# Merry Christmas! (pics included)



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Merry Christmas/happy holidays to everyone from me and my babies.  I had a lot of fun taking pictures of their presents and having separate photoshoots for Charis and Bindi today.

And the stockings were laid by the chimney with care...because we can't hang them! Everyone gets their own stocking, including all of the crabs. 



And since everyone has been very good, of course Santa Mama brought them presents last night.



Charis came out first this afternoon for a cuddle session & present photoshoot. She loves checking out my bookshelves.



And she finally decided to stop exploring once she discovered it was warm next to my leg under the comforter. Snek cuddles! 



Charis with her new hide, which will go into her tank tomorrow. She's currently in the hide this one is replacing & I don't want to stress/scare her by switching them now, after she's already been handled today.



"I like this cave, I'm not coming out!"



So much for "ball" python. No one told Charis why they're named that. She refuses to stay balled up almost at all, so I didn't have time to get a good picture before she was off again. :lol: But I did get her first official weight with me - 1341g, three times bigger than Bindi!



I didn't want to stress the crabbies out with unnecessary handling, so the adorable stuffed hermit crab that one of my coworkers gave me served as a stand-in for them.  They got two vines and a plant, I'm going to use them to make a homemade mangrove tree hide/climber. And they also got a container of freeze-dried krill to add to their food collection.



And though this isn't Christmas related, I can't resist sharing - speaking of the crabs' food collection, they actually have their own pantry now. Over 66 different dried foods, plus a few different supplements, 4 flower mixes, 4 leaf mixes, and several other foods. And this is why I shouldn't be allowed to feed animals - I don't know when to stop. :lol: Most of their food isn't in this picture, I have it stored in a little spinning cup/lid dispenser with four sections (protein, fruit, veg, and miscellaneous).



And last but not least, I got Bindi out tonight for cuddles and her photoshoot! She was pretty unimpressed, but cooperated nicely anyway. 



"Okay mom, you can stop taking pictures now..."



And here she is with her presents. Two beds she probably won't use (she's decided under her litter box is better than the two beds she already has :roll, canned grasshoppers, and canned crickets (behind her).



Hope everyone else is having a great holiday season!


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Lots of goodies there. Your cabinet looks so very neat and tidy. I may have to go back through the hedgehog cabinet here to "compete" with you . Right now its a bit of a mess compared to yours.

And its a good thing I wasn't reading this with a hedgehog on my lap.... I'd have to explain why they only got extra bugs tonight. Wendell actually ate 5 whole mealies very quickly for me tonight .


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Don't be too threatened by the cabinet...I took the picture right after I was done organizing and I haven't gotten into it again yet. I'm sure it'll be a mess soon! :lol:

And good boy, Wendell!  I think Bindi's going to get some canned crickets tonight to see what she thinks. I still need to place an order online for more insects to try out & see what she thinks, hopefully sometime in the next week.


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## FinnickHog (Dec 1, 2014)

Everyone is so cute!

Illidan likes to get in behind my video games and push them all over the floor. I keep them on a shelf like you have your books. I have no idea how he manages to get wedged in behind them, but he does. I love Charis's new hide! She seems so cuddly!

The crabbies are soooo lucky! I wish my pet stuff was that organized. Since I have a cupboard of stuff downstairs and a closet of stuff upstairs and pets on both floors, I'm usually walking in circles collecting things from both places before I can do anything. My saltwater fish tank stuff is currently living in the middle of the kitchen floor :lol:.

I hope Bindi likes (liked?) the crickets! Finnick likes to chase them around in the bathtub. I keep trying to get a video but he stops when I point the camera at him :roll:. He won't eat the canned ones, and he's scared of the canned caterpillars. I haven't bought the grasshoppers yet, or the shrimp. I offered him one of those giant blue-green hornworms a while ago and he killed it and buried it in the sand. So I guess that was a no as well. Hopefully she's more willing to try new things than he is. He'd rather I just give him a banana covered in mealworms and go away.


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

Your critter cabinet is exactly how mine is supposed to look. However between the kids looking for snacks in there or me hunting for a non-existing supply it looks like it survived a "little wind storm" back home. 
Charis's hide... It took me 3 times looking at the picture with her cuddling it to see that in fact it's a hide and not a ham.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

:lol: Silly Illidan! I think Charis would love to do that too, but unfortunately for her, I have so many books that they fill the shelf with no gaps. And Charis has officially approved of the new hide - she was in it both last night & tonight when I went to get her out.  I'm so happy she likes it! She's very cuddly & has had very few problems with handling so far. She's starting to get used to being taken out again - she was rather jumpy the first couple times I got her out since she hasn't been handled much at all in the past several months. We did have a hiccup last night. I got my first snake bite! It was my fault, of course. I thought my offered hand would be taken as a branch to get down from her perch if she wanted to. Charis disagreed and thought it looked like a rat. By the time I noticed she was showing hunting behaviors, I figured she was going to nail me whether I moved or not. Two seconds later...Chomp! She got two of my fingers. But her mouth was spread out enough that I was able to easily unhook her. Looped her over my shoulder while I got my fingers rinsed & got the bleeding to stop. All the while I was being amused at getting this milestone out of the way early and comparing it to my other animal bites. :lol: It honestly wasn't that bad - hedgehog bites hurt more! Charis's teeth are sharp, but small.

Oh god, that would drive me nuts. I just designated one of our extra pitchers for Charis because I got sick of going back & forth from the living room to my room for the fresh water pitcher that I use for the crabs. :lol: I'm still getting annoyed having to take the spray bottle back & forth, but so far I'm keeping myself from buying another (it's one of the nice pump sprayers, I love it). I'm just too lazy, hah!

And Bindi loves the crickets!  She's had a few each night for two or three nights now & eats them all up. Going to break the grasshoppers open next, maybe tonight or tomorrow night. And I ordered some stuff from Amazon with a Christmas giftcard (so much for spending any of it on me :lol which included canned snails. At least Finn will chase the crickets! I don't dare try live ones with Bindi, she's afraid of anything that moves more/faster than a mealworm. I'm hoping canned/frozen things continue to go over well since they won't move & scare her. I laughed at Finnick burying the hornworm though...they're so good at making their opinions crystal clear. :lol: I hope she likes them more than he did! Though if she doesn't, I might see what the hermit crabs think.

Thank you all for appreciating my hermit crab cabinet...I think my family & coworkers all think I'm absolutely nuts. :lol: I'm sure if the crabs could get in there, it would be a wreck in NO time. They're almost as good at making messes as kids are!


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## shetland (Sep 2, 2008)

Kelsey, give me forewarning when the conversation has such intense disussion of snakes.......EWWWWW!!!


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## FinnickHog (Dec 1, 2014)

Yeah ball python bites really aren't that bad. It's weird that she even went for you. Most are too scared to bite anything unless it really smells rodent-y. I guess it's good she has a strong feeding response though!

I love those pump sprayers. I actually only discovered them recently and I have no idea how I managed before that. I spray everything with it, including the parrot.

I'm glad she likes the crickets! Especially since moving things are so scary. Let us know how she feels about the other goodies! Yeah Finnick is very obvious about his likes and dislikes. If he likes it, it vanishes into his face. If he dislikes it, it gets peed on or buried. And he refuses to change his mind later.

I love how messy the crabs are! They look so hassle-free but they're actually little demolition balls of cute!


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

:lol: Sorry, Shetland! But she's my baby too!

And yeah, she definitely doesn't have problems with feeding. I'm not sure if I maybe smelled a little like rats as I work with them at my job...but I don't wear the same clothes I wear in public/at home, and I washed my hands several times before holding her. Might not have been good enough though! No bites last night though, she fell asleep on me. 

And Finnick, you little stinker. :lol: Who says animals can't clearly communicate? Also I discovered the pump sprayer after a couple months of a manual one for the crabs and I was SO excited. And yeah, I should really take a picture of the tank right now. One shell shop is half detached from the tank wall, there's a massive hole under the log with a clementine peel stuck in it (I can't tell if that means they like it & are saving it for later, or trying to bury it because gross :roll and a couple of empty shells thrown onto the ground. Little monsters!


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