Reptiles, arachnids, and other creepy critters thread - Because I know I'm not the only Kiwi into that shit

Last night when I was feeding snakes the milksnake tried to eat herself. Sometimes I'm not sure how snakes survive in the wild. Also a few days ago the 11+ foot burm shat and smeared it everywhere and we had to hose her down and clean up the literal shitstorm. Whole reptile room smelled like a barn. Fukkin long horse, I swear.

Some random pics
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Oh he's adorable! This is a wonderful shot, nice photography skills, brother, you've an eye for it!

For my contribution, I bring you Mike!! He's a P.Metallica, big blue arborial tarantula that you find around one specific area in India. They're meant to have an attitude problem but my boys an absolute pussy. He bolts away from his food and hides for 6 bloody months when you need to change his home.

Wouldn't want to get tagged by him though, these things have a mean venom
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Myra said:
Took this photo while hiking. I'm not sure what kind of snake this is.

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Eastern Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis) - Harmless.

Previously they were thought to be completely non-venomous, however, it was discovered as recently as the 2000's IIRC that they do have rear-fangs and a very, very ineffective & rudimentary tissue which leaks a mild venom into their saliva just above the fangs.
IF (big IF) they do manage to bite, then it wont cause much damage beyond a painful sting (weaker than a bee sting IME/IMO) but sometimes people can have a bad reaction that causes the area to swell for a short amount of time.
 
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Myra said:
Well. I also took this photo while there and I'm certain this guy is venomous.

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Beautiful timber rattlesnake! They're venomous, but not particularly aggressive. Unfortunately they deal with heavy persecution and habitat loss from humans.

I haven't seen any wild hots in so long :(
 
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Update on my turtles.
We first gave them a 10-gallon and they despised it, trying to crawl out of it and even using their heater as a makeshift ladder.
We had a larger tank on a rickety table, only filled with 2 gallons and it exploded, leaving glass everywhere. (thankfully turtles weren't in it)
We tried searching for a 20-gallon tank in our new town....no such luck. Mom's fiance went to a small local pet shop and they just so happened to sell a 20-gallon tank for $40.

We build their platform, and the two turtles warm up to it, climbing up and down (or in the female's case) hurling down the platforms (we combined one tank topper and a bridge)
 
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My Skink has apatite problems and constipation. Ended up being 4 pebbles he swallowed. I'm not 100% sure where he got them but when I sifted his substrate there were (very few) smallish pebbles in there with the the wood debris and stuff that came in my topsoil. So now he's being force fed and given syrup to try to make him pass the pebbles, he's produced at least 2.

On the plus side it's spring on America's wang so I can take him outside which he really enjoys.
 
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My 5 baby (well, six months old now) garter snakes are doing well. One of them still seems to be refusing food, so I've been giving him extra attention on feeding days. He's been eating one or two bites of food (we alternate cut up tilapia dusted with calcium, earthworms, and pinkies for them) so that's getting better.

My blood python has been chilling in the substrate under her water dish. She usually likes her hide so I need to check if it's too small now (usually she still digs under it) or if the tank environment is off. Maybe she just likes it as a change of space. I have her in a glass tank but I'm looking to switch he to a large plastic tub to get better humidity.

My centipede also likes sleeping under its water dish, but that's normal for it. I always wonder if it's alive because it hasn't eaten the dubia that's in with her yet, but then I see an antenna move from under the dish, or a new trail under the substrate.
 
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Coffee Druid said:
My 5 baby (well, six months old now) garter snakes are doing well. One of them still seems to be refusing food, so I've been giving him extra attention on feeding days. He's been eating one or two bites of food (we alternate cut up tilapia dusted with calcium, earthworms, and pinkies for them) so that's getting better.

My blood python has been chilling in the substrate under her water dish. She usually likes her hide so I need to check if it's too small now (usually she still digs under it) or if the tank environment is off. Maybe she just likes it as a change of space. I have her in a glass tank but I'm looking to switch he to a large plastic tub to get better humidity.

My centipede also likes sleeping under its water dish, but that's normal for it. I always wonder if it's alive because it hasn't eaten the dubia that's in with her yet, but then I see an antenna move from under the dish, or a new trail under the substrate.
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Your pets seem awesome. I'd love to have a little army of creepy crawlies like that.
 
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Oddjob OTP said:
My Skink has apatite problems and constipation. Ended up being 4 pebbles he swallowed. I'm not 100% sure where he got them but when I sifted his substrate there were (very few) smallish pebbles in there with the the wood debris and stuff that came in my topsoil. So now he's being force fed and given syrup to try to make him pass the pebbles, he's produced at least 2.

On the plus side it's spring on America's wang so I can take him outside which he really enjoys.
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Ugh that's scary, I hope he passes them all and recovers. One of my friends boas ate a pee pad and had to have it surgically removed. Reptiles eat stuff they shouldn't just like any other pet I guess.

I wonder if he mistook the pebbles for eggs?
Coffee Druid said:
My 5 baby (well, six months old now) garter snakes are doing well. One of them still seems to be refusing food, so I've been giving him extra attention on feeding days. He's been eating one or two bites of food (we alternate cut up tilapia dusted with calcium, earthworms, and pinkies for them) so that's getting better.

My blood python has been chilling in the substrate under her water dish. She usually likes her hide so I need to check if it's too small now (usually she still digs under it) or if the tank environment is off. Maybe she just likes it as a change of space. I have her in a glass tank but I'm looking to switch he to a large plastic tub to get better humidity.

My centipede also likes sleeping under its water dish, but that's normal for it. I always wonder if it's alive because it hasn't eaten the dubia that's in with her yet, but then I see an antenna move from under the dish, or a new trail under the substrate.
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When I had a centipede she would do that a lot too. She would be more active at night. I miss having one.
 
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Banditotron said:
Your pets seem awesome. I'd love to have a little army of creepy crawlies like that.
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I jointly adopted some of them with my bf. He has a columbian boa as well. I recently got baby chickens but those aren't as on topic here. It's funny when I mention it to my family and they ask "won't the snakes eat the chicks?" Yes, the snakes in locked tanks, in a completely separate and closed room. Totally. I'm not really wanting another snake right now, but I'd love a giant millipede.

Android raptor said:
Ugh that's scary, I hope he passes them all and recovers. One of my friends boas ate a pee pad and had to have it surgically removed. Reptiles eat stuff they shouldn't just like any other pet I guess.

I wonder if he mistook the pebbles for eggs?

When I had a centipede she would do that a lot too. She would be more active at night. I miss having one.
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Snakes can be kinda dumb. I love them anyway. One time my bf had his columbian boa out to handle. Relevant info is that he also owns several swords (all in sheathes). We look away for a second and boa dude has tried slithering though the (metal) ring on a dagger hilt. Took almost ten minutes and lots of gentle encouragement to slip him back out before he got too far in to get squeezed. Those things have lots of muscle. We made sure it never happened again.
 
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Here's a random memory that popped up in my head.

I used to just think spiders were creepy, but I've also had a fascinating with them at the same time.

When I was a kid there was this banana spider that lived in my grandparent's backyard, I would stop and stare at it sometimes and think "ooh, creepy!" but the thought never occurred to me to try to squish it or hurt it anything, not at all, I always had a healthy respect for it.

I don't want spiders touching me lol, but they're interesting creatures.
 
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NGL if I ever considered to have a snake or any other critter the main pull for me would be so I can watch animal planet live once it's feeding time.

Oddjob OTP said:
My Skink has apatite problems and constipation. Ended up being 4 pebbles he swallowed. I'm not 100% sure where he got them but when I sifted his substrate there were (very few) smallish pebbles in there with the the wood debris and stuff that came in my topsoil. So now he's being force fed and given syrup to try to make him pass the pebbles, he's produced at least 2.

On the plus side it's spring on America's wang so I can take him outside which he really enjoys.
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Your skink is literally shitting rocks, that must be awful.

Dom Cruise said:
Here's a random memory that popped up in my head.

I used to just think spiders were creepy, but I've also had a fascinating with them at the same time.

When I was a kid there was this banana spider that lived in my grandparent's backyard, I would stop and stare at it sometimes and think "ooh, creepy!" but the thought never occurred to me to try to squish it or hurt it anything, not at all, I always had a healthy respect for it.

I don't want spiders touching me lol, but they're interesting creatures.
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My family's relationship with spiders:

 
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Dom Cruise said:
Here's a random memory that popped up in my head.

I used to just think spiders were creepy, but I've also had a fascinating with them at the same time.

When I was a kid there was this banana spider that lived in my grandparent's backyard, I would stop and stare at it sometimes and think "ooh, creepy!" but the thought never occurred to me to try to squish it or hurt it anything, not at all, I always had a healthy respect for it.

I don't want spiders touching me lol, but they're interesting creatures.
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Yeah, I think my own fascination with spiders comes from my fear of them and a desire to understand them as a result. They're extraordinary creatures with really alien biology, and learning about them has definitely hugely helped my phobia. I can now be in the same room as one of the giant house spiders that plague the UK every autumn without freaking out, and I can deal with and dispose of the false widows that are becoming a real invasive nuisance here. Unless it takes me by surprise or starts crawling on me, I can deal with pretty much any spider now, whereas I used to shit myself and run.
 
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