OT (try again-snake inside don't look if you don't want to)

Aww it's cute.

It is so pretty! Is it really yellow? I really can appreciate snakes, I just have an irrational fear of them.

When I was walking around the corner of one of our high school buildings, a group of boys had stolen a snake from a jar of formaldehyde in the Zoology lab and one slung it at another just as I rounded the corner. Yes, I caught it in the face and it wrapped around my neck and draped across the front of me. (It was a BIG snake ... my guess is a rat snake) It had also been partially dissected. Ever since that incident, I have this irrational fear that doesn't seem to want to budge. I kinda freak when I run into one out here on the farm!

Oh, trust me, I had to learn to hold snakes.  I was a groomer at a pet store that carried snakes and it took me weeks to work up to the bigger ones.  Lizards/monitors still kind of give me the creeps and I've never been able to pick up a toad.  Frogs, not so much a problem, but there you have it-hoodoowoman is afraid of toads.

Some day he will be a glorious and photogenic big green snake with silver eyes-but right now he's my little GloWorm.  I knew they were small as babies, but I had no idea HOW small.  I pulled him out and said "OH MY GOD, I just paid $400 for a GloWorm......" and the name has stuck."

A fully mature, gorgeous and handable/breedable specimen can cost 10 times that or more but honestly, I wouldn't raise one up and let it go for a 100 times that.  The raising is pretty easing, but the handling takes a lot of patience.

Deb, what does he/she eat? Teeny tiny mice? Bugs? I'm totally clueless.

Yep, newborn mice.  In the wild they eat birds as adults as well as lizards and rodents, but no one knows for sure what the babies eat.  Glo is captive bred and hatched-they are endangered in the wild due to over predation by man and loss of habitat.

I have had wild caught animals (not Green Tree Pythons) in the past, but probably won't in the future-there are enough stateside breeders that reducing wild populations is no longer necessary.

As beautiful and wonderful as I think GloWorm is, I would not reccomend him as a first or even a second snake.  He is very fragile, and if you aren't absolutely sure you won't pull back when he strikes, it's best to pass until you can overcome that response.  Otherwise, you'll end up being more afraid and your snake won't get the attention such an animal deserves.  (They don't need a lot of care, but I've seen some really sad habitats because owners were afraid to clean them)

Wow, I looked up images of Green Tree Pythons online and there's quite a range of colors from yellow - green - to blue green. They're really pretty in a snake kind of way. ; )

Seriously, NOT pull back when a snake strikes? Yikes! Now I can handle a 1,200 lb. horse that's acting up and be fine ....but a snake? I'm a snake wimp!

I hate to ask, but is your gerbil family *endangered*?

If you pull back and they get you, you can break their teeth and your skin-if you hold still, it's a puncture.  Now, with little glo, that's not such a big deal-a 20 foot long retic can hurt you with bite alone.  Glo actually has the longest teeth for a python of his size-they were designed to be bird spears.  Unlike ground snakes, tree snakes apparently don't bluff.  I've heard anacondas don't bluff either.   I'd like to visit some people I know in Missouri who breed annies but I don't think I'd want one on my own.

The gerbs are kind of a project of their own.  They adore the part of the parrot mix the parrot refuses to eat (as well as their own tasty treats) so they perform a recycle function.  They also make their nest out of my dryer lint.  I did feed off one of the babies-Big Momma wouldn't feed one of the kits.  I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and let her have another litter, but if she proves not to be a good Momma I will seperate her. (She's a terrible sister, she killed and ate her sister)  Both the kits are female, so I will move them over and try again with a new young male....and those babies might be endangered.  Big Daddy is in no danger whatsoever-he's a dear sweet fellow.  Usually if you get named, you are not food, so Big Mamma is safe too.

I'm actually working on a hybrid animal that is fat like a hamster but gentle like a gerbil, but I haven't been able to find the right hamster for the project.  Those things are mean and they scare me.

You're so right! Hamsters are always looking for a good place to sink in their teeth!  ; )

Maybe a tiny sized Guinea Pig would work? Although, I've never seen dwarf Guinea Pigs.....

Here's hoping for a naming spree to be happening at your house! ; )