#cyprus nofeet

[snakesandrootbeer]

11/30/17 This noodley boi weighs 204 grams. I finally got a deep enough bowl and was fast enough to grab a weight! The fuzzy potato on the floor is the big brother Stupid Cat (long story on the name). I’m pretty sure he’s trying to figure out how to snek. Cyprus was a good boy this evening and we had a nice visit even if I did have to keep directing him away from my sleeves and arm pits. Here’s hoping he eats this weekend.

[snakesandrootbeer]

This week’s adventure in having noodles. I missed double checking the latch on the enclosure and came home from school to find he had escaped. We turned furniture upside down - took the Christmas tree apart - and emptied shelves and the pantry. Nope. Nope. And nope. Ended up having to go to bed. Through the magic of social networking - a friend of my sister is a snake catcher (among other things too)! He volunteered to come over this evening and help search! About 15 minutes into it - he turns over the recliner chair and found my blue boy wrapped around the workings!! The chair sits over a warm air vent so Cyprus was just hanging out - soaking up the heat! I’m so relieved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He still hasn’t eaten but he hasn’t lost any weight this week.

[snakesandrootbeer]

Sunday evenings are feeding nights for Cyprus and his big sister Zazu (ball python). This was our fourth week of having him, so our fourth feeding. They both eat frozen mice/rats. Our procedure is to thaw/heat the mice in a mug of warm water with the little tails hung over the rim - like a mouse tea bag. Cyprus eats adult mice and Zazu eats medium rats.

Usually I’ll put their food in the tanks just before we go to bed and check in the morning the offerings have been eaten. If not, I remove it so they don’t eat it later after the carcass has had too much time to grow bacteria.

This week however, I was a couple hours ahead of schedule (not sure why….just happened) so I chucked in the food and Zazu came out like always - zeroing in fairly straight fashion as long as I left the room (she’s a shy eater). Cyprus however, came down off his perch rather quickly, and spent about 15 minutes just sniffing the durn thing. I had my camera set up to hopefully catch some footage of what I am told is a very large gape for the size of snake they are.

I don’t know if my camera put him off his food or what - but he went into his lower level hide and wouldn’t eat. He’d stick his head out and sniff again, just reverse and gooooo back inside then.

So I glumly took the camera away and left the room. His lights turned off a couple hours later and we went to bed.

I figured he would eat over night.

Nope. Had to remove the mouse.

So - I’ll go back to our usual routine this coming week and let Cyprus eat alone. In the dark.

[snakesandrootbeer]

12/5/17 A quick water slither. He also likes to shit in his water. Which makes for quick clean ups.

We are starting week 3 of not eating. He’s at 203 grams. He goes through out his habitat - from High to low, warm to cool, hides to basking ledge. His energy is great and watches us very curiously when we are in the room. As far as I can tell - he’s content. Dunno why he’s not eating.

[snakesandrootbeer]

Last week I picked up an XL mag-ledge - it’s about 6 inches wide and 13ish inches long. There are super strong magnets that hold through the glass - when you put those on, HOLD the outside magnets tight - they are strong and will pop right out of your hands, maybe cracking the glass. The yellow circle shows where I’ve placed the ledge. The tank is an Exo-terra - tall. The front doors open from the middle with a latch to keep closed. I love Exoterra tanks - they are extremely well made and worth the price if you can’t make your own setups. The temperature gradient runs from about 83F on the ledge to about 72F on the floor just under the ledge. There is a hide under the ledge in the cool area. If you look closely, you can see Cyprus enjoying the ledge under the light.

[snakesandrootbeer]

So this little shit may be starting a feeding strike. Week 2 and he turned his nose up at the exact same food, prepped the same way, presented the same way as when he ate last. I’m going to try to get a weight on him this evening - as soon as he comes out of his log. 😂😂😂

[snakesandrootbeer]

Mary Poppins is a very curious snek - when we were bringing him home in the car - I looked in the back seat and this is what I saw. He has continued to be very engaged and watchful of us moving about the house and through the room he is in. If for some reason, he gets spooked (we move too quickly or a noise), he hightails it so fast down off his ledge and into one of his two hides. He really enjoys being as high as he can get in his tank. He is a great buddy to have - just not overly crazy about being handled. But that’s another post. ;-)

[snakesandrootbeer]

So we moved up to small rats for Mary Poppins and he got it down without any problems!! I loooove what his stripes do on his food baby!!