Building a naturalistic vivarium

In my first post about snakes I mentioned that building a complex enclosure was one of the potential challenges an owner can take on, and recently I did just that. My old enclosure was a 10 gallon aquarium with a screen lid, aspen shavings, a skull, a heat mat, and a half log hide.

This is her enclosure now:

I'm gonna walk you through the steps and costs of building an enclosure like this from scratch, and where you can save some money!

Cage: $30, 30 gallon (36x12x18) aquarium, brand unknown, Craigslist (store price $200+)
I got this cage cheap from craigslist from a guy downsizing his fish collection. I had to scrub it out for awhile but once it was clean it was perfect. I converted a bookshelf into a lid, but for better airflow you could also get a screen lid from Amazon, they run about $10. If you don't have an atypical size (like a 30 gallon) you can also pick these lids up at your local pet shop. New tanks are not cheap, craigslist/thrift stores are your friend.

Hides: $20, Half Log / Rock Cave, All Living Things, Petco
Picked these up at Petco, again you could probably find some on craigslist. You could also use an old box or something. Just enough so the snake feels secure, doesn't have to be fancy.

Water Bowl: Free! Zoo-Med Repti-Rock, free from my partner (store cost $11)
I actually got this from my wonderful partner, who could not use it for her tortoise (who I'll be basing my Why a Russian Tortoise? piece on). Easy to clean, cheap, looks great.

Branch: $14, All Living Things Small Branch, Petco
Petco runs a bit of a racket. There's really no reason to buy something like this, River likes it but you can make something yourself cheaper and suction cup it in. What can I say, I'm a sucker

Thermometers: $13, Zoo-Med Digital Thermometer, Zoo-Med Combination Thermometer and Hydrometer, Petco
Picked these up in Petco, Digital thermometers really are the way to go on the warm side of the tank. There is a small difference between proper heat and cooking your pet.

Plant: $5, Jade Plant, Lowes
It's a plant, it looks pretty, and it helps my airflow issue. Before you get a plant ensure it is safe for your reptile and pesticide free.

Rocks: Free, collected from outdoors (store price, fucking insane)
Seriously, don't buy rocks in petco, anything more than free is not what you want to pay for rocks. Collect smooth ones from outside, scrub them with your cage cleaner (I recommend Flukers) and boil them off for an hour.

Heating: $120, Flukers overheat dome with dimmer, Zoo-Med Ceramic Heat Emitter, Zoo-Med Under Tank Heater, Zilla Analog Thermostat, Petco
Let me start my saying my home is very cold. This is not necessary for most snakes, most can get buy with a dome and heat emitter / heat light OR a thermostat and heatmat. A quick note on cost, a dome and heat emitter/heat light will run you maybe $40, a thermostat and heatmat will run you about $70, however long term the mat uses much less power. It's also better for controlling temperatures.

Substrate: $7, Zoo-Med Eco Earth, Playsand, Home Depot & Petco
I mentioned before that substrate is a personal choice. I use a 60/40 mix of coco fiber and playsand. Holds humidity great without risking RI, looks amazing, and cheap (that price is for at least a months worth). If you remove feces regularly and completely, it should last you a couple months. Coco fiber comes in $4 bricks, or $10 bags, you have to rehydrate the bricks yourself, but it's pretty easy. Playsand is sold in hardware stores, toy stores, and walmart, $3 for a 50 lb bag. You won't run out quickly. If you use this substrate please please please feed outside of the enclosure, this stuff does have an impactation risk if ingested.

So there you go, cut the right corners and you can build something similar for around $150. Keep in mind this is NOT NECESSARY. You don't need to drop this kind of money on a snakes home, but if you're looking for a new challenge, or want a pretty cool looking set up, it's not crazy expensive.

Keep Flying,
Dom

Why Kingsnakes?

I've mentioned that snakes make great pets before. In case any of you were considering getting a reptile, I figure I'd run down what I know of different species as the information comes to mind. We'll start with the animals I know best: kingsnakes.

Herp stuff!

Herpetology is the study of reptiles, and while it's not necessary to know all this stuff, sometimes it can add to the cool factor to know a bit about your animal. Kingsnakes (scientific name: Lampropeltis) are the largest family in the serpentine order, with 8 species and 48 subspecies. They range throughout the Americas and are extremely hardy, even by colubrid standards. They're called kingsnakes because in the wild they are known to eat other snakes. In fact rattlesnakes are a staple in a common kingsnake's (lampropeltis getula) diet. Of course, when you keep them as pets they do just fine on a diet of rodents

Attitudes

Starter snakes include kings, corns, milks, garters and ball pythons, although there are certainly a lot of snakes out there with training wheels. Of the starter snakes kings, especially Florida and Cal kings, do have a reputation for handing out a bite on a bad day. This is primarily due to their strong feeding response (a good thing) and is only in comparison to snakes which essentially never bite. My kingsnake River has never bitten anyone, even on her bad days. 

Kingsnakes are diurnal (active during the day), generally coming out around dawn and dusk to hunt. Like most snakes they're secretive, but adult kings don't have an obscene amount of predators in the wild, and as a result can be very inquisitive. This makes them a great snake for handling, and it means that as you add things to their enclosure, you'll see all of it used in time. 

 Care

As I mentioned before, kingsnakes are hardy, coming from some of the harshest conditions in the country. These little guys are troopers, it takes a lot to throw them off in any permanent way. That being said, proper care is essential for a healthy and happy snake. 

Housing: Babies can live in a small shoebox or tupperware container with adequate ventilation, and may become  stressed if housed in anything larger than a 10 gallon aquarium. Adults should be housed based on size, however a 20 gallon long aquarium is adequate for most species. Bigger is always better

Heating: Use a heatmat with a thermostat (yes, the thermostat is necessary) covering about 1/3 of the bottom of your enclosure, a red heat light (reptiles cannot see red, this helps reduce stress) or a ceramic heat emitter. Any one of these should do, or you can use a combination. Put your heating element on one side of the enclosure, you're aiming for about 85 degrees ambient with a 90 degree hotspot. No special UVB lighting is necessary. DO NOT USE HEAT ROCKS, they can and will burn your reptile. Make sure to invest in a digital thermometer, the needle ones are notoriously inaccurate and slow to adjust to changing conditions. 

Feeding: Kingsnakes can subsist on a diet of frozen-thawed rodents for their entire lives. Appropriate size is equal to or slightly larger than the thickest part of the snake. Unless absolutely necessary (your snake has refused to eat for several months under proper conditions) do not feed your snake live food. Rodents do not take kindly to being eaten, and will fight back. Also make sure fresh, clean, and (if possible) filtered water is available at all times.

Substrate: Primarily a personal choice, most commonly Aspen shavings are used, however newspaper and paper work too. The big thing is to make sure that the substrate is never wet. While kings can tolerate humid conditions, they cannot tolerate wet conditions and are prone to scale rot.

Before you get your snake

Do your research: There's a ton of information out there on how to keep these animals. While this is a great start, keep looking. There are thousands of different ways people keep their animals and I am by no means an expert.

Set up your enclosure: Have your cage set and ready for about a week before you get your snake. Make sure that the heat is staying where it is supposed to be, conditions do not become to wet or humid, and that you are happy with the look of things, once you get your snake into it's new home it will be stressed and you will be leaving it alone for at least 5 days, during which you do not want to be bothering it by constantly changing your surroundings

Find a vet: While it's not ideal, snakes can and do get sick and hurt. This happens to most keepers sooner or later. Not all vets will care for reptiles, so look around and make sure you have somewhere to go in case you need some help. Also browse the forums online and find some home care tips in case of something minor. 

There's obviously a lot more to cover, and there's a lot of information out there. If you're looking to get a snake, don't stop here. Find more caresheets, locate a reputable breeder (I'd recommend BHB Reptiles), and pick the right animal for you!

Keep Flying,

Dom

News Media and Rape Culture (TW)

Since I never know where my rage posts (which are becoming entirely to frequent) are going to go, I'm gonna slap a trigger warning on here for rape and sexual assault. Cool? Cool. There's even a handy dandy quick escape button that I'm testing for another site, so you can click that and go look at your local weather. 

For those of you who don't know, today the Steubenville rape case was decided. If you don't know what that is, google it so you can get as pissed off with the reporting of it as I have. The news has ALWAYS done a pretty piss poor job of reporting rape cases. The media thrives on having a victim in front of the camera, and since this is not possible in rape and sexual assault cases they often choose to instead paint the rapists as victims. However, since I want to sleep in the next month, I'm not going to write up a totality of the issues the media faces with reporting these cases overall, I'm going to point out what pissed me off today. 

NBC News: I'm pretty liberal, no sense in pretending I'm not, so I get some news from NBC from time to time. This is where I first saw the decision had been handed down, and wouldn't you fucking know it? The anchor is talking about how much the football careers of these boys was cut short. Yes, NBC, let's talk about these poor boys who, instead of sticking to playing football, choose to rape a girl. I do not want to hear about how a rapist's life was ruined, they started that fire and as far as I'm concerned they can burn in it. How about how the survivor's life was ruined? For that matter, when rapists are found not guilty, I don't think I've ever seen you talk about how the survivor's life was affected, either. Just a note, you might want to look the fuck into it. 

ABC News: Ah, ABC, left leaning but not quite as insane as NBC. Again, I hear a lack of anything about the survivor's side. Instead, I heard a lot about why the rapists raped her. Not in a, psychological and sociological insight into why rapists exist, but in a way that sounded a hell of a lot like excusing the behavior. It sounded like ABC was a few steps shy of saying "boys will be boys", and as a guy, I fucking hate that statement. My default is not a rapist, raping someone is not excusable for any reason, and don't use gender as an excuse, it's shameful, insulting, and disgusting. 

CNN: Well CNN wasn't exactly full of surprises, they used the old "they had such promising futures" bit. We get it, a rape can be tragic for everyone in the community, but let's pretend for a moment that you're a respectable news agency. I think it might be prudent to focus on how it was tragic to...I don't know...the person who was raped. That seems like a good place to start, and finish, and really all the stuff in the middle. What about the survivor's promising future? I think it stands to reason that maybe the person who didn't choose to ruin their own life by being a rapist is maybe, just maybe, where you should focus your attention.

FOX News: You know what FOX? Fuck you. Reporting the news is simple, you have free reign to do basically everything you want. You can tell your viewers that poverty is a choice, you can make up an imaginary war on the most popular holiday in the country, and you can continuously misunderstand the concept of socialism. The one thing you cannot ever do, for any reason, is release the name of a 16 year old survivor of sexual assault. Your job is specifically protected by the constitution  which means there is not a whole lot you're not supposed to do, but that makes the short fucking list. It's not illegal, it's just wrong. Everyone else, for all their shortcomings, at least got that much right. 

This entire case is sickening, but people need to be informed. The rape culture that exists in this country is allowed to run rampant, the community demands it, the media reinforces it, and the community demands it again. What kind of culture do we live in where rapists are given more sympathy than the survivor? Where it's more acceptable to be a rapist than an immigrant, gay, or poor? That should not be a world any of us are okay living in. For survivors in this country, just getting to this point, if that is even an option, is an uphill battle that I cannot even begin to explain. Instead of realizing that, the media chooses to focus on what the rapists lose. They chose that path for themselves, the survivor did not choose to give up their life, so instead of trying to bring the rapists back into our society, how about we welcome survivors without stigma or judgement? Better yet, how about we all work to end this disgusting culture that facilitates these tragic, daily stories. 

Keep Flying,

Dom

Inequality in Film

Before we get started here I just want to say that I am a long time film lover. Anyone who has so much as skimmed this blog knows that I have a passion for film. I believe that it is an art form that can transcend all boundaries, because it is an art of the people. The unofficial motto is that anyone, anywhere, can make movies. What upsets me so deeply is that in an art form I hold in such esteem, inequality still holds a firm grasp. This article will primarily focus on directors, as the art of filmmaking, not of acting, is what I want to focus on. However, many of these things ring true throughout the industry and I hope it encourages you to do your own research into this art form that so many of us are close to.

Blacks in Film

I'm going to talk about blacks first, because I'm black and it is what originally made this so prudent to me. This post originally started as a short rant on my facebook page, spurred by this story from hollywood.com, which discusses the lack of women holding positions of power within the film world. However it served as a reminder to me that no black person has ever won an the academy award for best director. In fact, no film directed by a black person has ever won best picture. Only two black filmmakers have ever even been nominated for this honor. Which leads me to this question: if the awards are truly about the art, why are the stories of the minority not valued as highly. Outside of black directed films, you rarely see blacks taking a major role on screen. One can argue that stories should be told by those who experience them. A white director, no matter his intent, cannot write a suitable film about the black minority experience. It stands to reason that the reverse might also be true. I accept that argument, it is one I have made myself on more than one occasion, however the race of the actors involved does not mean that is what the story is about. To clarify, there is no reason a person of color would not have had the ability to direct this year's big winner Argo, a story about the Iranian Hostage Situation. So if there is nothing about the racial experience that is precluding black directors from being recognized in film, then what is it? Is it that the heads of the major media conglomerates are, at the time of writing all white males? To be clear, that includes Viacom, parent company of BET. Let's expand on that a bit more. The top 6 conglomerates produce the vast majority of every piece of mainstream entertainment produced. They own film studios, television studios, radio stations, video game companies, and music studios. Six white men control well over 80% of the media you are exposed to on a regular basis. Of course the academy is meant to be a neutral agency, existing to judge the arts and influence their direction and expansion. Here again we see a group that is almost entirely white males. I'm beginning to see a patter here, how about you?

Gender & Sexual Orientation in Film

Before the frustration overtakes me and I lose focus, let me speak about this heading to this section. This was originally going to be three different sections. One on cis-women, one on non cisgendered people, and one on non straight people. But there literally isn't enough information to speak about that separately without straying entirely to far from the directors. There is the fun tidbit that two of the most famous, openly gay directors have advised those in the industry to remain closeted. Then there's the more fun tidbit that, to the best of my knowledge (and please make my day better and correct me) that no one who was not cisgendered has ever won anything, in any category, ever. Transamerica and Boys Don't Cry both centered around trans-characters, however the directors forming the story and the actors who portrayed them were all cisgendered. However Hilary Swank did win best actress so I guess the moral there is being a transperson = bad, playing one = good. This holds true, albeit to a lesser extent, for gay characters as well.

Now, let's move back into straight, cis world. I'd love to talk more about the issues outlined above, but there's really nothing else to say. Hollywood hasn't wrapped their head around homosexuality yet, anything beyond that is clearly asking to much. So let's focus on straight women. Surely there must be some balance of gender? No, disembodied voice of the internet, there isnt; and don't call me Shirley. There have only been four female nominees for best director. The first, and only, woman to receive the honor was Kathryn Bigelow for 2009's The Hurt Locker. 2009 was four years ago, in case math isn't your thing. The Hurt Locker is also the only film directed by a woman to win Best Picture, however a handful have garnered nominations without a corresponding Best Director nod, including Bigelow's second war film Zero Dark Thirty. Oh, and if you forgot, there are no women heading the major conglomerates, and 77% of the voting academy is male. The academy also has no publicly non-cis or gay members (I use publicly and not openly because the actual membership is a guarded secret, someone on the board may well be openly gay, however the academy has not publicly said any different, as they have with the abysmally low number of blacks (2%), latinos ("less than 2%") and women (23%)). Let's put the final nails in so I can get some sleep.

Final Thoughts

Inequality exists in the industry. It is rampant and unchecked and must be adjusted. No one is going to tell me that there are no black, female, gay, transgendered directors out there. Hell, I bet you could find a director who was everything on that list, and pagan, who could still direct circles around Catherine Hardwicke. Oh, and to be clear, there is only one, non-white, winner of Best Director. That man is Ang Lee, who is a Taiwanese-American. There have been 85 award ceremonies and 83 winners have been white (Ang Lee has won twice for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life of Pi). At some point we have to say that there is a serious problem with that. Film is an art of transcendence, and I will always love it for that, but it cannot reach it's true potential until it transcends our bigoted society. 

Before you write me off as some film geek ranting about nothing, think of this: film is how we tell our stories, our history. Every major event in this country is documented by film, whether live or scripted. Children are raised on images of a world they might never see, it helps to shape their imagination. This effect is so profound that people rarely dreamed in color before color television. Film immortalizes the great and the small, the mundane and the rare, in a way that no other medium can. Georges Méliès, a pioneer of early film once said "laugh my friends. Laugh with me, laugh for me, because I dream your dreams". So I ask you, when someone immortalizes the world you leave behind, who would you have dream for you? 

Keep Flying, 

Dom

5 Reasons Snakes Make Great Pets

Since just the prediction of snow is enough to shut down my entire state, and actually being productive for the entirety of my day off would require a fundamental change in who I am, I decided to write about snakes today. I pondered covering a deeper topic, but snow days are not days for deep thought. So instead I figured I'd put together 5 reasons why snakes are awesome, based upon my experiences with my Mexican Black Kingsnake, River

My Mexican Black Kingsnake, River

#5: Super easy to get started

Getting started with snakes is about as basic as you can get. Corn snakes, kingsnakes, and milk snakes are generally considered the best ways to get started. Their care requirements are all the same, with some small nuances. For their entire lives you can house these animals with a 20L aquarium,  some kind of bedding, a hide, a heat source, a thermometer and a water dish. Obviously many set ups are much more complicated but the snake really doesn't care. If you want an soil mix with live plants and a waterfall or paper towels with a deli cup water dish and a tissue box as a hide the snake will fare just as well. These snakes are all well distributed through the majority of the continental US and can live through some pretty intense conditions. Plus, they come in tons of cool paintjobs, pretty much every color you can imagine for $15-$100 depending on subspecies, color, and pattern. Unless you want a snake in blue, blue snakes are expensive. Sorry. 

An Anery (lacking red pigment) corn snake

#4: Snakes are actually pretty interesting

It's true that snakes can and do spend a lot of time sleeping and hiding. These three starter snakes however do tend to be more active and have high metabolisms. If kept on a regular feeding schedule you'll see them out relatively often and they are very curious animals. They love to build tunnels, explore their environment, and with regular handling they enjoy interactions with people. Then there's the feeding, this is generally either the selling point or the deal breaker for owners. There are thousands of species of snake out there, and not one of them is vegetarian. All snakes eat exclusively meat, however, they are opportunistic feeders, this means that feeding live food is not necessary, in fact, it's frowned upon within the community. Most pet stores sell frozen mice that you can thaw and feed to your snake. Let me reiterate: YOU DO NOT NEED TO FEED SNAKES LIVE FOOD. Mice and rats (for some adult snakes) do not take well to being eaten, and will fight back if your snake is off its game. This can result in injury or death to your animal, and no one wants that. Back to the fun stuff though, snakes are above all else, curious, and will always have their heads in whatever you're doing, they have their own little personalities and they're always cool to interact with. 

A Pueblan Milksnake, feeding time

One last note on feeding, if feeding rodents doesn't suit your fancy, garter snakes can (and prefer) to live on fish and worms their entire lives, and are also considered a starter snake. Garters are also fairly social by snake standards and actually prefer to be housed in groups

Gartersnakes, also feeding time!

 #3: Everyone will think you have the best snake ever

Ok, I may be tipping my hand a little here, but one of the best things about owning a snake is that everyone who meets it tends to think you've somehow raised the nicest snake in existence. Because of their anti-social nature and bad reputation, people always seem to be surprised when I pick my snake up and don't receive a bite. Snakes, and reptiles in general, have become more popular in recent years, but most people still have not had an interaction with one. This means you will likely see more than a few people overcome their fear of snakes, or at least push a few myths aside (NO, all snakes are not venomous. Most arent, not only is River non-venomous, but in the wild snakes like her hunt and eat rattlesnakes, cause FUCK RATTLESNAKES). It may get old explaining the same thing over and over again, but it does always feel good to know your snake had a positive effect on some people.

Pictured: the ACTUAL best snake ever

#2: Snakes take up however much time you want them to

Much like cage choices, how much time you spend with your snake is really a personal decision. They only need to be fed weekly (more as juveniles) so they only poop weekly. You typically spot clean the cage whenever the snake poops (weekly), disinfect everything in the cage once a month. Any more interaction with your snake than that is really a personal decision. Heating and fresh water can even be put on a timer, and certain bedding will break down waste if you need to leave the snake on it for a little while. Snakes are hardy and non social, and while they may enjoy being pet or picked up, they can and will fare just fine without you constantly in their face, which is great if you have a busy lifestyle and don't want to have someone need to watch your pet constantly. These snakes are also easy to bring along on trips, River actually has a small travel enclosure if I know I'm going to be away from my house for awhile. Plus, for pets that demand so little they live for quite a long time. 15 years is about average in captivity for all the species I've mentioned, 20 seems fairly common, and 30 is not unheard of. Despite their longevity their care requirements never get more intensive

A California Kingskake, one of the most popular pet snakes. They come in many patterns and colors

#1: Always new challenges

If you want new challenges that is. Perhaps after a few months of paper towels you decide you want a more naturalistic bedding, maybe you want to try for a species with more complicated care requirements, or you want to start a colony of snakes (yes, it's possible, but do your research, kingsnakes, king ratsnakes, and a few other species are well known for eating other snakes), you can even try breeding, some of the biggest breeders in the world today started by breeding snakes as children. Reptile collections can quickly expand and become complicated, but that's part of the excitement of it all. I still only have one but there's never a dull moment.

Some final notes before I go: do your research. Other than corns, kings, and milks, there are a lot of "starter" species out there, I'm a big believer that as long as someone really does their research they can care for just about any snake if they understand the commitment. That being said, I understand the appeal of the big snakes, but keep in mind big snakes need big space, big food, and lots of heat. Finally, if you do get a snake, that's wonderful! I want to see the community grow, but please be a responsible owner. Do not release a pet snake into the wild for any reason. Shelter it, give or sell it to another responsible owner, but do not release it. It is cruel to the animal, damaging to the ecosystem, and destructive to the pet trade. Caring for a snake can be fun, rewarding, and exciting, and I hope more people get involved with this great hobby!

Keep Flying,

Dom (and River)

Why a "Jenny Owen Youngs" Tattoo?

This discussion is long overdue. The other day I mentioned on Twitter that I was pricing a Jenny Owen Youngs tattoo. First of all, I'll discuss exactly what the tattoo is meant to be. I'd be getting the "Batten the Hatches" tour poster (seen below) with two changes. Firstly, the flowers would be changes to chains possibly connected to an anchor, and secondly the phrase would be changed to "Breaking is Easy", a lyric from "Bricks". Initially I was going to have the ship being dragged down by an octopus as well, but I am considering leaving that out as I do enjoy the imagery as it stands.

This album, specifically the song "Bricks" got me through a hard time in my life, and as a result I have been a huge fan of Jenny. I've met her twice now and it was probably the only time I've ever had a huge internal freak out meeting an artist. Anyway to this day "Bricks" can make me cry, or pull me out of a dark place. When I'm in a bad place I feel less alone, and when I'm out of it, it's a reminder of what was. As a single song it has probably made me feel more than most of the music I listen to put together, and the album as a whole is so raw and powerful. While my musical choices are always changing, I've been a J.O.Y. fan for something like 6-7 years now and I feel fully comfortable with the idea that this would be on my body for the rest of my life. I cannot wait to be able to pay for this tattoo, which is going to be within the next month once I set up travel plans to head to NYC and get the tattoo from the artist that designed it, and I doubt it will be the last J.O.Y lyrics to make it on to my body.

Keep Flying,
Dom

"When Banners Fall" inspires

Remember how a couple of weeks ago I said I don't usually write album reviews? Well, as fate would have it, I rather enjoyed talking about A Fine Frenzy's newest album, so I'll be doing another album review right now!

This week we're talking about The Clockwork Dolls' newest album "When Banners Fall". I cannot express my love for this amazing, artistic album enough. I've talked about the Clockwork Dolls a lot on this blog, and with good reason. There is something about this WWII themed album that just grabs you and refuses to let go. While each piece stands on its own, once I hear one song I am inspired to listen to the entire album, in order in order to have the full experience of this album.

I have long been a fan of The Clockwork Dolls and this is a sizable shift in who they are, and in my opinion it is a move in the right direction. I've always loved "Dramatis Personae", but the new album has a style that feels gritty, large, and cinematic.

Artistically beautiful and visually powerful, "When Banners Fall" is an absolute triumph. The entire team over at The Clockwork Dolls put a lot of heart and time into creating this album, and it really shows. I cannot recommend this album highly enough. Bridging and transcending styles and genres, the sound captures the feeling of moments of clarity in a world of turmoil.

To pick up this album head over to http://www.theclockworkdolls.com/, while you're there check out the new website design, the wonderfully written lyrics, and keep your eyes out for what's coming next! Until next time...

Keep Flying,
Dom