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Posted - 22/04/2011 : 11:34:39
Kelfezond is very kindly posting these pics for me and he may be at work or out, so there may be some delay in the pics arriving, but she's worth waiting for (well I think so anyway.)
Thanks in advance, Kelf.
Ziska is 4/5 months old, and you can see she's a big lass for her age, and has, as the shop put it, 'an attitude to match.' She arrived yesterday, having shed and dumped in transit (a small snake in good working order) and promptly went into full rattlesnake mode as I undid her travelling box. Needless to say I didn't bother her with pics or handling; I took the lid off her box and placed it in the viv so that she could get out by herself, hung a towel over the viv front, and let her do her own thing. I woke this morning to find her having words with a cat through the glass. After the cat (a mild and gentle cat) was requested to move on, she remained, looking very menacing and watching my every move.
She's a darling, though I think I'll have to take handling ve-e-ery slowly!
Gopher snakes come from the same region as rattlesnakes and although non-venomous, put on the same display to deter predators. Their markings and overall apppearance are similar to that of rattlers; they can rattle their tails as loudly, and, when in defence mode, even the shape of their heads changes to mimic the triangular rattler head. Like bull snakes, to whom they're related, much of this is bluff (I hope lol.) Sadly this 'camouflage' has often led to gophers being killed in mistake for rattlesnakes.
They get their name from their habit of laying their eggs in the burrows of gopher tortoises, although they can dig. You'll see I've made her her own gopher burrow with a kitchen roll inner under a pile of aspen. Not that she'll fit in it for long - she may grow up to 9'.
So, as you can see, I'm very very proud of this new little girl. Here's Ziska! |
| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
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Posted - 07/05/2011 : 17:40:45
Lol - she is; she's adorable and intensely fascinating - a 'walk on the wild side' for sure.
With a tail that thinks it's an electric toothbrush! |
| Lotabob |
Posted - 07/05/2011 : 00:52:02
Aww she sounds lovely in the most terrifying way possible. I like animals with a bit of oomph about them. |
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Posted - 06/05/2011 : 20:32:54
Lol - she's a confident little baggage - I think she thinks she's queen of all she surveys. Well, she is a gopher snake - they'll gopher anything! |
| Lotabob |
Posted - 06/05/2011 : 19:28:14
aww its good to hear that she is a good feeder, a great sign that she isn't stressed and although she is a madam its not because she is unhappy. |
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Posted - 06/05/2011 : 12:40:52
Ziska's third feed with me today; she was being fed weekly but in view of her youth I feed her every five days. As with the last feeding day she was out this morning, up on a branch at the front of the viv, staring at me.
When the small mouse was nicely warm I returned, to find her curled in her cool hide, a small cardboard box submerged in a pile of aspen, its entrance half-hidden by plants and driftwood. Using the end of the tongs I gently cleared a way for the mouse - it would have been a bit silly to put my fingers near that entrance, especially with the scent of mouse drifting into the viv from its open plastic bag. Ziska didn't react, not even a tail rattle. I told her what a good girl she was - and a convulsive movement nearby told me how wrong I was ...
Bull, pine and gopher snake hatchlings are unusually long. Ziska's back end was curled in the hide. Ziska's front end was reposing underneath the big piece of driftwood. About eight inches from the hide, a small head poked itself out of a Ziska-made tunnel in the aspen and glared at me. I hastily presented the mouse and Madam took. ('About time, Lil!')
Now I have always, but always, been extremely careful and fussy about feeding anywhere near substrate. If feeding in-viv, the snake must have a mat or kitchen roll 'tablecloth'. And the corns and royals usually eat up their prey while sitting on their 'tablecloth' in a well-conducted manner ... hmm.
Compared with my royals and corns, Ziska acts like a wild snake. (I know all snakes are 'wild', but there's wild and there's ... well, Wild ...) Bull, pine and gopher snakes are diggers and burrowers. With this in mind I'd given Ziska deep-piled aspen in the corners of her viv and made her tunnels of kitchen roll inners. Ziska likes to make her own tunnels, and it was through one of these tunnels that, tail-rattling like mad, she now dragged her mouse. All I could do was watch and be reassured that she was so fast, no bits of aspen had stuck to the mouse as it reappeared in the hide - the portion of mouse that was visible, that is, because as she moved, she was gulping it down at the speed of light. Gophers seem to waste no time in feeding.
I suppose I ought to 'train' her to be lifted out into a feeding rub, but in view of her very primitive behaviour, I feel this would stress her no end, and also deprive her of her 'huntress' ritual, which she clearly enjoys and needs ... I can only hope the advocates of the 'feeding on aspen does no harm; they don't have kitchen roll in the wild' are right ... Because even if I offered her the mouse on kitchen roll, or left it in the viv for her; her instinct would be to drag it back into a private burrow.
Can't fault her appetite though. In view of her potential 9' as an adult, I plan to start offering her rat fluffs as soon as she's big enough, which will be soon. I'm hoping that her greed will prevent her from even realising she's changing to a rat.
Meanwhile I'd noticed that she had left a huge mess and urates in her water bowl - another thing that I've never encountered from corns and royals. She was clearly very proud of this because she made a terrible fuss about the bowl being removed for cleaning and struck so hard that she nearly came through the hide roof.
She certainly lives up to her nickname of 'Tank Girl'. I haven't attempted handling yet, simply because at the moment she seems to like just to eat and hide, and only appears on feeding mornings. When she gets a bit bolder, there's a treat in store for me ...Think I might need that riot shield with this one, Bob ... |
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Posted - 27/04/2011 : 08:39:43
LOL - I hadn't any idea they existed either. I'd noticed her vaguely before when looking through BL's livestock pages, but the name always reminded me of 'gopher tortoise' or 'garter snake'. (Bit of a difference!) Then in a moment of boredom I googled gopher snakes and the rest, as they say, is history. I was looking for a larger snake that was a bit different but within my capabilities (I hope lol!) and I would have been glad to find a Hogg Island (your Sanke is gorgeous) but I've always liked colubrids, and to find one that grew as big as a small boa and had such a fascinating history and appearance ...I was lost. Still can't quite believe I've got her. |
| Lotabob |
Posted - 26/04/2011 : 21:16:34
Oh good news you got a correctly named girl. I'm so intrigued by these gophers at the moment, its weird when someone introduces a snake that you've not really any idea existed. You need a crash course in photobucketing and youtubing and I can see what she is all about lol. |
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Posted - 26/04/2011 : 20:17:26
LOL - in two or three days I've got to begin to try handling ...
Yeah, it was so good that she ate without hesitation as 'feistiness' can often mean 'nervousness'. Although Missy's the same, and a brilliant eater - 'what you got for me, Lil? Giz it here!' And Missy's calming down well too.
And another good piece of news is that Ziska's definitely a girl (I take it you read that other post where I found her travelling box marked as 'male'.) Got it sorted with the shop today - definitely female - so don't have to think of alternative names. |
| Lotabob |
Posted - 26/04/2011 : 19:59:46
Was it tongs held with oven gloves through a riot shield, lol.
Brilliant that he/she ate. |
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Posted - 26/04/2011 : 13:54:09
Pleased to report that she ate her first meal this morning. I slid the mouse (with tongs) into her cold hide; there was a hiss, and then the mouse twitched, and a blunt little speckled head gripped the mouse like a weasel and dragged it out of sight. Little tiger!
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Posted - 24/04/2011 : 11:43:45
LOL - it's good to be weird! I like bumblebees too - in fact I pick the big queens and the drones up in my hands if they come in the house. Nature is just so wondrous.
Haven't seen Ziska this morning - I propped 2 sheets of polystyrene aganst her viv windows when I went to bed so that she could wake up and explore without any distractions. Her aspen is heaped high at either end and it looks like she appreciates this as it's now riddled with Ziska-sized holes where Madam's made her own burrows ... |
| BlueDragon |
Posted - 24/04/2011 : 10:59:38
I must be some kinda weird... I'm usually like "aww, bless. Innit lovely. Can I hold?". If I saw one of those in the wild I'd be down next to it taking photos! X ) Not to mention the fact that I like to stroke Bummble Bees. They feel like little tiny hamsters : )
It is a shame though, that people never stop to think first. |
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Posted - 23/04/2011 : 13:18:21
quote:
Originally posted by BlueDragon
Beautifully stroppy looking Snake BATS : )
I can tell why people would assume she's a Rattle Snake, but I think I'd be able to tell she wasn't.
My Corn Snake used to rattle her tail whenever she wasn't in the mood to be handled X ) And sometimes she did it while she was constricting her mouse!
Thanks, Blue - sorry, I keep missing people's posts - still distracted by the viv stack.
Yeah, Missy's a rattler par excellence too - it's so funny when they try to be fierce. I was watching a video on youtube the other day and it was made to educate people about the difference between rattlers and gophers - apparently the best way is to look at their tails as the gophers' are smooth without rattles. When you see her hissing and striking though, her face really does change shape, I suppose if a nervous American saw a 6'+ gopher in the wild he'd go, aah, rattler! I suppose many people just panic and don't think ... such a shame eh - think what they're missing ... |
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Posted - 23/04/2011 : 11:29:55
quote:
Originally posted by reptilemadd
"I'll get there" thats what british rail said way back when and look what happened to them lol 
LOl - I remember that - and 'this is the age of the train' (Ancient, usually.) IMO BR never recovered from the curse of Beeching.
LOL I will get there - I'll even post a pic up one of these days!
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Posted - 23/04/2011 : 10:40:07
Thanks, Bob, yeah, I reckon she thinks she's a real leopard! Could well have been the cheesy grin in that pic, as she was striking at the glass and carrying on alarming! My camera work's not terribly good - when I'm a bit more expert I'll get some pics up of the corns (feel rotten about leaving them out) and the viv stack too - when I've got the stat flexes under control ...
Same performance with Ziska this morning - gophers are diurnal, so she gets up before I do. She comes to the front of the viv and carries on at us all and then disappears for the rest of the day and night. (I'm going to start covering the viv over at night to make it a bit more private for her in the morning.) When I got up she'd left me another nice wet mess so I went in and cleared it but she didn't come zooming over to get me, though I was prepared for that lol. So she doesn't seem to be viv-defensive. Just ... er ... defensive - feisty little madam! I love her! |
| BlueDragon |
Posted - 23/04/2011 : 10:18:43
Beautifully stroppy looking Snake BATS : )
I can tell why people would assume she's a Rattle Snake, but I think I'd be able to tell she wasn't.
My Corn Snake used to rattle her tail whenever she wasn't in the mood to be handled X ) And sometimes she did it while she was constricting her mouse! |
| Lotabob |
Posted - 23/04/2011 : 00:36:51
Oh stunning looks like a Leopard snake. And is that a big cheesy toothy grin on pic 2? |
| reptilemadd |
Posted - 23/04/2011 : 00:08:22
"I'll get there" thats what british rail said way back when and look what happened to them lol |
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Posted - 22/04/2011 : 23:46:21
Ah, the stat probes are hidden behind the front panel of the viv and I don't use thermometers, just a temp gun, but outside the viv ... Got loads of cable ties and can tuck flexes out of sight but they're putting up a fight ...
Got some nice little velcro patch things to stick stats and extension leads neatly up ... yesterday it was so hot that the glue melted and everything kept going bump on the floor ... d'oh!!
I'll get there! |
| reptilemadd |
Posted - 22/04/2011 : 23:37:09
nice jos on the stack I find cable clips inside the viv's and those computer cable tidy thingies help tidy things up in the old wiring department |
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