Thanks guys! And Thanks Stefan for pointing me this direction. This little guy has been a huge learning experience and as a first time snake owner I look back and am amazed that he's been with us so long! Things were a little rough for him in the beginning. Wanna hear the condensed version?
Neighborhood kids found him in a greenbelt creek. I'm guessing he was a yearling at this point. It was March '02. The kids were passing him around, dropping him, basically inadvertently torturing him and trying to sell him to each other for $2. I felt sorry for the little guy and we had an extra little tank from a long gone pet tarantula so I agreed that we could keep him. Started reading and picking people's brains. Went and got a heat lamp(don't all snakes need heat lamps? lol)... yeah, with a small tank, too. Wow was he active... sigh... then noticed some scales looking dry and crinkly... poor baby. Ok, ditched the heat lamp, got a uth and a 20 gallon long tank. Much better. Somewhere in this process I realize he has mites. Didn't want to use poison so he got rubbed down with olive oil and rinsed off every other day. The pic above was of his fist "good" shed
Thankfully he ate well from the beginning, devouring rosy reds & earthworms. He was easy to switch to f/t pinkies and other than a few minnows to chase now and then has done well on just pinkies. Being wild caught he does put himself in a light brumation every winter, but comes out active and ready to eat each spring. Since he's about 7 years old now I was really worried about losing him this past winter and it made me realize just how much I enjoy the little guy. The last two feedings have been fuzzies. The first was a struggle, but the second seemed to really agree with him. He's cruising the tank right now surely looking for more... either that or a girl! lol
Thanks for listening... feel like I'm bragging about one of my kids... who btw, even though they begged for the snake rarely do anything for or with it! It's mommy's snake now