#technically a reptile

[omg-snakes]

With my ongoing promise to share other pet photos rarely and randomly, here's my little-big finch, David. He is a diamond firetail, Stagonopleura guttata. David likes things that are light-colored (cotton, white feathers) and also things that are long (grass, my hair) so a paper towel cut into thin strips was the best of both worlds. He is very, very smart. He understands some human words (you're okay, water, seeds) and he will play with my hair if I stay very still. He has a flock call that sounds so sad and plaintive but he only uses it on me because I am his food-giver. His song is a rattling raspy buzz and is accompanied by a bobbing dance while holding something long. He has an arranged marriage to Alice, another of his species. They have different interests but they mostly get along okay. They cooperate on foraging enrichment and they share a nest for sleeping. I think David might be a human imprint.

Birds aren't snakes but they are dinosaurs so, like, close enough.

[flaming-trash-can]

Look at my son!

[heartnosekid]

karim_wildlife on ig

disclaimer written by the OP: You should never try to help your snake shedding if you don’t know what you’re doing or do it prematurely. I am helping the snake because it had messed up part of its shedding while going through the branches in the enclosure, so I made sure everything comes out in one piece. The snake isn’t getting harmed in any way, and the skin was more than ready to come off; you can see the snake contracting its muscles, unbothered, pulling itself out of the skin.

[tired-lamb]

thinking abt kibsharipavu and you think kiburi ever flexes his partners to makuu. like he’s like oh you have a mate? WELL I HAVE *TWO* SUCKER /silly

[passivenightmaresans]

when the when

when the sona attachment starts breathing again snapper my beloved

[thatsprettylane]

I really like how the Mortal Kombat creators just did shit. This movie star can kill gods! Yeah, The ninjas are cyborgs now! Oh, and that guy’s a lizard. No, we won’t elaborate on it.

[travellingdragon]

Just a little guy! His colouration was inspired by slow worms (Anguis fragilis).

[idontknowanymoreidk]

Queer Animals

Lesbian reptiles (ex. Mourning geckos). Trans fish (ex. Clownfish). Intersex worms (ex. Earthworms). Asexual insects (guess it also works for the lesbian reptiles too tho =/)

[janetcage]

Oh my god you guys Lesbian Visibility Week starts tomorrow and I haven’t prepared anything for it, I need to get to work NOW 😱🧡🤍🩷

[allmune]

artfight 2024 attack on my dear friend @smitemight <3

[omg-snakes]

Snestion: if you could mix and match traits from two different morphs to create One Ultra Morph, what would you do?

🤔

Reverse Palmetto.

[from-beyond]

‼️ ATTENTION EVERYBODY ‼️

IT IS TAD COOPER’S BIRTHDAY

[captainofthenautilus]

snake update! (at last)

So! I joined my university’s reptile physiology research lab a few months ago (it’s been really cool and fun and fulfilling so far but that’s a separate post). And one day, my professor (/faculty advisor/interim dean/whatever the appropriate title is idk. everyone just calls her by her first name anyway) sends this message in the lab groupme:

[image id: a screenshot from June 8, 2023 at 1:40pm where the name and profile picture of the sender have been redacted for privacy and replaced with the word “Professor.” There is an image of a normal morph ball python in its enclosure, followed by a message that reads, “Baby ball python available. Free, comes with cage. This is a 20+ year commitment. Who wants it?” end id]

as far as I see it, the story is that a kid (~17yo) got the snake, but couldn’t keep it since his dad’s lease specified no pets 😔 so the family reached out to my advisor to try and rehome it.

now see, I love snakes, but I don’t know as much about ball pythons as I do about corn snakes (I was researching snake care and doing all the planning for Ophelia for *years* before I actually got her, which is what led me to being so passionate about herpetology in the first place), so I was hesitant to volunteer, especially on such short notice.

I didn’t want to make an impulsive decision and regret it later, so I messaged a whole bunch of people (including my girlfriend, my mom, my housemates, several online friends, and other people in the lab), but everyone I talked to about it encouraged me to get the snake, citing the fact that I already have experience with keeping snakes (I’ve had Ophelia since October) and that I actually had the capacity to take it in (other people wanted to, but couldn’t due to circumstance).

so I volunteered.

[image id: a screenshot from June 8, 2023 at 3:08pm where the name and profile picture of the sender have been redacted for privacy and replaced with the word “Me” with a message that reads “I’ll take him!” end id]

I had also volunteered to go to an outreach event with my advisor just a few days later, so we stopped by after the event to pick up the tank and I was able to bring her home! the tank fits perfectly on my desk right next to Ophelia.

[image id: two glass terrariums placed next to each other on a large desk. end id]

I had assumed it was a male since that’s how other people were referring to it, but based on the length of it’s tail I think it’s a female. I also tried the “popping” method and didn’t see any hemipenes, but I’m not too experienced with that so I could be wrong. All this to say, I originally named her Horatio, but the name didn’t really stick.

(for the record, I’m not against giving a female snake the name of a male character, gender is a social construct and the snake literally would not care, but she just didn’t seem like a Horatio. I did the same thing with Ophelia when I first got her.)

this is already a long post, so I’ll cut to the chase.

Behold, Gertrude!

[image id: two pictures of the same normal morph ball python from the image at the beginning of the post, this time being held by OP. In the first picture, the snake is resting, curled up in the palm of OP’s hand. In the second picture, the snake is in a more active position and is climbing around OP’s wrist and lower arm. end id]

[wokeuplaughing]

I am debating getting a corn snake

[misusing-basic-words]

Lethal league being scifi AND fantasy is so hard to work with. Where do I draw the line. How did George Lucas manage.

[cultivating-wildflowers]

I'm about a week late but happy birthday to these idiots