So here is my OT Tuesday post, sorry I couldn't get it sooner Bob. I am playing hookie to get homework done today and I am taking a break so I thought I would post this.
So, I posted a message on Sunday, and Bob and Jeff replied. THis is mainly for them. 
My chameleon is doing great. He has already shown himself to be more mellow than my Veiled was. He doesn't mind being taken out of the cage and I have a little "perch" with fake vines around it setup in my living room so he can be out of his cage (which is huge for him). He doesn't like being handled and will turn black with blue spots, but will go from hand to his perch just fine and will fall asleep while we watch tv or have dinner. He has been cup-feeding and that makes me super happy. I am working on looking for some silk worms or something like that as a "treat" but he's so small I dont know if they come that tiny. He eats small crickets. So far he has shown no signs of parasites or worms, although he is going to the vet in the next month to get checked out. Unfortunately I don't have any recent pictures of him. He has a bunch of fans already though, including all the ladies in the office, who have gone from cringing at my baby snakes to taking pictures of each new addition on cell phones to show to people. He was a big hit since I had him delivered to my office.
The other reason for my OT post is because I took a walk on Sunday through the hills behind my boyfriend's house and was turning up stones, as I have always done (my grandparents talk about me catching toads and frogs from between the rocks that lined the shore of the lake they lived on) and turned over the right rock. I was able to find a nice little 14" ringneck snake. There are a number of subspecies in California alone, as well as all across the nation. I was really happy to find this one and slipped it into my shirt while I hopped back over a barbed wire fence (this is why boys don't like girls who play with slithery things! Right Audrey?) and showed it to my boyfriend. He was not elated but interested. I snapped a couple quick shots for you guys and was able to pull up a webpage with some information about the specific locale. By the way, the website describes their little excretion as "smelly" or something similar, my fingers still smell pretty rank. I wouldnt recommend picking them up if you dont like smelling like snake butt. Just a reminder.
http://www.californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/d.p.amabilis.html
The above link is the information for the Pacific Ringnecked snake, the kind I caught. Theres a bunch of information on it there.
On another note, I am currently refraining from feeding all my snakes since I will be moving them soon. It took me a while to decide if I should hold off on feeding until they are settled in the new house since it is breeding time, but two of my females are still devouring small rats while one is refusing food (she did this the first time she was breeding as well). Everything seems pretty normal in the snake area, although Cleo is still doing badly and now I am debating putting her to sleep. Its something I hate to do but I have gotten no further in being able to identify what is wrong with her and I still wouldnt be able to get her into the Dr. until mid march (I want to have enough money in case there is something I can do for her). I hate to think that it might be too late by then but from her symptoms I still can't tell what it is. I don't think it is retained eggs anymore as she keeps getting swollen lumps towards her cloaca, which do not go away if she passes fecal matter. I have still been giving her regular "baths" but they don't seem to do anything to help. She's still not respopnding to f/t or live rats in her cage.
After I am done moving things should get back to normal a bit, I should have some good photos after that of my entire collection. I havent done one of those in a while and it seems like its constantly changing.
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Jess
2.4 adult BRBs (Sango, Dude, Copper, Cleo, Cherry, Dudette)
1.1 baby BRBs born 6/18/06 my first litter(Zeek, Isis)
0.1 baby BRB produced by Dave Colling (Sable)
1.1 Pacific/celestial Parrotlets (Dewey and Delilah)
1.1 MORE Pacific/Celestial Parrotlets (Tickle and Booger)
1.0 normal corn (Pop the Cornsnake)
1.1 african brown house snake (Nellie, Lacie)
1.1 crested geckos (Chips, Dijon)
1.1 western hognoses (Google, Yahoo)
0.1 paranoid mother "too many snakes!"
1.0 significant other that gives me a funny look when I say a baby snake is cute
I dont think its retained eggs but I cant say exactly why, it just doesnt seem right. I doubt its cancer but then I cant tell for sure.
and then didn't see one so I was bewildered, then read on and said okay I'm not the only one
