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We haven't updated for a while as everything has been pretty quiet over the winter months! So here's to New Year and new things happening here at OCCS!

Changes are afoot for the snakes soon as we are moving house! The great thing about this fact is that the snakes will have their own room and we will have space in our bedroom again! (that really is quite exciting).

We are starting to prepare for the big move and as anyone who has ever moved with snakes before will know, this is likely to be quite a stressful time for the animals. Our intention is to move the snakes first, setting them up in their separate room, so that they will be out of the way of the hustle and bustle of friends and family banging and crashing around with sofas and beds and washing machines etc.
The rack will be moved first with the snakes bagged and put into boxes for the duration of the move. As we are not going too far, we won't need to provide any supplemental heating.
    Dixie will be moved in a tub as she is going with her viv and will be on display in the lounge of our new house, as opposed to stuffed into the corner of the bedroom. The intention is to order the new vivarium I won a 60% discount on and set it up in the lounge for her. As such a confident little snake we don't think that a nice 4 x 2 x 2 viv will be too big for the little lady.

Everyone was recently weighed and each is growing nicely and at their own pace. Piper is now weighing in at over 400g!!! Which, considering she was just over 100g when she arrived, is absolutely amazing!

We've had a bit of trouble over the winter with Miami refusing to feed. No matter what we tried she was just no in the slightest bit interested. I'm pleased to report that she has now decided to feed again as we have dropped her back down to fluffs. Although she can easily manage small mice, being such a timid little thing, we think she is a little bit nervous of trying that size of food. So for now she will be having two fluffs at a time instead!

Everyone is looking forward to this big move and I will report back when we are settled in, to let you all know how the snakes have handled the process!



 
Well it has been a while since we have updated the blog.

Things are moving along nicely. Luna has changed colour and is really starting to 'pop' and her adult colouring is coming through beautifully.

We have recently installed Piper, Beau, Luna, Savanna and Miami into our new rack system. This rack is heated by heat cable and in order to combat the issue of the deppei jani being too warm we used a single heat cable for their tubs and two for the others. This has resulted in us being able to get their temperatures perfect.

Dixie is currently in shed (again).

Piper is loving her new tub as it has a lot more floor space than her viv did.

Dixie has remained in her viv due to her love of climbing and she still spends most of her time up her 'tree'.

Savanna has been out and about recently getting some handling practice in and she is still very much the sweet natured snake and nothing like your typical deppei jani.

There really isn't much else to mention as it is pretty quiet at the moment.

We have installed the oil filled radiator to help with ambient temperatures as the weather changes.

We will be updating again once something interesting actually happens.
 
Hello Everyone!

Just a little update from the OCCS Snake Room.

Everyone appears to be synchronizing their shedding cycles at the moment and 5 of the 6 permanent residents have/are in shed within the last two weeks. Piper is the last to go and went into 'blue' a couple of days ago.

Dixie is growing like a weed and is shedding every 4 weeks at present.

Miami is presenting a slight problem as she has decided that she doesn't like food. She has always fed readily but since being in shed a few weeks ago has not touched a morsel. (Great news for whoever gets her left-overs though). We have been trying to figure out just what it is that is causing her a problem and we have come to a conclusion. Miami is RACIST! She will not eat white mice, so we are presently trying to source her some more black ones in the hope that this will re-ignite her feeding.

We also made Piper her own cool hide from polystyrene and covered it in stone coloured grout and dry moss. The only problem is that she doesn't fit very well so we are going to have to start again!

Other updates also include that Cecil the 7 year old male corn snake we have been trying to rehome has finally found a forever home and is leaving us on Friday 16th August.

Our breeding plans for next year have been put on hold. We have decided, after a number of weighings and general health checks, to ABORT next year's breeding plans and to wait until the 2014/15 season instead. We have a number of reasons for this, the main one being that Piper (the only female old enough) is not really carrying enough condition to go into brumation in a few months time. Also Beau is not going to be big enough to carry out his job. As much as we are sure he would be willing, it would be too dangerous we feel.

So there's your little update. More to come soon no doubt!
 
As it would appear I have been a little lax in updating the blog recently I thought I'd best add something!

As you are all probably aware (unless you live in the North Pole) we are having a really lovely hot summer at present here in good old Blighty!

The corn snakes are more than happy with the nice warm weather and the electricity bills have dropped singnificantly due to no need for extra heating! The Pituophis on the other hand are a little grumpy presently as they are ever so slightly too warm. This isn't a big issue as such but they prefer the cooler end of the high 20c's due to being a montane species and living at high altitudes.

Miami actually refused a feed last Thursday due to the heat we believe. She has also gone onto small mice recently so maybe she is just not as hungry as previously?

Keeping blinds/curtains closed in rooms where the sun gets in is a must in this weather. We also have all the windows open to aid air circulation as there isn't much of a breeze at present.

On an exciting note we have received a few queries through our Contact Form regarding corn snake care and behaviour. Don't forget we are always happy to help with any questions you may have so please feel free to send them in!

We are currently working on getting all the snakes onto the same feeding day. We now have two on a Monday and four on a Thursday. By extending the two Monday feeders one day per week we are closing in on having all 6 feeding on a Thursday!

Keep an eye out for updates!
 
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On Monday 1st July we had a photographer come round and practice his snake photography on our lovely little collection.
He had never photographed snakes before but managed to produce some amazing photographs. The snakes of course (with the exception of Piper) were less than happy to oblige and stay still for photos. An amazing 600+ photos were taken that night!
Eugene (photographer) whittled them down to 322 and sent them over to us to flick through. Being unable to choose a few favourites I was left with only one option. TO KEEP THEM ALL! I now have a folder choc full of amazing pictures of our little beauties.
Please visit his website to check out the rest of his excellent work. www.eugeneeverson.co.uk

On another note I have now added a gallery with a 'small' selection of the photographs to the website for your viewing pleasure.

Keep up to date with whats going on in the snake room by keeping an eye on

 
Well there have been a few developments in the OCCS world the last couple of weeks so here goes:

- Dixie shed last night (5 weeks since the last shed), she has grown just under 20cm in a month and a half since moving up to small mice.

- Miami arrived home on Thursday 27th and certainly has the typical pituophis personality. She is feeding on two fluffs once a week at the moment but will soon be moving onto small mice we think. She hisses like a trooper but is extremely reluctant to bite.

- Beau has developed a penchant for tail rattling (we think he has learned this from his pituophis freinds who do it constantly)

- Savanna also fed a few days ago and is very much still her laid-back self. She took a while to come to terms with having a black mouse as opposed to her usual white ones but she took it eventually.

- Luna is still as grumpy as ever although she is exploring a lot more and generally seems more settled. We don't think she will ever be the most friendly of snakes but she has given up on the constant attacking every time you enter the room.

- Piper managed to shed in two pieces (perfect pieces though). This is a MASSIVE breakthrough for us as she has been constantly stressed out since she was a baby due to her constant breeding and laying. Since coming to us she has settled very well, and this shed just serves to prove that she is happy where she is. No stress = Good sheds!

- We have now installed LED lighting in the rack and Piper's viv (she didn't do well in the rack so has a nice fancy home). The snakes now have a proper day/night cycle and the pits (being diurnal) are much more active now they have some proper light to show them it is actually day time.

The crepuscular corn snakes are also benefitting from a decent cycle and are much more active in early evening and early mornings. Piper still likes to sit pressed against the glass on her viv for hours on end of an evening.

Keep up with us as things move along by keeping an
 
Well after a visit to Doncaster IHS Breeders Meeting yesterday we purchased our foundation male.

He is a beautiful Powder ph Diffused corn snake and his name is Beau! He seems to have settled in very well and has just had his first feed with us this morning. A small mouse.

Our final snake will be added to the collection later this week our Extreme Red Albino San Diego Gopher snake from Al Stotton.

We have decided that 6 snakes will definitely be enough to be going on with until the breeding season begins at the latter end of this year/early next year. This all depends on how well Beau grows as to whether he will be ready to breed next year or not.

Keep an eye out for updates!
 
Welcome to the first blog entry on our new site. We will hopefully be losing the .weebly part of the title once we have purchased the domain name we are after.

Currently all is quiet in the snake room as everyone has just been fed this week and are all happily digesting their meals.

Off to Doncaster tomorrow to collect Beau and bring him home. We will hopefully be meeting a few of our reptile friends from the forums we frequent at the event too.

Maybe even have a cheeky beer or two.

We will update the blog as we go along and things get going.

Peace out
Rob