More herps

** Edit ** I had to change a bunch of the links here. They should be good to go.


Last night I took Manon and Bonnie into the city to the home of an arachnaculturist. She had several people from the MHS (Manitoba Herpetoculture Society) in for an informal talk about spiders.

The displays were countless. The conversation ranged from herp hunting trips in Peru to successful spider breeding stories. The ever popular black widow and a wide variety of tarantulas were there, but there were also roaches. Big roaches. < g > Bonnie was in like a dirty shirt and had one out and onto her arm in no time. I was less inclined to touch one than run screaming in the other direction.


Our host had saved the weekly feedings for our benefit. A young corn snake and a bull snake were fed small frozen and thawed mice. Many spiders were fed crickets.


There were new world and old world critters. The old world spiders apparently have a stronger venom, but no barbed hairs on the abdomen to irritate the daylights out of ones skin like the new world varieties. There were arboreal, semi arboreal and obligated burrowing spiders to appreciate. Tank after tank went by with the more knowledgeable in the crowd, oohing and awing while excitedly asking informed questions.


Books, images, and some nicely matched and innovative nachos and salsa helped a whole lot of sleep deprivation on my part, go down a little easier.


Too many very late nights!.


I was out to see Jason Collett this week too. My eldest wanted me out on my birthday. The Pyramid Cabaret was made even thinner in quality by Collett showing up inebriated for work. It was brutally sad, but apropos. So much so, that I had a very good time with the company I kept irrespective of the disappointing performance. It's good to have some distance with those days myself.


I was organising some images and deciding where to commit to hosting some of my habits in imaging and thought I'd post so all interested could be caught up and others could learn to avoid them


Bonnie's little girl getting a whiff of a live rat.


I smell a rat - 05 female bp (ball python) or Python Regius


I missed capturing the iridescence, but the focus was reasonable. Tweaking this little digital is sometimes tricky. The next time I buy one, I'll likely buy it very carefully around the support for excellent macro functions.


Scales close up on the male bp





This is mine now, but I've yet to get a better image. They are an very fast species of snake. He's a real brute on the musking too. He drips a foul smelling liquid when he's unhappy. Yuckerooosville!


My male 50/50 California King snake at Tim's


Thanks for the hand with the drilling ideas Dad. These are easy to make and cheap too. today I used the same technique to open up a side door. Slow and steady wins the race with tarra cotta drilling. < g >


Tera cotta hide


Some of these I've posted before.


Manon and the Brazilian red tailed boa


I love these snakes. I managed to turn down a very attractive sale this weekend. Go me!


Dream snake. Tim's Irian Jaya Carpet python


Kevin's new mountain horned dragons.


mountain750 Kevin's mountain dragon


mountain5_750 Kevin's mountain dragon


mountain4_750 Kevin's mountain dragon


mountain3_750 Kevin's mountain dragon


mountain2_750 Kevin's mountain dragon


My favourite shot of the series.


mountain1_brighter higher resolution shot


mountain1_750 Kevin's mountain dragon


mountain0_750 Kevin's mountain dragon


My adult male python regius. He weighs in at just under 700 grams and measures just over a meter in length.


towel3 male bp


I like this shot too. It shows off how big he is I think.





hanging0 male bp


My favourite of the spiders last night.


rosie_750 MHS meeting at Sheri's


towel male bp


arm0 male bp


arm male bp


leg0 male bp


leg male bp


An old favourite.


casey


One through ten here are a series about making a snake hook.


one 03_06


two 03_06


three 03_06


four 03_06


five 03_06


six 03_06


seven 03_06





eight 03_06


nine 03_06


The finished product.





Can you hear the garlic singing? Spring is underway.


garlic_scrubs 05


More that I think some have seen before.


pre_shed - king


Both these post shed images of Bonnie's ball python were so remarkable. The change to a bright new skin is remarkable to witness.


post_shed_3_1_06_750 05


post_shed0_3_1_06_750 05 female bp


Yum. Another few thousand in camera purchases and I might even be happy.


Female bp The close up feature of this camera is becoming more familiar. I got some definition in the iris.



preshed_750 - male bp


That's iridescence the camera isn't portraying well on the top of her head.


head - female bp