Hey Bill,
Good to hear from you. Thats pretty funny about the rat snake, I hope you didn't scare too many people!
When I had my boa, she would become very dormant in the winter time. I think there was one period when she didn't eat for about 6 months, no matter how hard I tried. I knew it was meal time when she started following my foot, as I waved it in front of her cage when I was on the phone. How many snakes do you have now? What type are you looking to get?
I think you did the right thing with your voting district. I sent in my absentee ballot for my district in IA, though I moved to Alaska in Sept. I was registered there, and I didn't register in time to vote in the Alaska elections. I believe you need to do so 30 days before an election. I would like to get involved with GOP efforts here in coming elections.
Alaska is amazing and I love it. I received 4 offers so far (I'm waiting on my 'official' offer from one of the large firms here) and I am very excited about the opportunities here.
I currently have three snakes. I have two female ball pythons and a male California kingsnake. I have two Thayeri kingsnakes on order. The Thayeri is a kind of kingsnake native to Mexico. They don't become as big as most of the ones native to the United States, but they are pretty little animals and generally have great personalities. I also have a crested gecko that I believe is a female, but distinguishing the sexes is difficult until they reach full maturity.
My plan is to own at least one male ball python to breed to my females. Ideally, I might end up with three females and two males. That combination would allow me to practice some breeding. The two females are "normals" meaning that they have the typical markings of ball pythons found in the wild. Any future additions will likely be "morphs" which have mutations giving them a distinctly different appearance. Of course, I'd likely end up keeping one or two hatchlings over the years to develop some traits, but I'd mostly breed for the experience of having bred these snakes. I'd likely buy a second female thayeri to go with the male and female that I'm ordering. If I end up with two females and a male, I can do a little breeding of them. I might also try to find a female California kingsnake so that my male gets to breed occasionally as well. That plan would put me at ten snakes, and that's probably where I should stop.
In terms of lizards, I'll get a male crested gecko if my current gecko turns out to be a female. I'll do a little breeding of them just for fun. I've thought about getting a leopard gecko also, but I'm currently not as enthusiastic about that option.
Bill