Getting HazMat to Eat

As many of you know Erica and I got a baby Green Tree Python at the end of October named HazMat. She was FedEx overnighted from Miami, FL. This trip and transition is very stressful for the snake, so typically it can take some time before they will eat. We started trying to get her to eat about 1 week after we got her with no luck. We tried holding the mouse in front of her and leaving it in the cage overnight. We tried pinkies and fuzzies. We were thinking that us moving around and the size of her cage was stressing her out so we put her into a smaller cage inside of her big cage with cloth wrapped around the smaller cage so she couldn’t see us. Still no luck.

One night I was researching on the internet and found some videos on YouTube of someone tease feeding some pit vipers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFlzg8erQrQ). I saw from this that he was rubbing the mouse on the snake, hitting them on the head and on the tail, etc. I decided to give this a try with HazMat. I was able to get a few strikes this way but she ended up just leaving her current branch and going to another one. So I gave up for the evening thinking I was stressing her out too much.

After a while we moved her back into her big cage because she seemed to like that better. We were gone for 5 days for Thanksgiving and the Monday after Thanksgiving we decided to try again. I had a live pinky that just started to get it’s hairs on the end of some 18 inch forceps. I put it right under her head and we started to see the tongue flickering and the tail moving. After a minute or so she started to act disinterested and moved her head to the other side of the branch. So I started rubbing the pinky on her tail and on her body. I didn’t get any strikes this time but she did move to another branch on the complete opposite side of the cage. Erica at this point said that she’d been stress free for like 5 days while we were gone and to keep going and really try to tick her off. So while at the new branch I started doing the same thing and she was getting mad. I got three strikes and then I got a strike and a wrap. I let go of mouse with the forceps and the mouse fell to the ground, she must not have had a good enough hold. So I tried again, this time I got a strike, wrap and a hold!!

She stayed wrapped and completely still for at least 5 minutes. We got tired of waiting, so we closed the cage up and started watching TV. Every once in a while we’d look back and notice she was moving just a little bit and eventually we looked back and she had a small tail sticking out of her mouth. She had eaten!!!

—UPDATE—

She has eaten a few more times since this post. We have some video’s of one of her recent feedings; MOV05251.MPG and MOV05252.MPG.

New Water Pressure Regulator

Yea, so I woke up this morning and while walking around the house I thought I heard the distinct sound that the water was running somewhere. I checked all the sinks and whatnot, and even checked the spickets outside, but I couldn’t find anywhere where the water was on. I called Josh Thompson and he said I probably better go into the crawl space to check things out. Sure enough, when i’m going in I hear the sound of water hitting the ground. Turns out that the Water Pressure Regulator Valve broke and was spewing water all over the place. Josh came over to help me and we turned off the main line and proceeded to take off the water regulator. The only place we could find a new one was at Home Depot. 3 hours after my initial trip into the crawl space we were up and running with a new regulator, and only down by $30. We found a really nice guy at Home Depot that said he hadn’t seen a Pressure reducing valve like mine in a long time, he pointed us right to the new one we needed. It must be the original one for our house when it was built in ’78. I got a Watts Regulator Water Pressure Reducing Valve, http://www.wattsreg.com.

Log of Steve’s Activity

Below is a log on my activity made by my freshman roommate, Nhan. It’s real funny. :):)

10/29/97 Wednesday

Today Steve influenced a girl named Michelle to not do her E100 assignment. Steve places these influences upon random victims. It is now plausible that Steve is a threat to the educational integrity of the students here at NCSU. From past experience, I’ve encountered myself mimicking Steve on numerous occasions. Although Steve denies that he has these powers, I think otherwise. He affects people emotionally, mentally, psychologically, technologically, and electronically.
Also, today Steve was playing Doom2 with Grant. During one instant in the game, he lost a battle. At this same instant, a loud noise came from my speakers. This may have resulted in Steve’s anger in which he lost control of his electromagnetic powers. I fear the worst for my computer. I do not know how much longer my secret defense shield can hold up to Steve’s irrational attacks. Although Steve does not know about my defense shield, and that he is unaware of his abilities to harness electromagnetism, I’ve decided to conceal my knowledge from him. I do not wish to encourage anymore-unstable fields from Steve in the electromagnetic band. This can result in the massive destruction of computers within a 1-mile radius.

10/30/97 Thursday

Today Steve has questioned my secret plans to mess up computers. I fear that he may be more dangerous than anticipated. He also has declared to me that he is “tired of my mess.”

Spring 1998

Before spring break, Steve happened to be at the right place at the right time. My security programs were not protecting the software that Steve wanted to get his hands on. He stole my weapons of mass destruction and used it on two other victims and myself. What have I done? I now fear the worst for the world, as they probably have condemned me for having such a powerful weapon unsecured, where a third world party can get their hands on. My life as the all-powerful LORD NHAN will soon end if I do not find a way to stop Steve’s destructive motives

Today, Steve has made major contributions to a possible cease-fire. I do not know what motivated Steve to take this action, but in any case, this is good news for everyone. I have not accepted his offer because I am still outraged by aggression against my sovereignty. He called for a total nuclear disarmament on both sides. I have not used my nuclear powers on anyone, so why should I be banned from something that I invented? I am not willing to weaken myself. This is what Steve really wants, and I am not willing to settle for that. He has shown has cooperation by dismantling all nuclear weapons from his computer. I do not trust him though. His words are like dirt to me. He could have secured some of his weapons in secret facilities that I cannot sense. So, I’ve decided not to remove any of my nuclear capabilities.

There have been no signs of aggression from Steve for quite sometime now. My strategy appears to be working. But I will not be foolish and lie down my guard just because Steve has not had the urge to attack. I will never let my guard down until Steve is 50 billion kilometers away from me. I still fear the worst for his close neighbors though, for next semester. ESPECIALLY ALFRED. He knows nothing about Steve’s hidden agenda. I will try to warn him, but I fear that he will not listen to me because I’m ASIAN. Also, they have nicknamed me “dangit.” I fear the worst for my reputation if my superiors hear of this insult, that I cannot stop. There are just too many of them [FRATERNITY] that has been encouraged to do this propaganda, [BRIAN, MATT, etc].