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Apparently your definition of benevolent is a little different than mine.



Cool pics Chris, thanks for posting them. Makes me miss having my snakes.

I didn't put the cover back on properly after those pics were taken and now the female is loose. Considering that those were one of my favorite pairs of snakes ever (good eaters, fun to observe, tame as kittens) and I was hoping to breed them in a couple of years, I'm going to cry like a jailhouse bitch if she doesn't turn up.

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A friend of mine is really into "herping", which is a really unfortunate name for a hobby actually. He has a shitload of venomous snakes, and one time one of the cobras got out... now THAT would be something to cry over.

Does he de-fang them?

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I'm sure he doesn't. If he does, he shouldn't have them in the first place. Defanging is really nothing more than subjecting a snake to a slow, torturous death. Other than old school snake charmers, very few snake keepers of any sort engage in defanging.

They do have a surgery by where the venom glands of dangerous species can be removed, but that surgery is highly controversial and not at all widely accepted among herpetoculturists and other snake keepers. Snakes with the venom glands so removed are called "venomoids" if you want to look it up. I'll leave you with the information that any piece of venom gland left behind is capable of regenerating, over time, into a fully functioning venom gland again. Most also believe it shortens the lifespan of the snake, which is important if you are keeping the snake as a pet.

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Chris, is the coloring of black racers that grey looking color or are they truly black? The only ones I've known of around here got chased off or met bad circumstances before I ever saw them.

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You'll never get to see one up close because of their intense fear of the nest of giant, acid-blooded, two-headed anacondas living inside your uterus.

I asked my hubby if I did have them and he said not yet. He said the only anaconda I've ever had in my uterus was his and it would kill anything that came near it.

smart ass. I told him who said it, too.

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Farewell appetite. T'was nice knowing you.

w-o-r-d!

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Didn't an Egyptian Cobra get out a month ago from a NY zoo? Some smartass made it an open tweeter account and some of the post made news lol.

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Paddy, don't EVER try to top my husband. He's the master of sarcasm. And he broils a mean filet mignon, too.

Souli, the tweets made the news here. Did they ever find the snake?

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I wouldn't even "top" you and you're a girl. He could never afford me anyway.

They're usually black around here, but dark brown and dark gray look black are fairly common, too. A grayish looking snake is usually ready to shed and will be be a shiny, rubbery looking black afterward, but some are always a tad grayish.

You live in Ohio, right? I tend to think of blue racers when I think of Ohio, but I just read that black racers inhabit eastern parts of Ohio and I know the two integrate where their ranges overlap.

They're not always this blue-
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...eracersnake.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/187/...52c6d6c52_o.jpg

...and sometimes they look about as dark as a black racer, anyway.

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Yeah, I am. I've heard of blue racers, too. I used to find an occasional shed skin near the house, but I haven't seen any traces of snake for a long time. My neighbors do, but they don't like them. I wish they'd realize how beneficial they really are. Heck, maybe I should tell them to call me and I'll try to bring them to my woods since it wouldn't upset their natural habitat.

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We caught a baby black racer by my front door at my old place in FL. They look nothing like the adults other than the big eyes. It was a feisty little one, but for whatever reason it never bit me when I held it.

Think I'm selling the spiders. I can export/import them to Japan, but it requires a good deal of paperwork on both ends and money. There are already enough hoops to jump though to move out there, I think I'm going to lighten the load.

They're shipping you out of the country?

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Yea, will be flying out to Tokyo at the end of July on my way to Yokosuka which is about an hour to the south. Will be stationed out there for about 1.5 years unless I get married to a hot Japanese lady, then maybe I'll stay longer.

I still don't want to sell them, but it's another hassle in an already pain in the ass situation. Probably wind up keeping them until I'm closer to moving, hopefully to get one more molt out of them so I can try and determine their sex. One molted and the exuvia is actually still sitting in the enclosure, but I'd have to tear up it's webbing to get at it. The other one molted but the remains were too mangled to get a good look.

Fish with hands:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...ience-pictures/

If God doesn't exist I'll have to invent him, because he's getting some serious fellatio for making these bad boys.

EDIT: Alright, fish aren't invertebrates or reptiles. But guess what? FUCK YOU, THEY HAVE HANDS!