I'm in the thick of a new interest. Check in later and I'll be onto something else. In middle age, I've managed to attain a very broad base of knowledge. Stay tuned. :P
I was hoping to get some decent images of my 50/50 California King snake, but it wasn't to be. He's incredibly quick, but handling his fast responses wasn't the troublesome points we finally gave in to.
When I'd handled him previously, I'd become aware that his cloaca was protruding. I was careful not to catch that lifted scale the wrong way, but was concerned that it was like that at all. As it turns out, I think it's part of it's defensive stratagy, indicating he's stressed about the pressure of being in hand.
Garter snakes do it too and will often ooze a subtance that is very foul smelling to encourage you to move on to other interests. I didn't notice any unpleasant smell, but there was enough of the fluid to make it unpleasant to handle. There was a pool of it on the floor before we were done.
Needless to say, the images I wanted will have to wait for another day.
If you follow the tail down with your eyes, you can see the drips flowing down.
He eats like a champ though. From what others were saying about this species, I was expecting a very strong feeding response, but it really wasn't a strike that looked entirely confident. Maybe the move and handling have been a bigger stress factor than I was giving it weight for.
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