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Hola mi amigos! You can call me Humbug. :D

hiddenhollowherp

hiddenhollowherp

Community Punchbag
:wavey: I come from a little bit of everywhere, but I'm usually in the top Northern states toward the Midwest and Wester (is that a word?). I venture into Canada periodically, as I was born in Alberta and grew up in B.C., where I was obsessed with the elusive Kermode bears.

When I was 12, I was bitten by a rattlesnake (never found out what species) in Southeastern Minnesota. It barely even scratched me, but it made me very afraid of snakes. I would panic when I saw them, even garters. Later that year, a friend suggested I get a cornsnake to cope with my phobia. I agreed to look, but never to buy. I was never more nervous than I was with that snake curled around my wrist! But after a few minutes, I realised that she had no interest in harming me. She just wanted to explore. I bought her and brought her home and slowly learned about cornsnakes.

Now I have four lovely corns, and each of them has their own personality and their own preferences for about everything. I wouldn't trade 'em for the world!

Aside from my snakes, I've got a dog, a mouse colony, a feral rat, four cats, three ducks, a ram, and a harem of equids I train and sell. In a world without animals, I would be very lost indeed! :dancer:

Cheers.
 
Welcome. I enjoyed reading your story and I am glad that you were able to conquer your phobia(completely understandable). You will find a lot of nice and helpful people here. We love to see pictures so post some soon if you can :D
 
Welcome to the forum!! Great story and I am so glad you were able to conquer your fear!!! Cornsnakes are a great way to work through phobias, I know of several people who are now able to handle one of my cornsnakes w/ no fear, matter of fact when ever she comes over one of the first things she does is go and grab Stevie who is usually trying to get out anyway!
 
They are without a doubt my favorite snakes ever! After I got my first corn (who after many years still doesn't have a name..) I got an unsexed ball python. BIG mistake on my part. There were alot of warning signs, including/not limited to the fact that he was living in a five gallon bucket. I got him for a good deal though. $50 isn't bad for a CH ball (which I thought meant champion.. LOL). That was the nastiest ball I have ever met to date. He was just a little fella, but holy mackeral could he ever pack a punch! He never did settle down, so I gave him to the reptile house in the cities. Other than being a picky eater, I've heard he's doing well.

Long story short, I am completely unwilling to consider other types of snakes. Just corns for me! :p
 
Welcome to the forums. Sounds like you've got quite an odd assortment of pets, especially the feral rat. Was that a rescue? I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience with ball pythons. CH is never the way to go for BP unless you're experienced with them. The CBB ones are typically nice. Will yuo be posting pictures of your corn snakes?
 
The feral rat, better known as Benjamin, was intended for snake chow at a petshop. He was so large that none of their snakes could eat him. They were going to give him to a man with a large retic, and I offered to pay double. Don't ask me why, 'cause I haven't a clue! He's now litterbox trained and I refer to him as feral because he simply roams around the house. He's enourmous, so the cats don't bug him.

Thanks for the welcomes, everyone! They make me feel warm and fuzzy after a long day of shoveling. ;)
 
oohh.. that's a nice story. lol I pictured this very untame rat biting everyone. Male rats are big calm furballs. I still wouldn't let my free range it though...not a fan of finding random rat raisins around the house. lol
 
The next time I've got nothing to do, I'll forage for the camera and take a few snapshots. I have a few horse pictures, but all horse pictures are generally the same: head down, jaw moving, tail swatting flies. ;)

Benjamin has a Christmas outfit, and I've been meaning to photograph that. While I'm at it, I might as well weave the snakes around a wreath or something. :p
 
Hola, welcome.
Animal-centric people are very welcome here.
Everyone's interested in your rattus, me too, how big is he? Is his name in reference to Willard?
 
Where do you live in MN? I grew up there, but fled to the south and warmth. My last residence was in Stillwater.
 
Right now I'm staying in Warroad, where every other word is 'hockey'. ;)

And yes, Benjamin is in fact named after Big Ben, in whom he shares quite a resemblance! I'm happy to say that Benjamin isn't evil though. He does like to steal shiny things such as keys, money, jewlery, and tinfoil. :D
 
Sorry, but now I have Michael Jackson's "Ben" playing in my head.
Does he make little rat's nests about the house, or does he mostly stay in one area?
 
LOL! If Ben were a human, he would very much dislike Michael Jackson. He's more rock 'n roll. ;)

He stays in his box for the most part. I brought him home in a large cardboard box, and he's decided that that's his home now. The only time I see him move is to and from the litterbox, unless he wants to come onto my bed. He does enjoy getting his face scratched. ;)
 
First off and welcome to CS.com.. there are a few Minnesotans around here. :)

Are you a MN herp society Member and Did you see Kathy Love this last October?


hiddenhollowherp said:
When I was 12, I was bitten by a rattlesnake (never found out what species) in Southeastern Minnesota. It barely even scratched me, but it made me very afraid of snakes.s.
Click to expand...

That snake was probably a Timber Rattler.

Here is a photo of a friend's snake.
DSC00030-1.jpg
 
No, I'm not a member. I'm just a beginner breeder with pet corns.

That does look like the snake, but so did all of the pictures people have showed me previously.

It happened in Winona. I was trying to catch it with a forked branch. It was in a little crevice in the limestone in this area we used to play (might've been a quarry) and I kept trying to peel it out. I wasn't sure it was actually a rattlesnake because my grandpa had showed me so many snakes which pretended to be rattlesnakes. I lifted it up onto the stick and that was when I saw the rattle. I tried to lay it back down slowly and just before it hit the ground it got me between my thumb and index finger. I dropped the stick and ran as fast as I could back into town and I don't really remember what all happened after that. I do remember riding in the car on the way back home with my hand all wrapped up, and my grandpa going "...so stupid, so stupid." LOL and I did feel stupid!

I'm not sure if it was because I was little or what, but I remember this snake being HUGE like, Anaconda huge. Lol! And I remember it having super creepy eyes, like it was glaring at me. I'm sure alot of it was my imagination though! ;)
 
yeah from the sounds of it was MN Timber Rattler. There are 2 rattle snakes in MN and the other is the Massasauga both extremely rare and endangered.

hiddenhollowherp said:
No, I'm not a member. I'm just a beginner breeder with pet corns.
Click to expand...

You don't have to have tons of experience or a lot of animals to be a member. :)
Heck we are planning a few events this year.
A spring or summer picnic.
A couple of over night Herp Surveys. (one in june and maybe august, we are not sure on the second one yet. )
A possible weekend field trip to Reptile Gardens (members will have to pay their hotel stay but the bus should be on us)

These are all ideas we are talking about for the summer to members. :)
 
That sounds like alot of fun, but I don't generally have much time on my hands nowadays. When I'm not doing paperwork or returning emails, I'm working with my horses or hauling them out to their new owners. I might need to read up on this though, because you have me very interested.
 
hiddenhollowherp said:
That sounds like alot of fun, but I don't generally have much time on my hands nowadays. When I'm not doing paperwork or returning emails, I'm working with my horses or hauling them out to their new owners. I might need to read up on this though, because you have me very interested.
Click to expand...

No problem. here you go. :)
http://www.bellmuseum.org/herpetology/Main.html

by the way, i am on the board of directors and the Newsletter editor.
 
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