Jack - 1.0 2010 Black Milk (DUW)

Meet Jack (short for Black Jack...hardy har har). He came to me today from Joe (CaptBogart), who picked him up for me from Lee Abbott. Joe told me that he is one of the biggest Lee had, weighing in at 23g. This is my first non-corn, and I'm as anxious as could be to see this guy progress!
As excited as I get for new snakes coming in the mail, this is the first time I've ever lost sleep due to the excitement. I was up every few hours checking the tracking on my phone. And finally the sun started rising, but 9:00am couldn't come soon enough for the depot to open so I could go pick him up! And the ride home was just as bad. I wanted to open up that box right then and there in the car! But I was a good boy and waited till we got home. :crazy02:

Anyways, here are the few pictures I snapped before letting him rest for the week.

14 July 10
23 grams







He was very eager to come out of his deli cup to great me!


The only full-body shot I got. He's a squirmy little guy!




Just kind of a size comparison to my hand...and let it be known that I have pretty large hands...


He calmed down a little bit and just rested on my lap before being weighed and put away.


Thanks for looking! And keep an eye on this thread for his wonderful progression to jet-black!

And thanks a bunch, Joe!

:cheers:

They are such awesome snakes! A little flighty and head shy sometimes, but they mellow out really nicely. Lee has some of the most beautiful hatchlings and considering they are only a few weeks old - they are HUGE!
Congrats on your new addition and keep us updated with pics!

Cool! Glad you like him! I was out kayaking and saw that he arrived at the depot at 8:30 AM. At 11, he still showed there, then before I sent you a text, I realized it was my time, Eastern, lmao. I think they're actually bigger than the Hondo's I've hatched, which is impressive...

YAY!! Finally I'm soo excited to watch your lil guy progress along with my little girlie Maybe we can even sort out some breeding loans... LOL

Right on for Jack!!! You should put these pics into "The official Black Milksnake thread" too!


Huge congrats on your little man there!! :dancer:

Congrats! He's stunning! It makes me want another hatchling. They're so adorable when they're that tiny.

Welcome to the club! :dancer:

AWESOME!! and cute name!
Someday I will have me a few of these guys!!



~~'Manda

ArpeggioAngel said:

They are such awesome snakes! A little flighty and head shy sometimes, but they mellow out really nicely. Lee has some of the most beautiful hatchlings and considering they are only a few weeks old - they are HUGE!
Congrats on your new addition and keep us updated with pics!

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Thank you very much! Jack is indeed very head shy. I'm very pleased with him. And I couldn't believe how big he his! He is about as big as some of my corn yearlings!

CaptBogart said:

Cool! Glad you like him! I was out kayaking and saw that he arrived at the depot at 8:30 AM. At 11, he still showed there, then before I sent you a text, I realized it was my time, Eastern, lmao. I think they're actually bigger than the Hondo's I've hatched, which is impressive...

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Lol no way, Joe! I wouldn't leave this guy sitting that long! I was too eager to see him. Plus, I kept checking the tracking all morning, but it showed he was in Lubbock. So I figured he wouldn't arrive in Amarillo for about another two hours, but then I checked a bit later and it had changed to say he had been waiting for me for about 45 min. So I bolted out of the house to head over to get him
And I'm surprised the lady didn't ask me what was in the box, since it was clearly marked "live harmless reptile." It was the first time I've actually went and picked up a snake delivery, so I was curious how she would react if she asked what it was and I told her lol.

EmJagsz said:

YAY!! Finally I'm soo excited to watch your lil guy progress along with my little girlie Maybe we can even sort out some breeding loans... LOL

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Oh I know! The wait was antagonizing...And I think Jack and Skatha would make a darling couple.

Lovin2act said:

Right on for Jack!!! You should put these pics into "The official Black Milksnake thread" too!


Huge congrats on your little man there!! :dancer:

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Thank you! I had intended on adding Jack to the Black Milk Thread, but I forgot. I think I'll get on that right now!

Suzy said:

Congrats! He's stunning! It makes me want another hatchling. They're so adorable when they're that tiny.

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Thanks! I think he's quite the looker, myself. But then again I'm pretty biased. And I would hardly call him tiny! He's about three times the size of my smallest corn! I can't wait till he gets nice and huge!

ZoologyGirl said:

Welcome to the club! :dancer:

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Thanks for the warm welcome!



Again, thanks to all of you for the kind words!
:cheers:

Just a quick update.

Jack had his first feeding with me yesterday! I got him out and held him for a little bit before putting him in his feeding tub, and he is just as sweet and calm as can be. I also noticed that his yellow was extremely bright. It could be pretty accurately described as a neon yellow... It surprised me, as when I got him (as you can tell in the pictures), the yellow was more of a vanilla color. :shrugs:

Anyways, I attempted to feed him two large pinkies, but he was not interested whatsoever. All he wanted to do was climb out of his feeding tub and explore! Finally I got tired of waiting and watching, so I put him and his food in a small container and put the container in his tank. I covered the tank to give him some privacy, and left him alone for a bit. I checked back about an hour later, hoping I wouldn't be disappointed, and found him staring back at me with a full belly! I was so relieved...

Now the hard part is going to be leaving him alone for a few days to digest so I can handle him some more!

:cheers:

Yaaaay!!! Soon he will practically be eating out of your hand!! Same thing happened with my little one

That's great!

I noticed the same thing when I was going through them, that some were beige and others really yellow. Up till now, I've only seen them with white...

Well, Jack is getting ready for his first shed with me - and I'm pretty sure it's only the second shed of his life!

I've been suspecting him getting ready to shed for a little over a week now. He started looking pretty dull, but I never saw any milky eyes. So I proceeded with feeding as normal, but he only ate one of his pinks. (And I had to lock him in his deli cup and leave him alone for an hour for him to even eat that one...)

When it came time to feed this week, he was even more dark and dull, so I decided to play it safe and skip his feeding. (I've had bad regurge experiences from feeding while blue, so I avoid it all together just to stay on the safe side...)
Then yesterday, while looking for his shed skin just in case, I looked at him and he finally had the milky eyes! I'm so excited for him to shed and to see his bright colors again!

Side note: Jack is probably the calmest and sweetest snake I own. He is so gentle, even in deep blue! Never once has he shown any kind of aggression or even defensiveness! He is easily making his way up to be my favorite...

Here are a couple pics of him while blue...not the best as they were taken on my cell phone.









Thanks for looking!
:cheers:

Very cool! I'm pretty sure Skatha is heading in that same direction aswell. Last time I got her out she was looking a bit dull so time will tell!

And of course, looking forward to post shed pics