Raven

Raven's Journal:

Raven is my Mexican Black Kingsnake

Oct. 19,2002:We got Raven today at the Hamburg Reptile Show.We gave her a pinkie when we got home and she ate it right up.She has a few specs on her belly, but those should go away as she grows.The breeder we got her from said she was about a month old.
Oct.23,2002:I was holding Raven today and noticed she had a small scar or something on her belly. I just hope its nothing serious.
Oct.24,2002:I put her in with her pinkie and she ate it without even constricting it!!! She caught it on it's nose and just kept swallowing. I guess shes not as shy as Ruby is.
Nov. 1,2002:She ate a pinkie today. I had her out to show my nieces "the new snake", and they said she looks like a worm because of how small she is. I have to remember to measure her next time I have her out. My GUESS would be shes around 13-14".
Nov. 9,2002:She ate another pinkie today, even though she looked blue. This is the first time she actually took the time to wrap it up. I'll be getting my first shed from her soon!!! I hope her scar doesn't mess up her shed.
Nov. 12,2002:Well she was blue today, so I must've been wrong on Sat. I don't think she would've stayed blue this long. This time I'm SURE SHE WAS!!!
Nov. 14,2002:I'm getting pretty good at this!! I measured Raven today and she was 13 1/2 inches, right in between my guess. LOL
Nov. 15,2002:I got Ravens first shed today!!! It was a full shed too. I took her out to look at her after I saw her shed, and it looked like her scar is clearing up. Man, I love how these guys look after shed!!! She actually has a blue irredescense to her. AWESOME!!!
Nov. 17,2002:The pet store didn't have any pinkies this week so I had to give her the smallest fuzzie we could get.She wrapped it up and swallowed it down like it was a pink.
Nov. 23,2002:Raven bit me twice today!!! I think it was my fault though, I got her out to hold RIGHT after I held Ruby. I think she must of smelled Ruby on me. The first time she tried biting me on the back of my hand, and the second time she grabbed ahold of my pinkie.I guess she's REALLY hungry!!! LOL
Nov. 24,2002:The pet store was out of pinkies AND fuzzies this week. I had to go to another store and get F/T. I didn't even have her in for a minute and she had it half done!!! Sunny didn't eat hers, so I gave it to Raven, and once she found it she had it done in no time.
Nov. 29,2002:Man she's a voracious eater!!! I put her in her feed tank and she practically wrapped up the pinkie before she hit the ground!!! Today I was watching her and after she was done, she saw me watching and struck at me twice!!! She's starting to remind me of my son's old Mexican Black, Onyx. We couldn't get near his tank without him striking. Anyway, she ate today!!! LOL
Dec. 6,2002:With the way she's been eating, I decided to get her 2 pinkies this week. Well, she had both pinkies wrapped up at the same time and it seemed like she didn't know where to start!!!LOL. She would sniff one then check out the other one, but she finally decided which was first, and ate both.
Dec. 14,2002:I gave her 2 pinkies again, and she ate both of them. She's so much more violent with her attacks then any of my other snakes. She never wastes any time wrapping at aleast one of them up either. It looks to me like her white specks are starting to turn darker, too. Hopefully after another couple of sheds she'll be pure black!!!
Dec. 18,2002: I got Raven out today and she was blue.So far she has yet to turn down ANY feedings, even during her shed cycle. LOL
Dec. 21,2002:She shed last night, a full shed!! Her shed looks pretty cool, it has a dark stripe going the whole length of it.
Dec. 23,2002: The pet store didn't have any pinkies, so we had to go to the other store and get her some F/T.
She ate them in her usual fashion, like she hasn't eaten in a year!!!
Dec. 30,2002: She ate 2 F/T this week. Both her and Ruby seem to be doing pretty good on them, I just might keep them on them ; ).
Jan. 5,2003: I got her F/T again, and still no problems : ). She still attacks them like they're live, she doesn't wrap them up though.
Jan. 23,2003: Raven shed tonight, A full shed!!! She seems to be settling down when I hold her too!!!
Jan. 31,2003: The F/T I got at the reptile show turned out to be hoppers instead of fuzzies. From the size of them and Raven's size I didn't think she'd be able to eat it. Well, I was wrong LOL. I put her in her feed tank and she wrapped it up and swallowed it LOL, yup she still wrapped it up. It took her a little while but she did it!!! I measured her before I fed her and she measured at 15.3 inches.
Feb. 21,2003: I got some live today for her : ). She wrapped it up and seemed to be detemined to eat it butt first. She kept striking and chewing on the legs. LOL She even sniffed the head and recoiled afterwards...
(maybe the mouse had bad breath?) So, she swallowed the tail, then scooped the legs in and swallowed it butt first. Oh yea, before she wrapped up the fuzzie, she must of smelled it, because she was watching me watch her. I moved my finger to where the mouse was, and she tried striking through the tank. She still has her mean
temperment. Although she doesn't try biting when I hold her. She usually wraps up in a ball when I try to pick her up, and then wraps her tail around a finger and explores from that set point. Kinda funny, cause she doesn't leave go till she feels it's safe.
Feb. 27,2003: I had Raven out today and she was blue. She seems a lot heftier than Ruby does. Maybe just the difference between Knoblochis and Mexican Blacks?
March 6, 2003: She finally shed last night. She had a full shed, but I ripped it when I was taking it out of her tank. It didn't really matter though, she defecated in it : P.
March 8,2003: I fed her one of the F/T hoppers I have today. I always put the mouse in first and then put her in. When I put her in her feed tank, she struck at the side of the tank right away. I think she must smell the mouse and just goes nuts till she finds it. LOL She has yet to pass up a feeding for me. The way she goes nuts when I put her in her feed tank, I think she'd eat a whole bag of 50 if I left her ; ).
March 14,2003: I gave her 2 F/T fuzzies this week. She went nuts on me again when I put her in her feed tank. I actually got her to bite a fuzzy by putting my finger at the side of her tank near one. When she went to strike at my finger she grabbed a fuzzy and started eating. LOL She's got to have one of the best feeding responses of any of my snakes. All she needs is the scent and she goes crazy till she actually find her prey.
March 21,2003: She got a small hopper today. She really looks like she's beefing up. After she ate she looked almost as thick as Bones, and he's twice her size!!! She keeps eating like this she'll wind up being 10 foot!!! LOL
March 28,2003: I got her a fuzzy this week, she ate it in no time. I think next week I'll up her to 2 fuzzies :).
April 5,2003: Well, I got her 2 fuzzies this week and she ate both. The first one she tried constricting, but didn't do it long enough because it started squeeking when she started swallowing it. The second one she didn't even bother constricting.
April 6,2003: She shed last night. She ripped the shed on her water dish AND her climbing branch. I THINK it was a full shed. The eyecaps were on ther head part at least. I'm suprised she ate last night being so close to shedding. She has yet to turn down a feeding : ).
April 19,2003: We got a few pinkies for the Brooksi today and he only took one, so Raven became todays garbage disposal. She wound up eating 3. I'll put her back to F/T hoppers next week again. I measured her and she's up to 17" long and .52" wide. She even looks beefy!!! LOL
April 26,2003: Raven was this weeks garbage disposal AGAIN. Ruby didn't eat anything because she was blue, so I gave one of hers to Raven. She wound up eating 3 hoppers this week.
May 4,2003: First time she didn't eat since I have her!!! She was blue though, so she's just in shed.
I measured her again, too. She's up to 20.5" and .61" thick. She's a chubby little girl! At least she's FINALLY putting on some length!!! Seems ever since I switched them over to F/T they're really growing better. The pet stores mice must've been REALLY bad quality!
May 11,2003: Well, she still hasn't shed. Today was feeding day, so I decided to try and give her one hopper. Raven being Raven, she ate it in no time :). She should shed soon, I did notice she was still blue on Tuesday.
May 12,2003: She shed last night. She had a full one peice shed : ). I always like looking at her after shed, but since she ate yesterday I'll have to wait : (.
May 17,2003: She ate 2 hoppers today.
May 25,2003: Pretty basic again, she ate 2 hoppers again.
June 1,2003: Well, I guess I was getting lazy with her journal. She didn't eat!!! She may be going into shed, it's about that time ;). I measured her today and she's up to 22.8" long and .69" thick. She's closing in on the 2 ft mark!!

Raven Page 2