<Sniff, sniff> Leaving our babies for the first time.

We are leaving for 36 hours to drive the kids to camp and leaving the corns for the first time since we got the first one in mid-May. We are giving them wet towels over part of their screen tops, fresh water, etc. I know they will be OK but we haven't been gone for more than a few hours since we got them! Brenley will be gone from Flame, her Creamsicle, for 6 days. I think we will have to frisk her before we leave the house lest she tries to sneak him out with her! She is already mourning their lost time together! She loves him so much. Ember is digesting his Friday mousie anyway, so he would not be handled while we are gone - so no big loss. But I will be glad to be able to play with him when we get home!

Covering the screens 2/3 of the way with wet towels (and then covering the wet towels with a dry towel so it does not dry out from the top), wet moss, warm water in water bowl, etc., has not really helped Flame's dry flaking. I finally made him a humid hide with paper towels/moss with one of those Gladware containers today. He loves it. After we took him out after being in it for several hours (for Brenley to play with him one last time before camp) he was less flaky and very moist, but dried out and got flaky again after 5-10 minutes! I wonder if living in NM just being so dry if we are just going to have to have humid hides on a regular basis???? Our next purchase will be whatver those humidity monitors are called!

You might consider leaving two bowls of water when leaving the snakes for an extended period of time. This is in case one bowl gets pooped in. Another precaution is unplugging the UTH for the time you are gone. This is in case it malfunctions while you are away.

Thanks, Nanci! We will do the 2 water bowls! GOOD IDEA! We haven't invested in the UTHs yet.................those and the digital thermo/humidity thingies are next on the list! THANKS!

Well, everyone survived!! I missed Ember and held him when I got home. He was actually pretty calm after being left alone for 4 days to digest! So I was pretty proud of him! Of course he immediately found the pile of wet laundry on the bed waiting to be hung up to drip dry and tried to hide under it, but was fine when he was redirected to be more social. Thanks for the 2 water bowl idea, Nanci!

The first thing I do when getting home after being away a few days is check each and every snake. They always seem so interested in having human activity going on again!

Well they both definitely seemed to miss the human contact, even if Ember acts like a grumpy butt and anchors down on anything and everything when you try to get him out normally. He let us get him out very easily last night!

You should have seen the first time I shipped hatchlings away to new homes. I started bawling my eyes out at FedEx!!!

Nanci, you are so cute! That's why I doubt I'll ever breed........I get way too attached to any sort of baby animal.

Nanci, you are so cute! That is why I doubt we'll ever breed...........I get way too attached to any baby animal!