a little snappy

so i havent had George for a solid week yet. i am ecstatic over him. i have posted pictures on arboreal forums, and with another breeder and he has received very positive comments all around  which of course boosts my ego. ha ha ha i am very happy with him. i have been watching his cage environment and health  activity very carefuly. i have a calendar on which i mark anything i do, clean out urinate deposits and water bowls, or anything i do to the cage gets marked on the calendar. i have also started a journal to take more detailed notes much like this blog. Gorgeous George seems very healthy. his is very active at night and very alert at all times. his cage is free of any greenery type foliage, and thus he is forced to perch out in the open with no real cover. i knew i needed to get some greenery in there so last night i want to Hobby Lobby and bought 40 bucks worth of foliage. i took it home and washed it with scalding hot water and soap. i hung the vine type greenery up to dry but i had a small fern plant and after i washed it and drip dried i decided to place it in his cage. i didn't really think about it so i just went into his cage willy nilly. when the fern passed by/ under George he imideatly struck out at it. shocking a little i tried to hold him and he just coiled around his perch tightly and acted as if i was stressing him so i stopped. i figured it was stressful response to lack of cover, but even though his lights were still on and don't go off until 8:30 pm, it was dark outside so it could have been an involuntary reaction to the hightend sense of hunting prowess that they have for night time..

either way i was shocked merely cuz i didn't expect it, but i was still happy with his alert and sharp responses. i intend to get the foliage in his cage today and hopefully that will provide further security for him.

now..
last saturday i noticed mold spore growing near the water bowl in his cage. i didn't know what to do so i hesitated for a few days. however last night i removed the water bowl and cleaned it out with a bleach/ water solution and set it up to dry. i then removed all the mulch near the growing mold spore and threw it in the trash. after that i scrubbed the mold spore area with a tooth brush and the bleach/ water solution and then replaced all the removed mulch with fresh mulch. once the water bowl was dry i replaced it in the cage and added fresh water. after this i was done so i put a towel over the front of his cage, for the night time cycle, so he wouldn't be disturbed by the traffic before bed time.

there is more to tell but not the time so..

until next time.

his name is Gorgeous George

well its been hell trying to get pictures and get this post updated. but here it is. so he arrived at my place of work at 9:30 am Thursday  i took him to the house right away and unpacked him to check him out. he was nervous and stressed but otherwise in great shape. alert, healthy, and beautiful i placed him in his cage on the floor and he pretty much stayed there for 2 days. Scott over at Island Arboreal was great to work with and has quality animals to offer. i am very pleased. 

so after kicking it on the cage floor for a coupla of days he finally decided to explore the new enclosure and found himself perched at the highest point in the cage the next morning. beautiful and a great display. i couldn't be happier, or in more desperate need for another one!! ha ha. i let him acclimate all weekend and last night around 9pm i offered him a frozen thawed adult mouse. i let the mouse thaw at room temperature for a few hours and then i let him sit in warm (not hot) water for about 15 minutes, and then i offered it to him. at first he retracted, i suppose startled by the intrusion, but then he quickly returned after getting the sent of prey in in his nose. he took the mouse without hesitation. i was very pleased. i have been placing a black towel over the front of the cage at night so he isnt disturbed. since he is in a high traffic area in my apartment, the lights go out at 8:pm but nobody goes to bed until 9:30 or 10pm. so i thought it best to do so. i went back after about an hour to see if he had dropped the food item or swallowed it, and he was rested up on his perch with a nice fat lump in his belly. :)

i have further plans for another snake or other snake(s) ha ha i will update later on when things are further along. i have a stand for George's cage that i plan on making. the stand will consist of 3 different size plastic tubs and will allow me to house 2 adults of any size for quarantine until i get adult cages built, 3 yearling tubs and 4 neonate tubes. thus allowing me to have a place set up for a maximum of 9 animals. this way i can be prepared to purchase any animal of any age for my collection, and if they are old enough to go into adult cages i will have a place to quarantine them until i get cages built. i have a nice snake in mind for my next purchase. not as flash as Gorgeous George but comes from a nice breeder in healthy condition, pretty green with a few yellow spots. should be a nice addition. im excited about the future of my collection. maybe in a few years i will be able to start a breeding project.

later gator,

brandon

good morning all. its Monday the 22nd. i have made the final payment to Scott Wysocki @ islandarboreals.com for my web/os H.Y. male green tree python. the arrangements we have made is for him to ship out my male this Wednesday for my to receive him on Thursday morning. i anxiously await the arrival of my beautiful snake. i am super excited. my cage is still not finished!! its total bullshit but i have everything planned to be done complete by tomorrow night. still not pictures of the caging although i have had planet of in between opportunities to take good pictures. i don't own a camera so i have to "borrow" the shop camera in order to take any pictures. needless to say i haven't focused enough to do so. but the overall design and outcome of the cage is going to look pretty damn good. my heat panel didn't ship out until Thursday even though i ordered it a week prior. me and my girlfriends son went out to the farm on Saturday afternoon and cut down some nice maple branches to use as perches for my cage. i don't understand why people pay for and use pvc pipes when you can get nice natural looking branches that balance perfectly between aesthetics and functionality for free! not to mention the texture of the branches will aide in shedding, something pvc piping isn't going to help with very well. it literally cost me a fun afternoons worth of work with my boy to get them, and 3 dollars worth of hardware to mount them.

anyway, my heat panel should arrive tomorrow. once it does i am going to mount the heat panel and light, law down my cypress mulch and i should be done. i don't have much time but im going to try and establish my thermal gradient Wednesday and Thursday my snake will arrive.

i guess that's all for now. i will be sure to have a camera for the contemplation of my cage. and of course deff when my snake arrives!!

i have been shopping on Rico Walder's web site. his facility is just north of Chattanooga tn. which isn't very far away. its my plan to purchase a neonate from him in the near future. probably with in the next few months. he has some nice blue parings that will be available and im hoping to acquire one.

i guess that's all for now.

later..

almost there

welp, its the 17 and i am so close to my 1st green tree python. im very excited. i make my final payment this week. i have his cage built, glass installed and everything. i am waiting on my heat panel, thermostat and a few other items so the cage isn't completely set up and ready. however by my snake's new arrival it will be and i cant wait. this time next week i will have him and pictures posted. super pumped!

on a side note, i have been building some vivariums  well, mostly cleaning and planing. i have 2 29 gal i am building into terrestrial vivs. should look pretty nice. its keeping me busy in between reading about dart frogs and GTP.. without spending too much moneys. i have also found another GTP that i want pretty badly. he/she is a beautiful snake of un known local for 515 bucks. nice little beautiful green tree python. i want him/her pretty bad. if i had another cage set up i would buy it for sure. hopefully i can take my time and get some caging set up and get him purchased and added to my collection! :)

anyway, my high yellow pedigree is soon to be here and i'm supper pumped!

until next time,
~Brandon

well its been a day or 2 since my last post. i have been busy building the cage for my 1st green tree python and doing other things. mostly researching vivariums and dart frogs.. things that interest me. anyway i was too busy through most of the cage building to take pictures but i did get to snap a few. the cage is mostly complete. this week i am placing my order for my heat panel, thermostat and thermometer  i plan to cut my branches and install them this weekend along with the light strip, fake plants, substraight, and water bowl. i have paid 2 of 3 payments on my animal and i have one more payment to make before i will receive him. i am very excited i plan to make my last payment on the 18th of this month (i.e. next friday) and will probably receive him on the following tuesday. man im almost there. i am still reading my book. i recently bought another book on poison dart frogs so i could educate myself on their keeping and husbandry. i enjoy building vivariums so i also want to spend time building them and keeping frogs. i will include that in this blog as well. i have decided on a name for my new GTP. i am not going to revile it just yet but i think its a good name and fitting. of all the names i have thought about this one keeps coming back to me so i think its fate.

anyway stay tuned and look for pictures soon. deff. with in the next 2 weeks. my brother Tyler, and my friend Randy are going to 13,000 acres of bottom land state park for a "critter hunt" personally i think its too late in the year but it was my idea, and since we haven't had any herping adventures this year i think its going to be fun, even if we don't catch anything. but there will be plenty of photos taken. im holding high hopes the we run into a copper head. i would love to have one! MUHA HA HA HA HA!

until next time
~Brandon