Don’t forget the new snake. Have you picked him up yet? I’m still pushing for you to name him Tim Gunn.
StG
Whoa! Hi everyone! I had to do that be-a-mom thing and take my oldest to swim lessons while holding down the youngest (who decided summer was the perfect time to break his hand–UGH!–and thus his swim and soccer lessons were canceled), then came home to hold down the fort while teacher-hubby sat on an interview panel all morning. That busy-ness means now I has a tired, but I can finally sit and reply.
FairyChatMom! We’ve interacted, kinda. I know your name and know I’ve seen your posts–and funny, I was thinking I thought I’d met you at a Los Angeles Dopefest. Then I realized that was FairyChatMoose, attending on your behalf. 
JohnnyLA, those are perfectly (purrfectly) squishable and huggable fluffballs. Love them.
shantih, yes, I remember you during those fun colicky weeks. UGH. We eventually determined he had a milk protein sensitivity–as soon as I cut all dairy from my diet (and thus his), it stopped. I did learn the hard way that soy is a similar protein to casein with similar effects on my colicky one, though. Ugh, again. Anyway, that critter is next to me on the couch, new plaster splint-cast thing in place (because he broke the first one already :eek: ) and watching Dinosaur Train. Interestingly, he still randomly complains “my tummy hurrrrrrrts,” and he’s my stoic one. When I mentioned it to his pediatrician at a follow up, he said that kids who were colicky as infants often have inexplicable tummyaches as children. (That’d be a good question for GQ, huh…) It doesn’t seem correlated to what he eats, though, so, :::shrug:::
Honey, oh I get it, and I don’t begrudge anyone who finds my love of snakes weird. I know I’m the weird one in this. Thank you for humoring me and looking anyway, despite your squick-factor. And Firefly is well aware she is adorable and uses that to her every possible advantage, heh.
:::waves at Hopeful Crow::: Thank you for the well-wishing. As to cornsnakes, here is a massive variety of color morphs in the species (seriously, scores of combinations), but they typically have to be carefully bred to get those genes (though sometimes some spontaneously show up in the wild). Zuri and Cleo are normals AKA classics, so that’s what you’d see in the wild–and looking at the two girls, you’ll see there is quite the variation just in those two girls. Totally dug the picture of the garter snake–thanks. 
DoctorJackson–ha! Thanks for the smile. As it truly is, my surgery was at the back of my brain, so my scar goes from the base of my skull up about six inches. It’s all covered by hair now, which I rather find a bummer. I think a big ol’ brain surgery scar is rather badass, myself.
Hi AHunter3 and thanks OneCentStamp!
Thanks for the laugh, Happy Lendervedder. Heh. BTW, I prefer to be in a reality show with Adrianne Curry. I always thought she seemed like a cool chick. There are still plenty of 99ers around, it seems, though I don’t know how active they are. I’m still bummed my registration says December 1999; when the boards first went to Internet-land, I registered in March like everyone else. Then something happened–was it the Winter of our Missed Content?–and when I came back, I opted to not use my real name (derrrr) as my screenname anymore.
Perhaps a statement of the obvious, but the Dope has changed a lot since the early days. It seemed it got really big in a really big hurry, so the personal touches faded. I felt like we all knew everyone, or most everyone. Then as other community forums on the internet expanded, we spread out, and that personal touch seemed to fade. Anyone else remember the Straight Dope awards Opal organized (I think it was her)? She was voted Doper You’d Most Like to Meet In Person (I think). I’m still pissed/bummed she’s gone.
But hey, we’ve all grown up, the Dope too–so I’m back all grown up and stuff. Not mature, mind you, but certainly older.
Hey St Germain! One of my message board crossover friends (Hi, Hello Again!). 
I don’t have the new snake yet–I figure we’ll likely get him Thursday or Friday.
What he’s alluding to is a cornsnake I found on Craigslist that is in considerable need of an upgrade…rescue, really. He’s skinny and a bit beat up looking. I saw him and though my hands are full, they’re not THAT full; I can add another. Having had horses as long as I have, I can say owning 10 snakes does not equal so much as one hoof of a full sized horse. I have a tank and I can make his life better, so I will.
I did this last year with a horrifically emaciated snow corn (amelanistic + anerythyristic) I found on Craigslist. I spent months rehabbing her then sold her to a fellow enthusiast after more than doubling her weight–and all she needed was regular meals. I also fostered a pair of snow corn hatchlings that weren’t eating for our local privately-owned pet store, tripling their weight and returning them to the owner eating regularly (hatchlings can be challenging to feed at first, and those two just didn’t understand eating frozen/reheated pinkie mice).
Those rescues–as well as my babies I breed and sell–are why I can’t keep track of numbers. I said in my original post I had 11 snakes. Nope. I have 9, with that rescue becoming my 10th later this week.
Rescues are nothing without pics. Wanna see? Because you wanna see.
Absolutely horrific photo seller sent me of the snow corn (I named her Runway–like, skinny as a runway model, and also because she was my project Runway) I got off Craigslist. This is absolutely the most severely emaciated snake I’ve seen. 
When asked how can I tell if a snake is thin, I show this photo–that prominent spine, triangular appearance, oversized head…gah. She felt so reedy in my hands, too.
Before photo of Runway–second weigh-in. She was an atrocious 183g when I got her–weak, angular, skin folded, GAH.
After photo of Runway–in six months, I more than doubled her weight. She was over 400g when I sold her. (And FWIW, I sold her at a loss–it might have paid for her food. I just wanted her to have a good home, so profit was not on my radar.)
Before pic of one of the snow hatchlings–nowhere near as severely emaciated as Runway, but he still had a prominent spine, loose skin, and appearance of an oversized head. He was a pathetic 5g at first weigh-in. My hatchlings are 8-11g out of the egg.
A couple of months later, he was more than double that weight. So, woot.
My friends say I’m a parselmouth.
I remembered your name, because it’s the same name as the great thoroughbred. She was some horse.
And she was/is largely the inspiration for my screenname. The racing world just honored the 40th year of her passing the other day.
Welcome back! 
Interestingly enough (at least to me) I came across **FairyChatMoose **when cleaning out drawers the other day and I was wondering if there’d be interest in another adventure for her, but I’m not motivated enough to make any plans or start a thread right now. Maybe in the fall.
I’m loving the snake pics. I never wanted one as a pet, but I think they’re fascinating critters.
This makes me very, very happy! I MISSED YOU! 
Welcome back.
Even though I have such a phobia of snakes (spiders are no problem), even I can see that Runway is a pretty snake. I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but she has a really sweet face.
Hey There, Ruffian and welcome back! Seems to me I remember you 'round these parts when I was a wee Doper … A question re: the snakes, do they like to cuddle? I’ve heard they can be very snuggly… but my husband won’t let me have one! Glad you are feeling better & continue to recover. brain surgery’s NOT fun, I know!
Welcome back, Ruffian! I recall some twelve or fifteen years ago oh-so-delicately asking if you got your name from Ruffian because some people don’t like being compared with horses, not even her. It’s been forty years? A part of my heart is still broken.
You, OTOH, are being repaired and well maintained! Glad you’re back and doing well, considering.
I am tired of these motherfucking snakes in this motherfucking thread!
Welcome back.
Regards,
Shodan
Welcome back. It’s great to see you’re posting again.
Welcome back, Ruffian. I remember you fondly from many of the grand threads of old. I’m sorry for your troubles and glad you’ve come through them as well as you have.
My regards to DeathLlama, the little ruffians, and the menagerie, too.
I remember you as well, Ruffian. Like yourself, I took some time off of the boards but I never really left. I kept my profile active through all the board changes (and administrative changes too).
From one 99-er to another, welcome back.
I *remember you, although I don’t think we ever crossed paths. Whatever happened to the pregnant 6th grader?
*I also remember the horse Ruffian, and a weird exchange on Tom Snyder’s ‘Tomorrow’ program back around the time of her death. I don’t recall the guest, but somehow they made a passing comment about Ruffian, and the guest replied, “Right, Ruffian knew too much.”
Hi and welcome back! I remember you
Yo folks! I meant to write a reply yesterday, but it’s summer and the 5yro and 9yro have the crazies. I chose to take the 90min or so of quiet (if far from silent) to nap and rest, rather than internet. None is the regrets I have.
Funny you just recently took out the FairyChatMoose, FCM. I assume Dopefests are still going on, but kinda figure I won’t know anyone. Young whippersnappers.
And funny Honey–Runway was sweet, but she’s also the only adult corn snake to ever bite me. But I couldn’t hold it against her–it was a few weeks into her regular weight gain feed regimen, and it’s like it awakened her appetite. You’d think she’d have been ravenous right from the get go, but it took a few weeks. Then it was like OMG! FOOD! AND IT KEEPS COMING! FEED ME MOOAAAARRR! For a brief period of a few weeks, she’d get exceeding excited about being taken out of her tank to be put in the feed bin. Once during that time, she nailed me and held on–that super hungry “Food is nearby and your fingers are warm and moving, so I’m going for it.” Eventually she, like all my snakes, was able to learn when exactly to expect the mouse. (I told my students that while snakes aren’t exactly going to be doing higher math anytime soon, they are smart enough to determine specific correlations in the feeding routine.) It only took her a few weeks to figure it out, but I wore oven mitts when taking her out of her tank until then. 
janis and c0, hello! I wouldn’t say my snakes like to cuddle, but they do like getting out and being handled. Corn snakes are an active species so when you take them out, it’s exercise first, rest later. They aren’t speedy like a ribbon snake, but they do like to move around and check out the scene. Once they are certain there is no meal about and they’re not in danger (which they all learn pretty quickly in their first few months of life), they will eventually chill. Usually it’s that they’re wrapped around my hand/wrist, but they also are ones to seek dark and warm spots–so you need to watch your shirt sleeves unless you want them crawling in there for a comfy spell.
I should add that like with all animals, the corn snakes do have different personalities. Kamalah is sweet and docile and low energy, and Rama even more so. Zuri, actually, is very similar to Kamalah but more shy (she buries herself most of the time; Rama is even more shy and 95% of the time, you’d never know there was a snake in his enclosure). Keagan, meanwhile, is as close to a serpent gymnast as I think a cornsnake can be. Cleo is sweet, but always gets excited about me reaching in her cage so she still acts like she might do an exploratory bite (though she never has in 13 years). Once I’m holding her, she’s fine. And Alina…well, Alina is like Cleo, but moreso. Alina will rattle her tail (corns do that as a bluff; rattle snake mimicry is one of their major go-to defense mechanisms) when I reach in, dart her head about, and seem to dare me to pick her up. Once in my hands, she’s fine, but she’s also my biggest female (Keagan is my biggest corn, period) so it can be intimidating.
Thanks for the welcome back dropzone! I remember you (well, your screenname), too. I can’t imagine I would’ve reacted poorly to your wondering to your question all those years ago. Ruffian-filly kicked all kinds of ass.
Thanks for the smile, Shodan!
RealityChuck! Good to “see” you too. Thanks for the welcome.
Balance, thanks for the welcome and well-wishing. The menagerie is well and DeathLlama has taken both boys out this morning so I can rest, so things are awesome currently.
Dragwr, yours is another name I remember–aw, it’s like a reunion here. :::sniff::: Thanks for the welcome back.
Earl Snake-Hips Tucker, I stopped posting about the 6th grader because the I realized Internet anonymity is an oxymoron–I didn’t want to risk something becoming known that shouldn’t (and didn’t, thankfully). And because of that, I won’t go into detail beyond saying last I saw, mom and baby were doing okay. Mom was able to graduate high school with pretty solid grades, IIRC. And your Tom Snyder quote made me LOL.
Thanks Geek Mecha! Hi back!
Ugh. I want to do more catching up on my computer stuff while the house is quiet, but one of the lingering effects of my surgery (or perhaps my condition) is if I sit with my head and eyes lowered even slightly for too long (such as sitting on a couch reading, or with my laptop, or grading, or apparently now even at a desk the way you’re supposed to be) I get weird sensations in the back of my skull and back of my tongue, and my eyes get a little wonky. Might be nerve or muscle damage from the surgery itself, or from longterm compression of the brainstem. Whatever the cause, I’m going to be upright for a few and give my head, neck, and eyes (and apparently tongue) a break.
You probably don’t remember me but Welcome Back!