Did you know you could fly

So I went to the pet store this weekend to get Hamlet the snake some more food, since I lost all his supply in Gustav and so did the pet store and the poor thing hadn't eaten in like two weeks. They finally had a new shipment in, but I took the time, like I always do, to browse down the reptiles aisle. And lo and behold they had about 15 baby cornsnakes in a little tank with a big sign saying they were on clearance at half price. And they had lots more unusual colours than I typically see there. So I asked the guy what was up and he said their two stores in New Orleans had evacuated their animals to Baton Rouge, and so they were trying desperately to sell the refugees. Well, with that story I couldn't possibly *not* help them out, so now I am the proud owner of two more baby corn snakes, a charcoal and a amelanistic. Their names are Claudio and Benedick (I decided to keep with the Shakespeare theme). They are quite adorable!

I still haven't replaced the battery in my camera so the pictures under the cut aren't of my snakes, but of other corn snakes with the same colours:

( snakes )

I have a reputation.

So this morning as I was leaving for work, this woman I've seen around walking her dog, but never talked to, comes up to me and says "You're the one who rescues cats, right?". I admitted that I did indeed engage in such activity, and she told me about the litter of kittens she and a friend have been feeding by the next dumpster over, and asked if I'd try and find them homes.

So of course I had to agree. Guess it's time to get the trap out again. These ones are going though. They are *not* staying. If I have to dump them anonymously at my vet's door, ring the bell, and run away, I will, but they will *not* be staying.

Oh, and Hamlet isn't back yet. I'm really worried he's found himself a hidey hole and will simply die there rather than come out.

Both Ciara and Fiona share a particular fascination with Hamlet the snake. They watch avidly while I feed him, and often take naps on top of his tank, watching through the screening for any interesting movement. He doesn't seem to mind. Today, I took him out to play with him, and they both heard the tank lid and came running. But somehow, they missed the part where I took him out. So I'm sitting next to them with a snake around my neck, and they're both staring expectantly into the empty tank. It's quite amusing.

In other snake news, it's amazing how strong these guys are sometimes. When Hamlet squeezes my neck I *feel* it. Certainly not to a dangerous level, but to the point that I can see where certain constrictors can be deadly. And he's pretty small, as snakes go.

EDIT: I *really* want another corn snake. *sigh* I'm so bad. I'm trying to pay off my car and my computer and save for the inevitable purchase of a house, and I'm browsing corn snake sites and oohing and aahing over the lovely snakes I can't afford.

So tonight I lit my very first fire in the fireplace, in honour of Solstice.

And as I elected not to use one of those newfangled fire-starter things, it took forever to get the damn thing to actually burn. But burn it eventually did.

Still, in the early stages, when I was still trying to get it to light using tightly balled handfuls of dry grass -- it was kinda smoky. This tapered off once the wood lit, and it was never so bad that I was worried the smoke detector would go off.

However, the snake aquarium is near the fireplace. This didn't occur to me until I looked over and Hamlet is laying full length in his water dish with only his head sticking above water.

Makes sense -- when a forest dweller smells smoke that doesn't bode well for survival unless he can get to water, but it was quite odd to see, and made me remember how even many-generations worth of domestic breeding still leaves behind wild instincts.