General Discussion

Aww, what a pretty noodle~

@sciencesparrow @OrigamiCrane

Real quick update! Solaris's bite wound is healing well with no inflammation or swelling. I will continue to apply Polysporin at least until this Sunday.
As for Solaris's behavior, he is back to his usual self. He seemed pretty shy the past two days and refused to leave his hide, but tonight he is out and about exploring (and even left a poop for me).

I have no interest in snakes as pets for myself but that is one cute little noodle.

@sciencesparrow @OrigamiCrane @Nioell Sorry for taking so long to update! I have been busy with college and work the past month. [img]https://i.imgur.com/PUctK9d.jpg[/img] [i]Shy, sleepy boy[/i] Solaris is doing well! He still refuses F/T but I am not giving up hope. I have tried frozen mice, rats, and hamsters with no luck, so I plan to try quail next. I would try gerbils, but the ones I have are still a bit too large for Solaris to safely eat. He's already at 194 g though, so it should be soon. Solaris also had his second shed with me; it took long enough since he is growing so rapidly. This time around, he refused to use his humidity cave, so the shed was not in one complete piece; however, no shed or eyecaps were stuck, so good job to Solaris nonetheless! The bite wound is completely healed and now barely noticeable. Solaris's next shed should remove the tiny scar that's left. Now, onto the super exciting news . . . I got another snake! [img]https://i.imgur.com/aBxT8W0.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/fKzeFtv.jpg[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/tN9ZU4v.jpg[/img] Meet Sassafras, the mosaic Florida kingsnake! I first met Sassafras about four months ago. I work at Petco, so I have lots of interactions with various animals (especially snakes, since many of my coworkers refuse to handle them). Sassafras deterred people by biting, rattling his tail, and musking, so only I was willing to hold him. After being in the store for about a week, I noticed that Sassafras developed an intestinal prolapse (some of his intestine was poking outside his body). I immediately contacted our vet and we began treatment. Turns out that Sassafras was severely constipated and it was causing bowel inflammation, so we gave him warm water soaks twice daily and put him on an antibiotic. After [b]three months[/b], the inflammation and swelling finally went away. The vet tested Sassafras for intestinal parasites twice just to make sure he was good to go, and both tests came back negative. About a month into his treatment, I decided I wanted Sassafras if he survived (since prolapses can be dangerous and often require expensive surgery to fix). Even though he has bitten me over three dozen times and musks every time I hold him, I fell in love with his sassy personality. The day after the vet gave the OK for Sassafras to be sold, I brought him home. Fun Facts: * Sassafras only weighs 10 g right now! Solaris weighs 19.4x more than him. * Sassafras [b]eats frozen rodents[/b]! I have already fed him once and was baffled by how easily he took the frozen mouse. * Even though Sassafras is prone to biting (and has bitten me so many times), he has only broken the skin once. His teeth are tiny and he doesn't bite hard. * Sassafras's age is unknown, but I assume that he is about six months old. He is so small because he refused to eat when prolapsed. * Sassafras's sex is unknown and I don't want to probe him/her after the prolapse trouble, so I'll refer to Sassafras as a male unless I find out otherwise. * Sassafras absolutely loves burrowing in aspen. While prolapsed, he had to stay on paper towels to monitor his bowel movements, so he could never properly burrow or hide. Now, he basically swims through the aspen in his enclosure.