Bits and Pieces--Sunday Evening Edition

OK it is 8:00 PM as I type this, and it is still 97' with a heat index of 106. I wonder when it will cool down some. I don't mean just for the evening.

Good news on the snake front. I finally got Slider to accept small rats. Some of you may remember Slider. He is a ball python I adopted from a co-worker. He's about two years old, and had been fed live mice his whole life. I wanted to switch him to rats, because mice simply aren't big enough for a snake of his size. Now, ball pythons don't get that long--mostly 4-5 feet--but being boids, they are really thick around the middle. At Slider's size, he should be eating small or medium adult rats. Since he was not used to eating such a large meal, it was suggested to me that I start him out on smaller rats. I tried feeding him weaned rats for several weeks, but he wouldn't eat them. Then I had a DUH! moment. He was used to mice! So I started feeding him frozen/thawed mice, starting with one, then adding a second one. Once he was eating mice well for me, I tried another weaned rat scented with Mouse Maker. He wouldn't take it, so it was back to mice for a couple of weeks. Then I tried again with another scented weaned rat. This time he took it. After a couple of weeks of eating weaned rats, I tried with a small adult rat. I think he was intimidated by the size of it, and refused. Back to weaned rats for a few more weeks.

So this weekend, I decided it was time to try him on small adults again. Six of my seven snakes were scheduled to be fed--5 on Friday, and 2 on Saturday. I fed Slider last of all--Saturday evening. After two days of smelling thawing mice, he was pretty worked up. By the time I got his rat scented and heated up, he was out in his tank looking for something to eat. I lowered it in there holding it by the tail with long feeding tongs, and he grabbed it so fast he jerked the tail clean off. I actually got to see him eat, too. Finally, he is eating what he needs to be. It's been a long, hard process, but well worth it. And judging by the lump left in his stomach, it won't be long until he needs to move up to medium adult rats.

Bad News on the snake front. Scarlett urfed again. It was just a bit of skin, but it was still an urf. That's two. If she urfs this latest meal, I'm going to put her back on liquid feedings for a while.

On the knitting front, I'm really wanting to try knitting a lace shawl. I've been spinning yarn for a while, thinking I would knit a shawl for my sister. It's time to start researching shawl patterns...