u/Adorable_Hyena9413

Posting because it feels like no one around me really understands. We somewhat unexpectedly lost Panther, our black rat snake today. He was an old boy, we don’t know his exact age but the vet said he was likely in his early to mid 20s, not even close to our oldest snake though. He’s had some serious health issues recently but this time we didn’t think he wouldn’t be coming home, we just thought he was constipated. He was staying at the vets, they love him there, and we got the call this afternoon. He was such a good boy, a big guy around 7 feet, and was very good at setting boundaries. Most of my coworkers were scared of him, I knew he was all hiss and no bite though and he warmed up to you if you were confident with him. I’ve been his primary caretaker for the past 5 years. I’m glad he’s not suffering anymore, I feel so awful when I think about the discomfort he’s been in recently though.

He doesn’t have a name yet (definitely a boy) and omg I’m so obsessed already. I’ve wanted a hognose for a while, he’s not my first snake, but I finally got one as a sort of graduation present for myself. Names I’m considering: Phoenix, Osiris (Osi for short), Pluto, Reaper, and Anubis. Would not mind other suggestions, my current snakes names are Odin, Jack Skellington (Skelly), Bunzi, Mayday, and Angelica so there’s not really a theme going lol.

Her confidence has grown immensely in the past few weeks, we had a couple of handling sessions where she didn’t even flatten her head! They were followed by some sessions where she did bite but I was pushing my luck during those. I have never had a snake so enthusiastic about food! She comes all the way out of her enclosure if I take too long to give her the next fish or mouse during feedings. We’re definitely going to work on target training soon! She is unfortunately still in her quarantine set up, her scale rot is almost gone but it didn’t fully clear with her last shed so we’re waiting for her next one to move her onto proper substrate.