Meet the Pets - Anubis, Athena and Hades

When I say I've been an animal lover all my life, I mean it. In first school I learned the hymn 'All Creatures Great and Small' and although I'm devoutly religionless my adoration for all animals has done nothing but heightened through the years.
As a child, I had fish, rabbits, a guinea pig and then a multitude of hamsters in my late teens but I've always wanted to have reptiles. The last 'Meet the Pets' post saw me update you all on Baker our collie cross but this week I'd like to introduce you to our three of the inhabitants of our Reptile Room. I know they aren't the most popular creature and some people go as far as to have fears of them...so be warned - this post includes many photos of three different breeds of snake which you may find too cute to handle!! Proceed with caution.

Anubis

Breed: Corn Snake

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Birthday: May 1st

Length: 50 inches [4.1 foot] 

As I mentioned above, two of our three scaley worms were already with Mr H when we met. At the time that we started to see each other, he had adopted Anubis only a couple months prior. His previous owners, to state it bluntly, had lost interest and didn't want him anymore. He wasn't eating and his set up wasn't really suitable, they had had him his whole life but 'estimated' his age to be between 15 and 18. Also immediately after Mr H rescued him, he was back eating and being a character. In the less than two years we've lived as a family, he has become even more boisterous and silly. He is extremely tame, well handled and loves to come out to play so much that he'll often give you a dance from his vivarium to tell you he's ready for exploring time. 

Recently, we had a big scare with him where long story short we were pretty sure he had passed away. After a heck load of tears and making a little coffin for him, we went into the reptile room to get him ready and he was moving around again! What a shock that was to the system. At his age, he really could go anytime but I'm pretty sure he's a few good years left in him yet.

Athena

Breed: Columbian Boa (debatable) 

Gender: Female

Age: 3 

Birthday: 1st March 

Length: 52 inches [4.3 foot]

Athena is another re-home/rescue dealio. And she is our 3rd rescue pet since getting together, having been with us since February. Sadly, the people who had her were trying to sell her as she had been a gift for their autistic son who had quickly lost interest. They didn't know her breed, her living environment was completely wrong, as was her feeding schedule etc. I've written 'debatable' in the breed above as she looks just like a Columbian boa, however, her size is all off...at only just over 4 foot when really for her age she should be 6 - 9 feet. We can only guess that the wrong husbandry has led to stunted growth or a morph we are unfamiliar with. 

Her size wasn't the only issue because although we had been told she was eating and shedding well, she actually had numerous layers of stuck shed on her, particularly her tail (see last photo above, from the day we brought her home). It took a few weeks but she's doing 100% better now.

This girl definitely lives up to the assigned breed stereotype as she is so docile and calm, a really lovely girl despite what some people have called her 'scary eyes'. 

Hades

Breed: Ball Python

Gender: Male

Age: 4

Birthday: 3rd July

Length: 48 inches [4 foot]

The real OG. Mr H has had Hades from a tiny baby Ball Python. Hades has a custom-built Ikea-hack vivarium which he loves. He's a super chill and predictable guy who can usually be found asleep on his 'shelf' although apparently Ball Pythons don't like to climb! He comes alive in the evenings mostly and will do his little dance just like Anubis, as well as push his little nose super hard against the door to get you to open up. Just like his snakey siblings he enjoys being handled and will chill out around your neck, on your knee or, as you can see, in the bookcase...

Hades is the laid-back, no bother guy of the bunch. We're thankful he has been happy and healthy his whole life which is what happens when you look after animals as they should be!

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And so these are another 3 members in our 10 strong family. If I have gotten anything out of putting this post together, it's the fact that I've realized I really don't take enough photos of the reptiles with my actual camera meaning the majority of photos I've taken quickly with my phone and are terrible quality. All three snakes have great personalities and are very big parts of the household. Like I mentioned above one of our three bedrooms is the dedicated Reptile Room, which once we have introduced the other two residents and completed a couple of currently half-pending projects, I will share here too. Spoiler alert - the walls used to be bright orange before we painted..!
Well, that's all for this week. Thanks for joining us and take care.