Mammals? Ma-Male?

Its Thursday, and a lot has happened.

I went to Spin class at the gym yesterday for the first time.

It was intense!! My butt hurts too... Up, down, up, down, work it, work it, GOOOOD!

But it was worth it, and I came home to my favorite fuzz butt ever.

Let me introduce you to my number one Ma-Male pet. Mammal? Why yes, I do have a few. And he's not food! WOW!

This is Regal Wong. Owner of all he surveys, fuzzbutt extrordinaire, and my number one favorite fuzz in the world.

He has been my heart since he was 5 weeks old, and he is now six years old.





He likes to hang out with me in the snake room while I am cleaning and junk, to make sure I am doing things right, and that the other lower fuzzes (the food) are in line.

Now let me tell you a story.

Recently, I went to visit my family up north (oh yeah? I blogged about it!). I came back, in April, mind you, with a long forgotten Christmas present from my father to the Fuzz.

It was a very "interesting" (cough cough.. tacky) rubber chicken that squeeked (not really, it was more like a BWAAAAA kind of sound).

Her name was Henrietta, and she was "Santas Little Helper".

Okay. Thanks, Dad.

Regal took a shining to his chicken, and proceeded to love it to death. Within a few weeks, this is the aftermath. RIP, Henrietta.



I think Regal was doing that to show the "Food" who was boss.

Oh well.

Speaking of food, we do have more aliens. The Rat aliens have subsequently grown up into little funny hopping rats, and now, we have mouse aliens too! Aren't they cute??



And not to be outdone by a bunch of mammals on the blog today, here is Spotty McGillicutty, courtesy of Lewie.

Boom Boom POW!!

Building and ovulations everywhere!!!



This female doesn't look like it much, but she is building up for Ovs today! Last night she was swelling.

She should be harboring some cool stuff for sure!

And another female nesting...



And yesterday, we had hangout time with Lew and Jaz, so of course, Lew wanted to take pics. We did, after having some rocking ramen and killer frozen yogurt! (My diet is going very well, thanks...)

I decided to break it up, so today is Yellowbelly day in honor of Sunshine "Sunny". She is not in this photo shoot, but her friends are..

Regular hot YB that I got from my friend down in San Diego (Thanks, Maki!)



And my killer Pastel YB Male that will be making the rounds next year.



I am excited for the next couple of years, as it should be a bunch of fun to get some new combos under my belt and playing with colors.

Living art, my friends... Living art.

Have a happy hump day! Don't do anything I wouldn't do! ;)

Sunshine, Lollypops, and Rainbows

WOOO!

Well, although I have to say it is not sunshining right now here in So Cal, I have a bright spot in my world that is new, and that I would like to share.

Sunshine, Lollypops, and Rainbows everywhere...

Are you suprised I know this song?? WAY before my time... but, I do! Enjoy your flashbacks, people who grew up with it.

I am thinking about calling her "Sunny".



She is a Pastel Yellowbelly that I am in love with. She is also the last animal to be new to the crew until snakelings hatch here at Heathers Herps.



Isn't her flaming amazing??? I LOVE Yellowbellies, and she is a very good example of one.



And here is the obligatory Yellowbelly belly shot.



I think I am good with my Yellowbellies for a while. I'm at my limit with my magical number.

Hopefully I will be able to pop out something cool next year with some of my YB females. EXCITING STUFF!

Ivories, Combos with YB in them... Hmmmmmmm..

Too much to think about.

No more eggs yet either... Hopefully some soon!

IT HAS BEGUN, MY FRIENDS!!!

The Heather's Herps Season has begun here!!!

I am very excited to introduce to you all my first clutch of 09', and it is a project I have been waiting on for several years!!

You remember this?



That turned out to be this!!! 9:30am on Saturday Morning, I go in there and check on this Albino. She has been MISERABLE these past couple of days, so I went in expecting eggs. AND YES! THERE IT IS! I caught her early, she had just laid her first egg when I took this photo.



And here she is, just finished laying her second egg. She looks awful, but she is going strong. She is a first time breeder, so I expected a few eggs only.



Here she is, done and done. Isn't she so skinny?? I washed her off with soap, bleached out her tub, and there she is.



And the final count. YEAH!! 58 days from today, and we should be seeing some action. WOOHOOOO!!!



I am excited that the season has finally begun, and with one of my more important clutches of the season as well. YAY!!!

Hopefully in the next week or so, we'll have something else new to show for it as well. Gotta love having more eggs!

Have a great day, my friends!

Getting Impatient

So seeing as how my stories about thins are getting less and less exciting and more and more repetitive, I am getting more impatient with the females that are supposed to lay soon.

I've been checking on some of the females twice a day (in the morning before work, and at night).

It's like no one wants to be first...

It's kinda irritating, to be honest. I want SOMETHING out soon. It's TIME, dangit.

And here are a few of the offenders..

My Spider het Axanthic poss het Albino project needs to be on the ground, Gerda. Please release your eggs soon!



She looks uncomfortable enough, right?

So does she... I don't remember who this is, but she was all the way upsidedown before I took the pic, and then started flipping over when I took it. It was much more dramatic before the photo, but you take what you can get.



I am hoping to be able to say "THEY ARE HERE" by Monday. We shall see...

OH! Good news:

"WE DID IT FOLKS!!!! Victory over HR669! You can thank yourselves and the Reptile Nation, for a hard fought Victory! Our nearly 50,000 grassroots letters and 1,000s of phone calls to the offices of the subcommittee members clearly prevailed at today's Insular Affairs Subcommittee hearing on HR 669. HR 669 in it's current form is finished. For anything to go forward it MUST be re-written from the ground up....and USARK will have a seat at the table along with other stake holders.

Delegate Faleomavega from Samoa said, "The letter and phone campaign hit the subcommittee like a BUZZ SAW". Harry Burroughs, of the subcommittee staff said, "I haven't seen a letter writing campaign like this in 30 years! You should be proud of yourselves." Take heart in the fact that the Reptile Nation stopped HR669 in it's tracks!!

We also need to thank Congressman Henry Brown, SC for helping us to focus our fight on the Subcommittee as opposed to the full House of Representatives. He is the one who instructed us to write real letters to be truly effective. He said emails are fine if that is all you can manage, but they can be filtered and deleted. There is no denying the weight of thousands of paper letters from American citizens. The Reptile Nation was responsible for 49,229 letters delivered to the Subcommittee in less than two weeks. Congressman Brown's staff made sure they all got in the door. 38,000 of those letters will be entered into the permanent record. Thank you my friends!

Credit should also be given to Bill Martin, a witness who testified at the hearing. He is the President of Blue Ridge Aquatics, a large multi-state Tilapia farming operation. They farm Tilapia as a food fish. He had some serious problems with the bill and the ear of much of the committee. His plain talk of how this bill would destroy hundreds of families hit home. What they do and the impact this bill would have on them parallels the plight of the Reptile Nation.

Senior Democrat staff from the House Committee on Natural Resources advised Subcommittee Chair Madeleine Bordallo that if she wants something to go forward she will have to go back to square one and draft a new bill. Then have another subcommittee hearing. When and if she does, USARK will be there to represent the interests of the Reptile Nation!! They probably will try, and that will be our challenge for another day. But Today VICTORY is SWEET!...... Celebrate today and rest, because tomorrow we must get ready to fight again.

Thank you Reptile Nation! Thank you Tom Wolfe. Thank you everyone who did their part.

Stay tuned... This fight has only begun!

USARK

A note from Tom Wolfe:

"The good news is, USARK engineered a significant victory which caught the attention of the entire membership of the Subcommittee and their staffs.

The bad news is this is just the first step in the process. Members of the Reptile Nation should be jubilant with this victory. However, our success should be measured, because the proponents of HR 669 will be back soon with another version of the same legislation. They will not rest, so we must not rest either.

Take satisfaction in a job well done and a victory well deserved, but know we all must rise up again to fight on because the battle has just begun!" "

HR669 is quashed, it is Friday... Life is good!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DALE!!! :)

Let us celebrate during the weekend.

Have a good one, my friends.

Well....It begins.

Today is the HR669 hearing, and I can't watch it...

I can't hear or see anything about it other than idle chatter on Twitter. ARGH!

For those who can, HERE is the link to a live stream of the meeting.

Here is also a Live Blog, which I am following when I can, also about the meeting.

And now, we wait and listen with baited breath.

Lets see what happens, people.

Anyway, I finally got the photos up from the delivery earlier this week. Seems like I am beating it into the ground, but since I don't have many other photos to share, here it is.

Here is the biggest box I have ever received in my snake receiving history..



And here it is, opened, with paper everywhere, and the snakes securely set in their tubs in the Quarantine rack.



And here are the girls!! The first two are in the Heather's Herps family, and the others are a friends. Was easier to have one big box!









And of course, they all spilled thier water before the photo was taken... Oh well.

So there you go.

I promise to stop taking about them now.

Lets all watch and hope and see what happens with HR669.

Cross all crossables, people. Let our efforts mean something..

Have a great day, no matter what happens, my friends. Life is short.

Happy Earth Day!!

It is Earth Day, my friends, and I am glad to be living on this planet!

What am I going to do today to make this Earth a better place?

I'm going to get my act together and be more fit and healthy.

Did you know that it is ecologically unsound to be overweight?

Here is an article I found about it, and to be honest, it makes sense...

So, I'm gearing up.

Plus, I have another gaggle of weddings to go to this year, and I might as well look good!

The count of weddings is up to three already this year... Geez!


Anyway, on the snake front, I received a gigantic package yesterday full of beautiful females. Thank you, Emily!

What, pray tell, where they?



Well, they will be girlfriends for my Pied boy!

I am babysitting two of them, and the other two will be mine.

So a total of four 06' 50% poss het Pied females.

I think I'm pretty much set with the basic Pied project for a while.

I'm very pleased!

I didn't get the pics uploaded in time for todays blog, but they will be up at some point.

So, as the Earth enjoys its day, and we as a group of people enjoy it as well, remember one thing... Live it up! Its a beautiful world out there.

Have a great day, my friends.

ACK!

Sorry its so late in coming. Today has been one of those days in which I am not able to get to the computer in time to do the Blog.

Sorry!!!

To be honest, I am actually busy with not snake stuff so much today that I have very little to report.

I am getting in a new shipment today of Poss Het Females from a friend that I am going to try and prove out for him. YAY!

I absolutely love poss hets (from reputable sources), as they are really like playing the lottery. 50% chance they carry the gene, and 50% chance that I fall over dying of happiness. All that work for a great cause!!

Just need them to be from reputable people first...

Anyway, I'm going to make this short and sweet considering the situation (I gotta go out and handle a few things)

I'll be posting more soon and tomorrow should be a tad bit more interesting.

Have a great day, my friends!!

CRIKEY!!! (Nom Nom Nom)

This weekend is over, and its back to the grind.

We had a good one this weekend, although there were plenty of bumps in the road.

Lots of highs, a few lows... So I guess it evens out, eh?

Let us begin with Saturday.

I thought I was being a good car owner by taking my car in for my transmission fluid flush and oil change.

Went to get the tranny done with Mechanic A, then go get the oil change done at another place, Mechanic B. Mechanic B at the oil place tells me "Hey, you need to get your tranny fluid flushed.."

I look at them as if they are crazy, and they show me a paper with new versus my own fluid. I tell them... that can't be right... I just got it done like an hour ago!

So, filled with annoyance and more than a bit perturbed, I return to Mechanic A, and tell them that they didn't do my transmission fluid right. They insist they did it, TWICE even. I say, I don't care. It looks like it wasn't done, and I want my money back. They insist they did it, and will not return my money.

I admit, I am not the most in-tune with my car, but I made a stink as I am not one to be taken advantage of, and they did the service again in front of me twice. It was not completely clean, but it was done enough to make me believe that it was done.




Red looks red, and black looks black. I don't care what you tell me about that and how many quarts of fluid it takes. Red should be red.. FIX IT.

So, after wasting 3 hours of my Saturday morning on dealing with things that should have only taken an hour, I began my day. I cleaned, I set up a few things, moved animals around, and basically got things organized to a degree. Then, I watched TV and relaxed a little.

That evening, we went out to see Lew and Jaz in Long Beach. I've never had Wahoo's Fish Tacos before, and I have to admit, they are pretty good.

After dinner, we went to see I Love You, Man. HILARIOUS movie.... Totes My Goats... It's so AWESOME!

While at the movie, I found some Gummy Crocodiles... CRIKEY!!! They went extinct in my stomach. Delicious...



Nom Nom Nom...

Sunday comes around, and I go out to pick up an animal I've been waiting for in my collection for a few years, and he just fell into my lap on this one.

I am now the proud owner of a Proven Breeder Pastel Lesser Male.

As he is older, he is not as amazing as some of the one out of the egg, but I am pleased with him and what he will do for my projects.





I plan to put him with at least a Pastel female, a few normals and maybe the Mojave next year? I'm not sure yet, but I am very pleased to have him here. He's going to be doing some great things for me. He's my first Lesser!! Another notch on the belt of the collection.

Anyway, here we are, Monday... Lots to do today, so I'm going to sign off.

Have a great day, my friends.

Its FRIDAY!!!!!

Man, oh man, I have been waiting for the weekend already.

Not to say that I am doing a bajillion exciting things. I am actually not at all...
Is helping someone move exciting? I think NOT.

But I am hoping to get some sleep, get myself organized and cleaned up, clear out some junk in the house, and overall just get things done that I don't have much of a chance during the week.

Domesticated much?

I actually love being at home in my space.

When I lived with roommates, I was always having a silent battle with myself over what was my space and what was their space, and who did what in what public space, and whose junk was whose and responsibility of cleaning.... It is not an easy way to live if you are a neat freak and they are not, or vice versa.

Plus, living with a man who needs to be constantly reminded what to clean doesn't help, but I am labeling myself anal retentive, now aren't I?

I am not Suzy Home-maker, but I am trying.


Anyway, I digress...

Last night was impromptu feeding night, as the food just showed up at the door! Unfortunately for me, no one seemed that interested in consuming rodentia, so I have the dreaded leftovers... Oh well.

I need to get in the room and palpate and measure and do all those things to prep for eggs that should be coming very soon!

I've been seeing (but not photographing, sorry) lots of belly ups, curls, and ovulations.

I'm hoping to have a few good long females saved and not quite done, as I have a boy dedicated to them soon. Introduction on Monday.

So... I guess the basis of this blog today is that Heather has been slacking, and looking forward to being able to get into gear.

That's what happens when you leave for a weekend... Oh well.

Keep on trucking, my friends. I hope to keep you guys updated with more interesting things soon.

Have a great weekend.. VIRTUAL HUGS!!

Down to the Wire... And FRIEND Day!

Well, let me begin by saying that yesterday, I went out of my way to take my NO HR669 letters to the mail, completely forgetting it was, in fact, tax day as well, and the stupidest day to go to the post office.

BUT!!!! After 30 minutes waiting in line just to buy stamps, I was OUTTA THERE, and my letters are on their way to Tom Wolfe, the USARK Lobbiest.

http://theboaphile.com/669.doc/

This is the link I used to print out the 22 letters to each rep, and the information on what to do again.

And for good measure....

http://www.nohr669.com/

DO IT!!!
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TIM and LIZA DAY!!


Hey look! It's Tim and Liza and "the rat" (aka Isabelle the Chihuahua). You can well expect that many jokes regarding her size comparison to a rat were thrown around.

Why were they here? Well, they came to California to pick up this beautiful specimen of an Ivory from a local dealer (not me..)

She is a little fiesty, but gorgeous none the less..

And a tad bit of nose rub.. No problem...

I love Ivories. I can't wait to produce my own soon!

So after they came and showed off their new prize, and their new fuzz daughter, we went to do one of the best things ever!!!

EAT SUSHI!

Doesn't it look great??? YEAH BOYEEE!!

And Lewie came, and he doesn't do sushi, so he had chicken. Mmmm Chicken.

And, we were at the bar, of course (the best place to be for All You Can Eat Sushi), so I took a picture... Joe was acting up.

And this time, I got more of the group that was with us in the photo. Hiyah Lew and Jaz, Liza and Tim, Joe and Joels head in the corner!

Good times had by all, Tim and Liza drove back to Vegas, and I passed out with a food coma.

Lewie and Jaz got their letters printed at my house for coming out, and they better send them TODAY!!!

So should you!

Its Thursday, I am gearing up for the weekend, and I am ready to relax already.

Lots of things should be happening soon in regards to my snake stuff, so keep your eyes glued to the screen!!!

Have a great day, my friends.

No more photos...

But plenty of stories!!!

It seems that because of the timing in the season, or the lull, if you may, before the storm, there has been very little Heather gets to share with you all...

Yesterday, I sat down and filled out (BY HAND, mind you, none of that computer printing for ME) all 22 of the letters to send to the representatives in Congress about No on HR669. It took a while, but what is a few hours compared to forever not being able to have my snakes?

Joel and I are finished (I had to prod Joel into signing the letters), and the manila envelopes are sitting in my car to be sent out.

Now my question to you is, have you done yours?

We need to get our voices heard, and each person is someone...

http://www.nohr669.com/

Here is a letter I recieved from USARK (http://www.usark.org/)

Reptile Nation,

I know that we are facing dangerous and confusing times for the Reptile Community. Our end is upon us if we don't take decisive action to save ourselves. We have the power to decide our own future if we will only wake up and do what needs to be done!!

Thank you to those of you who have taken it upon yourself to take action. I know it has been frustrating. Congress is not set up to be reached by email. We have experienced broken links, constituent filters, blocks and deletions. But our opponents at HSUS lobbying for the bill have faced the same setbacks; although they have shown up in much larger numbers. As for the groups opposing the bill, USARK has generated the most contacts according to congressional staffers. But we must do much better or we will fail.

I just returned from a trip to Capitol Hill. Our lobbyist Tom Wolfe set up meetings with both sides of the Congressional Subcommittee considering HR669. We also did drop in visits to subcommittee member offices to make our case. Support was split down party lines. The Republicans support us and the Democrats oppose us. The Democrat side can win with a straight party line vote. The good news is that since meeting with USARK the Ranking Republican Rep Harry Brown, SC contacted me and has made this bill a priority.

He has given us precise instructions on how to most effectively contact the subcommittee.The Reptile Community must wake up or all will be lost. This is a huge mailing list. Yet only a few are taking action to contact the subcommittee. If everyone on this list did their part we would avalanche the subcommittee and make our point. We could kill HR669. We need to get off our lazy asses and start writing and calling the subcommittee members. The Hearing is on the 23rd of this month. That is all the time we have to save ourselves from being completely destroyed... And make no mistake, if HR669 passes the Reptile Community will be decimated overnight. Rep Brown's office suggests we focus on direct contact with subcommittee members. That means written letters followed up by phone calls. They are telling us that email and fax are the least effective way to contact members... They get lost and deleted. We need to call and write. They are also saying to send the letters directly to our lobbyist and have him deliver them in mass to the subcommittee members. If you are focusing on other activities STOP until after you complete this important task. Start calling and writing. The Key is IN MASS!!! It has greater impact that way. The time is now to fight for your life. We must convince several Democrats to oppose HR669 to prevail.

This is what we need to do: Write a letter to each member of the subcommittee. Click this link http://www.usark.org/uploads/hr669sample.pdf for the sample letter from our archive and names and phone numbers for committee members.

Label each envelope w/ the committee members name and your name and return address.

Put all these letters in a large manila envelope and send to: Tom Wolfe, 6246 Lee Hwy, Arlington, VA 22205

Call each member of the subcommittee- you will be speaking with staff. Let them know you Oppose HR669. Be civil, but tell them how this will effect you and your family. Check where members are from. If any of the members are your district representatives, or are from your state, make sure they know you are their constituent. If we are not annihilated by HR669 be prepared to do this over and over again. From now on political action will be needed regularly to maintain our rights.

If you have not joined USARK please click the link on the bottom of the page and protect your rights. Please post this letter on every forum and social networking site you can think of.

Sincerely,

Andrew Wyatt President USARK

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is nothing to scoff at, and nothing to ignore.

Please do something to help in the fight to preserve our rights.

Don't Burn any Bridges

Especially the ones that get me back to Los Angeles!

Here are more photos from my trip this past weekend.

You know that famous bridge, Golden something???

Yeah, I was there...

There were crazy amounts of people on the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday.

Everyone wanted to enjoy the beautiful day on a historic monument.

And we were in the City for Dim Sum.

Not sure who out there is familiar with it, but it is a type of Chinese food that is regularly served for brunch. Lots of little dishes with dumplings and other goodies with tea to drink and deliciousness.

It is the Chinese version of Afternoon Tea.

Doesn't it look yummy? Cause it totally was...

After that, we were on our way back to LA... Across yet another bridge.. Not so famous, so just gets one photo. But yes, another bridge. Lots of bridges in the San Fran area.

And did you know that on Sunday, Jesus came down and mowed his name and cross into the hillside?

"Jesus Saves"

I thought the photo was pretty cool, even though you can't see it well...

And we got home that night, and cleaned. I took some photos of Poppy and her growing brood. They are definately black and white now, and have yet to open their eyes, but are getting much bigger now!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night, I got my stuff together and got my No on HR669 stuff ready to send out. You should as well!

Time is running out to send in your letters to representatives about your feelings on HR669. http://www.nohr669.com/ is the first place to check out what to do, and then DO IT!

ALL LETTERS MUST BE TO TOM WOLFE'S OFFICE BY TUESDAY APRIL 21st!!!!!

Your voices need to be heard in regards to how you feel about not being able to own/care for your beloved "non-native" pets.

Please do what you can, get involved, as this will irrevocably damage what we are herpers and hobbyists are fighting to achieve!

Do what needs to be done, but don't burn any bridges. Be polite, be succinct, but most importantly, express how you feel about the bill!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me!!

Have a great day, my friends...

RETURNED!!! Point Reyes...

I am back.

I always come back :)

Didja miss me?

So this weekend was very nice, and I got to see my parents and hang out and relax a bit..

Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera set before I left, so my trip to the Academy of Sciences was a bust photowise. I bought a disposable, but its not finished, so I haven't gotten it developed to share yet. Hopefully by the end of the week or so, I will be able to share some cool photos of the museum.

But I did manage to get plenty of photos of one of my favorite places to go in California to get away.

Welcome to Point Reyes National Seashore.

I love this place. It is about an hour away from San Francisco, and really a great get away place considering it is pretty close to civilization...

I didn't get to do much herping (wasn't the best time of day, and it was windy), but I did see a few animals.

Overexposed... Didn't see my camera settings, but she was standing and posing, so I wanted to share anyway...

And look at the scenery.. Wait... what are those things on the beach??

Elephant Seals... There were a BUNCH, and they were making the coolest noises and acting all seal-like. It was a pleasure to watch them...

And a random bird that I was able to take a pic of..

The Lighthouse... 300+ stairs down to the farthest tip of Point Reyes.. And 45 mile an hour winds...

Isn't it gorgeous?

I guess for those who are big on lighthouses, this is a very special one, as it is almost complete in its old parts!!

And here are some photos of said parts... (Don't ask me what they are, even though the Park Ranger was trying to explain them...)

I really liked this photo...

Awesome how prisms are used....

Well, it was the season of whale watching, wherein the Pacific Grey Whales migrate back up north after bearing young in Mexico and swim back up to Alaska for food.

I missed the ONE whale that was around, as I was not able to spot it under water. Apparently it was swimming by, and was not breaching, but you could see the shadows... Dangit.

Lupine...

Gotta love that prisine shoreline...

Wild Irises were in bloom. They were awesome!

So I think after that deluge of photos unrelated at all to snakes, I should say that yes, I got home and cleaned..

And pairings are still going on.

Hopefully eggs by the end of the month. Let us cross all crossables!!!