Henry <3

[darxus]

I laid down with Henry again.

And he went for my shoulder, again. This time more directly. Then I fell assleep with him there, snuggled under my shirt, for a few hours. This is basically the second time I've held him.

Then I finally decided I really should get up and put him in his tub.

And he stayed right there. Sucked the last of his tail into my shirt.

And he's just staying right there, snuggled into my neck/shoulder under my shirt.

I... really should put him away.

This is going well.

Henry is my new baby green anaconda.

Photo update:
Body shot.
Snuggly.

Conversation at the pet store today:
"[For a] ball python?"
"Anaconda."
"<blink><blink>. Green or yellow?"

Comments

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

cool. pix?

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[darxus.livejournal.com]

In my camera. Hopefully tomorrow morning.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

that's often a small problem with small snakes. hopefully, no moving parts in there ;)

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[darxus.livejournal.com]

Added photo links.

The other snake in this month's photos is Cinnamon, cathijosephine's new snake, who is much less nippy.

[motomuffin.livejournal.com]

He's beautiful!!

But... an anaconda, huh? What are you going to do when his two brain cells flip from referring to you as warm/not food to warm/food?

(Yes, I owned a snake, I speak a little snake.)

[darxus.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

And thanks for your concern (not sarcasm). It is definitely appropriate.

I've been researching this for a few years.

There seems to be pretty strong consensus that the vast majority of times a regularly handled, well socialized big snake strikes a human, it's because the human did something dumb and avoidable. Often smelling like food, and moving the wrong way, at the wrong time. Google stupid feeding errors.

Also, I very intentionally got a male. They only get half as big as the females. The breeder, who has been doing this for a while, estimates ten feet.

Also, captive bred, which I got, tend to be better about these things than wild caught, which are more common for this kind of snake.

I've read a lot about big snake strikes. One of the most useful pieces of information is that snakes always immediately let go and leave you alone if you put a tiny bit of alcohol in front of their nose. It's also useful, and obvious if you think about it for a second, to stick your arms straight out to avoid letting them get pinned down. Also apparently useful to straddle the snake with your legs for similar reasons.

It is highly recommended that you have one adult present who is useful in emergencies for every eight feet of snake, rounded up. Not necessarily strong, just capable of keeping their shit together. Unwrap from the tail end. I'm probably not going to manage that kind of restraint.

Of course with a ten foot snake weighing about as much as me, there is always risk. But everything in life comes with risk. Henry is awesome. I'm convinced he is only going to get more awesome. And worth the risk. For me.

[doctordidj.livejournal.com]

So cute! I once had a girlfriend with an 11 foot Burmese python, who would get into bed with us at night. Most friends don't seem to get how snuggly that can be ...

[darxus.livejournal.com]

Nice.