[Keith Alan]

I have had dozens of lizards and snakes as pets, from all over the world.
Local pet shops knew of my successes and would call me to claim returns, captures and sick or injured animals--I was like the free vet and animal shelter for reptiles.
At one time my one-bedroom apartment had 16 lizards, a snake and 2 fish tanks.
I even built an incubator and hatched some eggs that an injured lizard left me, selling four and keeping one to old age.
All this was in the 1990s--my very last lizard died 4 years ago.

Last night I was loading my car for the highway shoot and almost stepped on this:


It is an Albino Corn Snake, a very popular pet species that is in the Rat Snake family.
Since they don't live in this part of Texas (and albinos are very rare in the wild) it must have been someone's pet.
They either let it go after tiring of it (a bad idea for many reasons!) or it escaped.
Either way, they were bad owners so we're keeping it.

When I told Sylvia that I caught a snake and wanted to keep it she was a little disturbed at having a snake in the house.
Expecting it to be like the others we see around, brown or black and very drab, she was even more disturbed by how pretty it is because she knew another valid argument against it's value as a pet was lost.
Once I told her how much money it's worth, yet another wall was knocked down.

Then I told her she gets to name it.
Smart, right?
Once I determine the gender she'll be naming "Our Snake" as she now puts it.
She even asked my to copy this photo to her phone so she can show people "our snake".

I spent today gathering supplies to make it's new home perfect (I already had most of what we needed) and look forward to buying the first mouse dinner after our snake gets settled-in.
Should be some fun photo-ops in the future. They are constrictors that strike fast and quickly wrap the rodent with body coils to crush their prey before swallowing whole.

It's almost 3 feet long and healthy, and is very calm--tolerates handling without any alarm or biting--a wonderful (and silent) pet that now lives within arm's reach to my left as I type this.

[shuttertalk]

Hey cool!

Interestingly, I was reading an article on snakes and snake venom yesterday:
http://cobras.org/article.htm

[Wedding Shooter]

Amazing colour - very beautiful.

[matthew]

That is the prettiest snake I've ever seen. I'm glad you were smooth enough to get it a permanent home, and I'm looking forward to seeing more photos as time goes on. (But maybe not of the mouse.)

Just out of curiosity, what's the young male equivalent of the little old lady with cats?

At one time my one-bedroom apartment had 16 lizards, a snake and 2 fish tanks.

[Irma]

Beautiful indeed...

I am very happy this poor one found you, and you will provide a nice home for it... let's wait to know the gender...
It has the color of a shrimp, but already cooked...

[Zig]

Nicely described, Irma!

A fascinating snake..and highly adept and subtle family psychology at work too...

[Keith Alan]

I'm fairly sure it's male, and Sylvia named it 'Candy Corn' after the popular Halloween treat with white, yellow and orange colors and of course because it's a Corn Snake.
Clever and fitting. She's smart and funny.
She calls him CC and I call him Candy because fathers are more formal sometimes.

Here are some photos from the first feeding since Candy arrived.
The mouse was bought frozen from a pet store, so there's no bloodshed or killing involved.
Live mice are more expensive and can also harbor parasites and bacteria that freezing kills.
It's also more convenient this way, and safer for the snake incase it doesn't feel like eating right away.
Candy appears to know all about frozen mice, since it just cruised up and started the long and difficult process of swallowing something bigger than his head.







The whole process shown took 12 minutes, and after 20 the mouse was just a lump 1/3rd of the way down his body.
A successful first feeding.

[shuttertalk]

Frozen mice from the pet store? What will they think of next?

Are the eyes that red under normal light, or is it just the flash?

[Keith Alan]

No flash used--Red eyes because the snake is albino and lacks certain pigments.

[smarti77]

Amazing beautiful creature! What are the odds of a snake lover stubbling across it???

[matthew]

Do you need to let the rodent thaw and come up to room temperature, or are snakes okay with eating a large mousicle? I'm wondering about the effect on a cold-blooded animal of ingesting something that large that's so cold.

[Keith Alan]

Amazing beautiful creature! What are the odds of a snake lover stumbling across it???

Exactly my point to Sylvia--out of all the places it could have gone, the snake either got very lucky finding me or it was destiny. Anyone else in the neighborhood probably would have chopped it in two with a shovel.


Matthew, you absolutely have to thaw out the mouse.
Although it isn't proper English, even in singular form it's "Micicle".

[Wedding Shooter]

That first picture of the mouse being eaten is a great example of how big the mouse is compared to the snake.