#shoelace(tm)

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just fed the shoelace(TM)

she’s looking for more food

at times like this, i am reminded of the fact that snakes are like those benthic-dwelling sea sponges that only exist to absorb food into their tubelike expandable membranes that are 90% stomach 9% reproductive organs and 1% a cognizant will to exist

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It occurs to me I never uploaded this old photo of the Shoelace(TM) ?? She’s so much bigger now, I need to take some new photos of her. She’s getting so yellow in the front... this photo really shows off how pink she is, though!

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shoelace(TM) shoutout

thanks to the Shoelace(TM) for always going to the bathroom in the same exact corner of her enclosure it makes for easy spot cleaning and i appreciate the simple things in life

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blessed be the shoelace(tm) for always going to the bathroom in the same corner of her enclosure, thank you for this gift of convenient spot cleaning oh kind and merciful shoelace(tm), yours is the only order in a truly unjust and chaotic world

[shoelacecollection]

Observe:

She.

(Don’t worry I don’t just use the analog thermometer, it’s mostly there for looks, corn snakes are on a thermostat in the back..)

[shoelacecollection]

The Shoelace(TM)

The Shoelace(TM) is a flighty, active young lady that wants food constantly, and cares about nothing else but food. If she had her way she would eat every day of the year, and no doubt turn into a snake orb in the process... thankfully, I exist to be her portion control, and she continues to grow at a healthy, normal rate.

Facts About the Shoelace(TM) (pantherophis guttatus)

The Shoelace(TM) is a Corn Snake with a very complex series of genes. Specifically, she is a 100% Het Amelanistic Anerythristic Hypo Strawberry Ultramel Corn Snake, and an F1 outcross of the Tequila Sunrise morph lineage. In order, this means quite a few things. The first is that she carries the Amelanistic gene, but is heterozygous for it, meaning that she doesn't visually show it on her body. The next is that she visually expresses the Anerythristic gene. Antherythristic removes red/orange colors from the snake who carries it, leaving behind grey, brown, and black (usually.) The next genes is Hypomelanism, which in corn snakes reduces overall melanin (the stuff that gives skin, hair, scales, and other things their coloration) expression, which, in turn, thins out the border around patterns on the snake, and can lighten up the typical checkerboard stomach pattern shown in most corn snakes. The gene following that is Strawberry, which further reduces melanin content, but doesn't act on red -- hence the name. Ultramel is the last gene in this list, and it is a gene with a lot of history and discussion in the hobby as to where it originated from. Ultramel also reduces melanin, and lightens dark colors in the animal who expresses it. What all of this means for the Shoelace(TM) is that she becomes a pale pinkish snake with some yellow on her front half, a pale belly and soft patterns down her sides. She's a very pretty girl!

Adding onto that, F1 refers to the number of generations away from a specific bloodline, and Tequila Sunrise is a name given to a specific gene combination that produces the corn snake morph of light-color pale pink-white snakes.

The Shoelace(TM) is about two years old, and around 3ft (1m) long -- but growing rapidly, and putting on more weight by the week. She's going to be a big girl! For a corn snake.

The Shoelace(TM) is very fast and active, and troublesome to hold onto -- but handling her is good for her future in case I need to examine her and when it's cleaning day, so she is held in spite of her attempts to escape. Eventually she settles down... but sometimes she musks me first.

You don't want to know what musk is.

One way to make it up to her is by letting her climb around on things once she's out. The Shoelace(TM) loves to climb, and she's happiest when exploring something new and interesting that she can weave her body around.

Due to her flighty nature, the Shoelace(TM), like Worm, has never seen grass, and with the way things are shaping up, she probably never will.

Ask me a question about Ivo here, and I can add it to this list!