own right, because it's not actually all that well adapted for its habitat but living there anyway. :D Unlike other aquatic snakes, the kraits of Laticauda have a body shape closer to a terrestrial snake's and they reproduce on land. Their bodies are less hydrodynamic, and their nostrils aren't located on top of the nose for easy breathing when surfacing. I suspect the other sea snake species think the Laticauda family is a bunch of posers, but I love them for being a "primitive" form that straddles the border between two worlds. It's always easier to give something up than to balance two sets of demands, but kraits are doing a pretty good job with it!
Captive-bred specimens:
Morelia viridis, blue phase. I mentioned that I love pretty much every blue animal, right? :D Especially blue snakes. The blue-phase tree boas are so pretty they hardly look real, and I could stare at them all day. They're not a good species for beginners, so I don't have one and probably won't ever have one, but I'd at least consider it if sometime down the road I had the space and money. :D (In general, I prefer colubrid snakes on aesthetic grounds - I find boa and python species rather squat and lumpy, not particularly pretty. So the appeal of these guys is pretty much all in the colour plus the cute way they sit on branches!)
Lampropeltis getula, California kingsnake "Mosaic" morph or melanistic morph
When it comes to animals that aren't blue, I'm usually drawn to darker colours. Kingsnakes come in a wide variety of colour morphs, but here are two I really love:
"Mosaic" morph has cool zigzags down the sides!
Melanistic Cal Kings are so lovely with their rich black colour!
My own!
My pet of the last 11 years, who has been a wonderful "beginner" snake and a patient companion (he goes to work with me and lets kids hold him during our summer camps!)
[Photo will go here]
walgesang prompted me with "favourite snakes."I have several!
Wild species:
Opheodrys aestivus, the rough green snake. An arboreal species that's very hard to spot, I have had the joy of encountering a couple of these in the wild and it's always so exciting! They are the prettiest emerald-green noodles. :D They are also very fast! One day I would love to keep one as a pet; watching them climb and admiring their colour is fascinating. Any Vonda McIntyre fans out there will know why my future green snake's name would be "Grass." :D
Laticauda laticaudata, the sea krait (one of several species covered by thie common name). My namesake and icon, mostly because I love pretty much any blue animal - but it's also an interesting animal in its own right, because it's not actually all that well adapted for its habitat but living there anyway. :D Unlike other aquatic snakes, the kraits of Laticauda have a body shape closer to a terrestrial snake's and they reproduce on land. Their bodies are less hydrodynamic, and their nostrils aren't located on top of the nose for easy breathing when surfacing. I suspect the other sea snake species think the Laticauda family is a bunch of posers, but I love them for being a "primitive" form that straddles the border between two worlds. It's always easier to give something up than to balance two sets of demands, but kraits are doing a pretty good job with it!
Captive-bred specimens:
Morelia viridis, blue phase. I mentioned that I love pretty much every blue animal, right? :D Especially blue snakes. The blue-phase tree boas are so pretty they hardly look real, and I could stare at them all day. They're not a good species for beginners, so I don't have one and probably won't ever have one, but I'd at least consider it if sometime down the road I had the space and money. :D (In general, I prefer colubrid snakes on aesthetic grounds - I find boa and python species rather squat and lumpy, not particularly pretty. So the appeal of these guys is pretty much all in the colour plus the cute way they sit on branches!)
Lampropeltis getula, California kingsnake "Mosaic" morph or melanistic morph
When it comes to animals that aren't blue, I'm usually drawn to darker colours. Kingsnakes come in a wide variety of colour morphs, but here are two I really love:
"Mosaic" morph has cool zigzags down the sides!
Melanistic Cal Kings are so lovely with their rich black colour!
My own!
My pet of the last 11 years, who has been a wonderful "beginner" snake and a patient companion (he goes to work with me and lets kids hold him during our summer camps!)
[Photo will go here]
no subject
Date: 2019-02-04 04:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-04 05:26 am (UTC)I need to post pics of mine, but I'm not sure I have any good recent photos, and I have definitely forgotten my Photobucket password. (Or Imgur? Do I have an Imgur account, or did I only think about making one?)
Too much braining for me today, on top of work, so it's been declared tomorrow's problem. :)
no subject
Date: 2019-02-04 08:14 am (UTC)Looking forward to seeing pictures of your snake friend!
(I actually did not realize you had one, although it makes a lot of sense given your username and icons, haha.
My daughter has been pining for a snake for a couple of years, and I love them in theory, but after some serious consideration decided I could not deal with the whole having to feed it rodents thing (dead or alive, it was just too much No for me personally). But if she gets a snake once she moves out, I will happily come visit and cuddle it, once the dead rodents are Not My Problem.)
no subject
Date: 2019-02-04 02:06 pm (UTC)For some reason, I tend to forget to mention that I have a snake! Even though he predates the cats by a decade. Maybe because it's been so long, my brain just figures everyone already knows?
The rodents don't bother me - I deliberately chose a species known for eating well and not refusing frozen/thawed prey, and to me there's really no difference in having a frozen mouse in my freezer and having a frozen chicken in there. It's all meat, and mammal meat is way less weird than, say, shrimp with all those little legs and antennae. (Disclaimer: I like shrimp!)
I always strongly advise against feeding live, and against purchasing an individual or a species that has to be fed live prey; it's dangerous to the snake as well as unkind to the rodent. Always pick a snake that the breeder can confirm eats f/t prey. (Some species, like Ball Pythons, are notoriously picky eaters.)
I hope your daughter finds herself with the ability to make her snake dream come true someday. :D I'm always happy to offer whatever advice I can! (Fun fact: I am pretty much the reason why
no subject
Date: 2019-02-04 08:52 am (UTC)I'm sure this varies from species to species, but how long do snakes tend to live in captivity? I have this idea of reptiles living much longer than mammals, but I don't know if that's true!
no subject
Date: 2019-02-04 01:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-04 05:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-04 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-05 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-04 07:52 pm (UTC)Snakies! ♥ ♥ ♥
no subject
Date: 2019-02-06 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-07 04:19 am (UTC)Most of the ones I've seen are much less evenly blue; they're more blue-and-green speckled. Still pretty, but nothing like the one in the photo I chose.
The other problem is that there are a LOT of photoshopped "blue" tree boa photos out there! I tried hard to find one that didn't seem to be altered or enhanced, and it was a tough search.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-07 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-09 04:38 am (UTC)