Ol' Man Lizard

I went back into some photos again, and found this picture of Ol' Man Lizard.

Let me tell you about Ol' Man Lizard.

I spotted him on a hike in Long Beach. Cameras were out, Ol' Man Lizard was watching, and the photo taking session began.

My father took these photos, and although I saw Ol' Man Lizard first, I think it was appropriate that my Ol' Man took pictures of Ol' Man Lizard.

Mister Lizard never really moved.

He just watched us watching him...

So I began to wonder...

What do reptiles really think about?

They don't have facial expressions really for conveying emotion, and of course, we are all familiar with those basic needs every living creature must have to survive on this planet.

I am not intending to personify or anthropomorphize, per say...

I am just curious.

It's like wondering what your dog is really thinking when you get home.

An intriguing, mind opening thought process...

Especially if the looks the animals give are so open ended.

Ol' Man Lizard really seemed to be related to the Honey Badger.

He just didn't give a shit.

Which in all honesty helped get the photos we did get of him, which I'm pretty proud of. They are pretty cool.

And no, none of the photos are the same. He just really didn't give a shit and didn't move the whole time.

Touche', Ol' Man Lizard...

Have a great day, my friends!

Ooops!

Got home late, fell asleep, didn't blog.


Happy Pi Day!

3.14!!!

Will blog later.

Have a great day, my friends!

Respiratory Infections

Someone asked me on Friday about Respiratory Infections.

Have I gotten them in the collection?

Yes.

Have I lost any animals to it?

No.

How was it treated?

Well... Over the course of my experiences, I have been issued Baytril and also Ceftazidime.
More recently, my local vet, Dr. Tom Greek, has been giving me the latter drug.

It is every three days, subdermally with a needle, and amount dependent on the weight of the animal.

Enrofloxacin (also known as Baytril) was also subdermally, but was also given orally as well, depending on the situation.

Have you ever given a snake a shot?

It is NOT fun, especially if you are doing it for the first time.

Sub-dermal means below the dermis, which is a thick layer of scales and skin for the Ball Python and most Reptiles. Piercing thru that layer is rather hard, and sometimes there is the possibility of piercing too far down beyond the skin into the muscle tissue.

On top of getting the right layer, one must also have the animal still and not struggling, lest you put the needle in the wrong place and have to pierce twice or three times.

It is a challenge, which is why my Vet gave oral Baytril for a while.

The effectiveness is less than that of a shot, however, so it is one of those things that is either a pain and effective, or convenient and less effective.

Ceftazidime (also called FORTAZ) has become more popular over the years in terms of effectiveness due to its potency. This is important to note that if given too much, you can kill your animal.

Both Baytril and Fortaz are meant to treat bacterial diseases. Read more here.

As I always stress, TAKE YOUR REPTILES TO A QUALIFIED REPTILE VETERINARY SPECIALIST.

Remember that even when you do this, some animals will pass no matter what you do, as I remember the loss of my beloved Enchi female.

So there you go.

To avoid RI, keep your animals clean with good husbandry, keep strange animals away (quarantine), and be vigilant. If you notice anything wrong with your snake or any animal, for that matter, do the responsible thing and take them in to a qualified Veterinarian.

You are the one that is responsible for taking care of them.

Do the right thing.

Have a great day, my friends!

FINALLY!

MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! One less male in the YPBM Club or the

 YPBMC club which is the Yet to be Proven Breeder Male Club (club). 

I think we need to relabel the YPBM Club to be the YTBPM club so it makes more sense...
We will get back to that.

Anyway, I finally caught the Pastel Genetic Stripe actually doing work.

This was a huge relief, because not only have I not seen anything since the beginning, I have also not been sharing many breeding photos, and I FINALLY GOT ONE!

 

Kinda.

The photos are not clear in terms of actual locks, but I can attest that there was one. 

Even the female went down there to check!

Another male that has been taken off the list but I did not catch a lock on camera is the Pastel Pied. 

Yeah, the guy on the left decided to man up and actually get it on with a few of the ladies.

This is an awesome feeling, because there are a few females I still need to prove that I wanted to use him for. 

Now, I am closer to that goal.

I hope that it actually works, and he isn't just wrapping for fun....

We shall see, shan't we, my friends?

Pastel Recessive males FOR THE WIN!

(or FTW for short)

So hope you had a fantastic weekend, that you are well on your way to being used to the Day Light Savings Time (which I am not), and that you have a fantastic day, my friends!

Old pictures from back in the day

Albino

So per Anonymous asking for older photos, I went into my detachable hard drive, the one I uploaded all of my old stuff on before we got a new computer.

I pulled some decent photos from the group, with more to share. I wonder how long ago I had these up on the blog or other places... I'm too lazy to go and check.

Black Pastel Ringer

I am not even sure how old they are, be it a few years or like six. I know the Albino one is rather old, and so is the Black Pastel Ringer photo.

I went back to 2007 on a few of these...

G Stripe Male

What does it all mean?

It means that when you are in the business for this long, you should keep your photos and dates that you took them!

It helps remind you why you are doing what you are doing in the first place....

I remember a lot from these photos. Some of these animals (most of them, actually) I do not have anymore. 

TSK Axanthic Het Albino Male

Some of them have helped me get where I wanted to be now.

Some of them I have no idea what happened with them, who I sold them to. Some I remember exactly how they hatched, what they looked like, how long ago, etc.

Pinstripe

This Pin... I don't remember what happened. I remember it was a female, however.

Lucky!!!

I'm pretty sure this is Lucky Boy. He was so SILVER when he hatched out.

Or this may be the Super Pewter, but I don't think so.

Chipo

This is a more recent photo of Chipo, within the last two years. She has been a slow grower, so I don't recall when I took the photo, but it was not within the last 6 months to a year, that's for sure.

I may have to dig thru a lot more photos and find more. This was kinda fun.

I am still kinda sad that I don't have a screen shot of my past websites though.

THAT would have been a trip down memory lane.

---shudder---

Anyway, have a great weekend, my friends.

It should be a good one!

You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

So last night I met a new friend for the first time to drop off a snake, and he asked me how long I have been doing this.

I had to stop and think about it. This will be my seventh season breeding, which is not to say that I haven't been doing this for longer, but that is how I quantified it for him. 

So of course, when I got home, I decided to go back and look at what I had from way back in the day. 

I remember when I started out, I got my website and was super excited about it. 

It was an absolute mess. 

(Here I wanted to post a screenshot, but apparently I didn't keep one)

I wanted to have a theme as well, so I bought some bright African themed cloth and decided to take all my photos of my animals on that backdrop. 

Here is a little taste.

The colors were awesome, of course, but the snake was not at the forefront, and it's colors compared to real life just didn't fly.

I was a little bummed, but hey... what are you going to do, right?

I kept trying over the next year or so, kept thinking of new ideas...

My photography was still a little shaky... I took pictures of animals on black and white after a while of experimenting, and they came out alright.

A few years went by, and I finally figured out how to manage and work things out in a better way.

My website got several renovations, my photography got better and more crisp, my animals grew and my collection did as well.

I started out with just one adult female normal and a Pastel male later on.

And now look at me!

I never would have thought I would be where I am today, really.

I imagined several instances of being able to produce the Axanthic Pied Killerblast Cinnamon Enchi Spider Albino....

I'm still a ways from that...

There are always goals to shoot for, right?

I may have to rethink that Axanthic Pied Killerblast Cinnamon Enchi Spider Albino, however. I don't think it would look that amazing, unfortunately...

But maybe something else? 10 gene animals... That's something to strive for!

Don't ever lose sight of your dreams, my friends.

Have a great day!

What does the Future Bring?

Well, I have no clue.

And I have a feeling you don't know either.

And if you do know, feel free to share with me the winning Lotto numbers for this week, please.

I could use them!

 

A friend of mine asked me what I wanted to get this upcoming season.

This is always the question, every year.

What do you want to get or acquire for the collection for the future?

Every year, I think on it, I debate with myself...

This year has been especially hard seeing as how I have not really focused on my breedings as much as I would like in terms of what the final outcome for my own personal collection.

Yeah, I'm breeding cool stuff.

But I'm not sure what I am breeding that I want to keep!

And that, my friends, is part of the problem.

All the possibilities of what I am pairing up, expecting, etc...

I am not quite sure what I really want to keep back from all of it. 

There are a few "Duh" animals, like if I hatch out an Axanthic Bumblebee, or if I get a Quintuple female of some kind. 

But even of what I can't create myself, there is very little that I want to get. 

And that is rather sad to me, in a way.

Sure, I could get a Champagne combo male.

An Ultramel would be cool.

A combo Clown male that actually breeds would also be pretty sweet.

I could get a Desert something, but that doesn't appeal as much as it used to.

Bananas are super awesome, but out of the price range for now.

There are very few new gene animals that I feel like I need!

 Maybe I'm just not thinking hard enough about what to add that will be worthwhile.

I need to press pause and really THINK about it.

What about you guys?

What do you want to get this upcoming season?

What does the future bring?

The hell if I know. 

The only thing I know is:

More Snakes

And I am totally 100% fully okay with that.

Have a great day, my friends!