Second snake – Jamal – Corn snake (Pantherophis guttatus)

I got a new job and we have to move to different part of the country. We settled in a nice small city but, in a quite spacious apartment. All the time we have been visiting zoos and all reptile shows in our country and wider.

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Living room / terrarium with our Ball Python in top left corner / on the frame of zebra you can see its shed

Very soon I introduced to my wife and kids an idea to have a second snake. Since budget was limited we were also quite responsible we have started to search for a “second hand” animal. Soon we found an advertisement of an adult Corn snake together with his terrarium. The guy, if I remember correctly, because of lack of time decided to give away one of his snakes. Since I was not completely newbie I have asked a lot of questions to find the reasons for his decision and I judged it can be a good and really affordable buy. So one evening after work and school all four of us seated in the car and went to pick up the snake. It was like one hour drive.

When we arrived there the guy showed us his both snakes. Our new corn snake Jamal and another one – Milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum). I have to be honest; he was taking good care about them and snakes looked healthy and were in perfect condition. I knew it will be a good deal! The terrarium was made out of glass and it was big. It was quite a challenge to get it out of the flat/downstairs and to fit it in our car. Luckily we had a sports wagon and by adjusting the backseat we managed to fit it inside.

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We put the new terrarium in children’s room.
The main difference between our Ball Python we noticed quite fast was … Jamal was much more active – even during the day … and he was very fast while being handled.

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There is also one very interesting story (for me) and I think quite shocking for my wife at the same time connected with Jamal. When I was in Venezuela for a month. During our Skype call in the middle of the night, something dropped from the shelve in the storage room at home. My wife got frightened. She didn’t dear to open and check the storage room, so she went and woke up our 4 years old son to check what the hell is going on there. So my brave son spotted Jamal exploring the basket of fruits, pick the snake up, put it back to the terrarium … and the rest (million times checking if the door is locked) was certainly done by my wife … and repeated one more time to be 100% sure 😉

My next post will be about our visit of BioExo exhibition, that ended up in buying new reptiles … this time a pair of green … 🦎

Some more photos of Jamal and company:

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Green lizard – Lacerta viridis

It has been a while since I promised this post. With this blogging is the same as with everything else in life … whishes are one thing and the reality is another. Today I found some time and here we go:

Back in time while being at my parents-in-law house I noticed European green lizard (Lacerta viridis) hiding between the wood. I asked my father in law if he sees it often. And he said: “Sure I do! On most of the sunny days it comes and basks over there.” So I knew it must have a nest or at least shelter very close if not exactly in that wood.

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Photo taken by myself on 15.5.2008 with Digital Camera Olympus u700

I made the above photo of the guy … yes I know it is male since he was so colorful. You have to know at that time we didn’t have such a good cameras integrated in our smartphones … so to make this photo I had to wait for it and make several trials.

But anyway next spring we could see there were more small lizards crawling around … so the guy was a successful in finding female and they had babies as well. Excellent right?

Once I noticed there is one of those youngsters in my mother-in-law’s garden and I took the advantage and caught it. I was quite lucky as it was male … nice example of a wild coughed male!

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Greeny in his tube – a simple but working setup

I put it in a plastic tube and set up everything he needed for a little bit longer staying in there. I wanted to do some personal research on that animal. Sooner or later my family and friends found out about my new reptile in the house and Greeny became quite popular, starting to get more and more curious visitors. It happened when we celebrated our kids’ birthday Greeny was a main attraction. We put him on a special table in the middle of the happenings so everyone could admire him.

It cause us quite a lot of work to keep catching food for him. Since at that point of time we lived on a countryside we have been able to catch crickets and grasshoppers daily for him.

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Grasshopper …  for his meal 🙂 

Well after my research work was done, let’s say after several months, I released him back to the nature, so he was able to feed himself even more and get ready for winter hibernation period on time. Yes these animals do survive winter with snow and everything by finding themselves a safe underground shelter and they hibernate.

After me and my wife learned a lot of things about this type of animals, for example how difficult is to take care about them, how big enclosure they need and of course you have to prepare them to enter the hibernation stage by providing them right food before winter and assuring them correct spot with suitable temperature drop, we decided we will not have lizards in our home. (you may find later it is not completely true but, this is what we thought about it at that time).

So my next blog will be about getting another snake for our home … this time red one and his name was Jamal … more about that soon 🙂 Take care and thank you for reading.

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She (Ball Python) is getting home

I was really looking forward to finally bring our snake home … a half a year old, female normal, Ball Python. It happened in November 2007. Everything was ready … even my wife and the rest of the family 😀 were somehow ready to meet her.

That day I finished my job a little bit earlier. I even skipped lunch … all for being in the pet shop as soon as possible, picking up my Girl and taking her home, to her brand new, built with love, terrarium. Continue reading “She (Ball Python) is getting home” →

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Convincing my wife to live with a snake

In my first two posts you could read some details about the times before having my first in captivity bred snake. So let’s move forward … where things get more serious. I don’t mean the situation was not serious sometimes in the past 😉 even too serious 😂

After finishing my studies I got married. Getting married means also bringing a little bit more of permanency in my life. Being in an apartment that you know you will stay for a little bit longer time raised back an idea having a snake. Continue reading “Convincing my wife to live with a snake” →

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Natrix or first snake for a month

It all started when I was still a child, about 7-8 years old.
Whenever I saw a reptile in nature, no matter if it was a snake or a lizard, it got my full attention. I always found some moments to observe and admire it, try to find where it is heading and somehow deep inside me a wish to catch one was initiated. Later at the age of 10 I found enough courage and of course an opportunity to catch my first snake. Continue reading “Natrix or first snake for a month” →

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SLO: Belouška ali prva kača za en mesec

Najprej kratko opravičilo oz. pojasnilo: ker je blog v angleškem jeziku nastajal intuitivno je slovenski prevod zgolj samo najboljši možni približek in zato je tekst jezikovno nekoliko bolj okoren. (Sedaj, ko sem se srečal s tem izzivom, tudi razumem, kako zelo nerodno zvenijo v angleščini ali kakem drugem tujem jeziku sestavki in razlage, ki jih ustvarjamo s prevajanjem slovenskih misli. )
Ta prevod v slovenski jezik je tako nastal v dveh korakih … kot prvi korak sem tekst prevajal in v drugem koraku, sem preveden slovenski tekst popravljal, da je postal bolj slovenski, a je še daleč od tega da bi lahko rekel da je raba slovenščine pravilna.

Pa začnimo:

Vse skupaj se je začelo, ko sem bil še otrok, star med 7 in 8 let.

Kadarkoli sem v naravi zagledal plazilca, pa naj bi to bila kača ali kuščar, je vedno pritegnil vso mojo pozornost. Vedno sem našel nekaj trenutkov, da sem ga opazoval in občudoval. Globoko v meni se je tako rojevala želja, da bi takšnega plazilca nekoč ujel oziroma da bi kačo ali kuščarja imel doma. Kasneje, nekje pri desetih letih, pa sem zbral dovolj poguma in prišla je priložnost da sem to tudi zares storil … ujel sem svojo prvo kačo.
Continue reading “SLO: Belouška ali prva kača za en mesec” →

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