The pre-snake time...

• Sometime in the 1980's: Astrid starts thinking about how fun a reptile would be.. non-allergenic, quiet, no need for daily food... At the same time Snake adopts his nickname from a member of the heavy band Voivod.
• Still in the 1980's: Astrid reads a brochure about horrific reptile diseases and how difficult they are to care for and decides to forget about it.
• Summer 1999: Friends (Dagmar and Jose) pick up some corn snake hatchlings and let Astrid and Snake handle and observe them - and hunt the escapees ;-)
• July 1999: Several visits later, A&S start reading books at their friend's home. Astrid starts niggling Snake ;-)
• Thursday, August 11 1999: The day after a full solar eclipse in Germany ;-). Numerous Web pages (and not very much niggling) later, A&S are taken to a private snake breeder by Jose&Dagmar, who want to get a cage.
• 2 hours later: Jose&Dagmar buy nothing, but A&S leave with an 8 month old Black Albino corn snake that had slithered up and looked them straight in the eye :-)
  

• August 13: Driving home for hours in a shoebox-sized plastic travelling cage left the snake (a him) firmly hidden in his little cave for the entire next day... coming out at night to lay in the water basin for nearly an hour. Snake calls Astrid on the mobile phone "Is he supposed to do that?".
  Baby snake leaves the pool unharmed :-) , no sign of mites.
• August 14: "What can we feed Him?". Baby mice (frozen or alive) seem to hard to get in Munich...
  He is more relaxed and curious, but panicked when Astrid put a heating mat under half the cage, burrowing under the water dish... had to take very cold snake out and set Him in the warm part, where He gratefully disappeared in cave.
  While handling at night He temporarily escapes by disappearing behind various computers, but is found again.
• Same day, at night: Astrid does a little test, having read that very occasionally beef/ beef heart can be fed...
  A very small piece of lean steak is warmed up and placed on top of His cave. He immediately wakes up from the smell, yawning and flicking His tongue, but does not look for it.
  Since He usually is fed in a different container, A&S try putting Him in a bowl lined with toilet paper and add the meat. He circles around a few times and immediately attacks&devours it, then excitely looks for more.
  When he tries to eat the damp spot in the toilet paper He is returned to His home ;-)
• August 15: Rest, digestion, bathing judging from the number of wet chips around the water dish /swimming pool ;-)
• August 16: He is more active and busy testing the sides and lid of cage ;-).
• August 17: A big shit turns up ;-).
  Astrid locates a pet store that sells frozen mice of different sizes. After finally waking up, He is transferred to a bowl and offered a thawed & warmed baby mouse that is gingerly waved at Him with a pair of pliers (no tweezers around ;-). He immediately goes wild, strikes like a little cobra, tears away the mouse *yipe* and devours...
  The pet shop people say He is a "good snake" ;-)

• August 19: He reacts to aucoustic/ vibrational cues - very slight tapping on his cage makes him curiously poke His head out of His cave. He also reacts to clearly spoken words, making A&S wonder about an article stating that snakes *do* have an inner ear...
  Astrid clears the brick living room table, leaving on just a little junk. This makes a perfect little island surrounded by "the deep" to let Him roam around instead of constant handling. He is afraid of a little piece of rabbit fur and refuses to slither over it.
  "The deep" prevents Him from escaping, but He pokes His Head over the edge a lot and obvously is working on a cunning plan... call Him "Baldric"? :-D
  Finally He curls up in an empty cigarette box, hanging on so well that even gently setting the box on edge does not make him come down for 10 minutes... first one coil, then the entire snake.
• August 20: Another big shit ;-). The water dish / swimming pool turns out to be leaky, soaking surrounding chips.. must find a way to fix that.
  Friends are introduced to His Majesty, as Andreas calls Him. He can obviously tell strangers from His keepers (by smell?) and shies away at first from them. Andreas also shies away a little ;-) .
• August 23: He learns to crawl down an electric cable to leave the island. Quick learner, that one ;-)
• August 24: Feeding! He gets *2* medium babies. First one ist put on the table in a little nest made of a napkin. He searches around for quite a while before finding it, then grabs it, along with the paper napkin :-(.
  Snake&Astrid panic a bit, but then He can tear off a piece of the napkin and harmlessly eat it. The second mouse goes down somewhat slower, leaving Him with such an enormous bulge He hardly can slither any more ;-).
• August 25: Rest & Recovery soaking in the water dish and sleeping in the hideyhole.
• August 26: Snake & Astrid leave town for 3 days, He is supplied with fresh water.
• August 30: Upon their return He looks active and well (plus biggest poop ever ;-), but is very shy when Astrid tries to pick him up. Left Him alone. Started work on new cage instead (60 cm long x 30 cm x 30 cm ). Put a (not too ;-) old sock on top of His present cage to accustom Him to His keeper's smell as recommended in a snake forum at www.kingsnake.com...
• R&R for Snake&Astrid from the Klingon Qetlop ...

• September 01: He is much easier to handle in the evening after Astrid washed her hands in *really warm* water ;-) , quietly stays in her hands for a few minutes before starting exploring...
  Carpets are not easy to slither on ;-)
  And He does not like the smell of freshly emptied cigarette boxes - or does He remember being tipped out of one?
  How long is He? Measuring is difficult, as He always wraps around the ruler => 50 cm approx.
  A Web page stated to use prey with the same circumference as the snake - well those thawed medium baby mice look right. Gave one to Him with some vitamins&minerals dusted on, which He grabs after slight teasing and eats while hanging head down out of a shoe box - not very smart, but He managed.
  A medium baby mouse a week seems to be right...
  Slither, yawn, falls asleep in an old coffee jar, had to put Him in His cage jar and all. Still asleep in it in the morning in spite of light shining through the glass jar - not the afraid kind anymore :-)
• September 08: Food again - 2 small babies...
  Alfred, a great fan of local reptiles is introduced to Him and thinks He is "cute", compares him to wild specimens of Natrix Natrix (German: Ringelnatter). He definitely could "smell" (taste, rather) that this was a stranger...
• September 10: A 40 W red reptile heat bulb is set up at a distance, mostly for nondisturbing light rather than the heat. He is aware of the light, but moves around more at night with this light on than with the regular kind.
• September 14: Still no poop... hmm...
  He is fairly inactive, think he is still digesting. Tonight He will get a warm bath and some exercise, maybe that will fix it ;-)
  Aha! His eyes have turned blue = pre-shed.
  That's why He is so quiet and stays in His cave all night - He can't see anything. Gentle scrabbling around in the substrate made Him come out and look around, but He was very shy. After picking Him up He hid in a "cave" Astrid formed with her hands.... no exploring at all, put Him back where He immediately hid again.
  What about feeding? Hmm.... after He sheds & poops :-)
• September 17: Aha! He hath shed all outer trappings! [Shakespeare(tm)] An entire skin is wrapped around his cave, wooden tube and pool... 60cm long.
  
• September 18: Public feeding, so to speak - a few friends from our local Klingon club watch quietly while He climbs up a branch to grab a baby mouse on top of a coffee jar. Athletics for your food ;-)
  Have decided to lengthen breaks between feeding to 10 days, as He is constantly digesting. 10 days also are the recommendation for juveniles and grownups.
• September 25: Finally finished His new home, a former glass aquarium with screen top (steel frame ;-), imitation rock back panel for climbing (picked that up in a store), 60x30x30 centimeters. Very nice.
  Also contains 2 hide boxes (warm/cool spot), pool plus extra small water cup for moisturizing, a branch, a tube... put His old home completely inside the cage and watched Him slowly come out and explore. His climbs like crazy and immediately goes to the very top of the "rock" wall and curls up there under the red light.
• September 28: Feeding again - Alfred (the reptile nut), who will take care of Him during our vacation will do that.

• October 5 : Fed a fuzzy by Alfred
• October 15 : Fed by Astrid.
  He seemed to be somewhat shy with people after having been alone for over two weeks, but has accepted His new cage completely, no longer hiding so much, likes to sleep on top of the imitation rock wall even during the day.
• October 26 : Fed *two* fuzzies by Astrid. No longer so shy.
  He likes to slither into pockets, cupped hands, sleeves etc. , explore and rest in there.
  Snake props his leg on the living room table He is crawling around on - He promptly goes up the leg to above the knee and falls asleep in there.
  A very uncomfortable Snake has to gently massage Him out of the pants leg after half an hour :-)
  

  

  

  Rest in peace

  July 1999 - May 2018