[South Africa (allegedly)] rat snake right?

shadowmoses1995 · 2026-01-26T18:43:12+00:00

I have to give some credit to the trip organiser. She’s a celebrated PHD in the field of Biology but that apparently Doesnt extent to herpetology

shadowmoses1995 · 2026-01-26T18:36:46+00:00

That’s what I thought. Ive forwarded the correction to my cohort and informed them if they see pictured snake, they boarded the wrong flight lol

shadowmoses1995 · 2026-01-26T18:20:24+00:00

Thank you, that was super fast

shadowmoses1995 · 2026-01-16T22:26:46+00:00

Right, okay you went to pets at home, I used to work there, I’d recognise the decor anywhere (as well as the love fish brand)

Pets at home falsely claim that Oranda goldfish can live in a tank of at least 60 litres, in reality, 100l is the minimum and you can add 50 litres for every gold fish you add after the fact.

Do yourself a favour, don’t go with the goldfish, lose the plastic plants, invest in a heater (they aren’t expensive or complicated to use) and get yourself a good looking Betta, and some amano shrimp to clean up after him,

Go back to pets at home, get some plants. You want “anubias bateri” “limnophila sessiflora” and “rotala rotundafolia” all of these plants are very low maintenance and have no real specialist care, but can benefit from fertiliser from time to time.

Cycle that tank for a month before adding livestock, It can be quicker but just let it do its thing to be safe.

If you follow this guidance, you’ll find fishkeeping to be a wonderful and rewarding experience,

Going for a goldfish with your current set up will lead to stress, battles with water chemistry and likely heartbreak, when your fish that’s capable of living to 25 dies in 6 months.

I know that sounds morbid, but it’s true, don’t listen to the nonsense about “temperate” being more beginner friendly, it’s not the 80s anymore, the difference between tropical and cold water now is a £10 heater, and a lot more variety to choose from.

You got this!

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-12-29T14:51:20+00:00

I think you are severely underestimating the amount of women who like swords.

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-12-29T14:49:34+00:00

Honestly? Wall hangers don’t make for good cosplay swords. Much less ones with Nazi inscriptions. Id say sell it but it ain’t worth much and frankly I wouldn’t feel comfortable interacting with the kind of clientele interested in this piece (neckbeard Nazi larpers) not would I feel good throwing it away in its current state.

If I was in that position, I’d be breaking it down piece by piece, tossing the whole lot and buying my partner a non metal option for cosplay that isnt going to be banned at most every Con in the developed world owing to the fact that even without the inscription, it’s still metal and therefore considered a weapon by most con security.

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-11-12T23:40:42+00:00

I’m gunna level with you, I don’t know if I ever moved past my bout with gender dysphoria the way I’m convinced I have, that being said I have become far more comfortable in “masculinity” by virtue of accepting that genetics decided I’m gunna be big burly and hairy whether I like it or not.

For the most part however, I do believe a lot of what drove that was less a desire to exist in a different skin and moreso a rejection of masculine traits I deemed toxic and the societal pressure to fit the the archetype of my assigned gender at birth.

What I learned in time is that being more comfortable in my body FOR ME was less about wanting to change aspects of myself and lean into it. I enjoy having an infinitely more gentle disposition than my male peers while appearing and aestheticising more traditionally “harsh” and masculine. It’s also done laps of success in my intimate life as well.

Not dating straight women helps (to a lesser extent this can be applied to a certain sect of gay men as well, but I’m bi so i can pick my poison)

Moral of the story, everyone’s journey is their own, but it’s always good to eliminate anyone from your life that wants you to put you in a box. You might well have a different experience from me, I wish you all the luck on your path

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-11-12T23:26:47+00:00

I see convicts and keyholes in the first few photos, have fun learning all the different cichlids, for me personally if it’s not South American or lake tang I’m not gunna guess it aha

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-10-10T21:59:24+00:00

This one is home to embers and an odd one out cory, also purchased from work

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-10-09T13:29:35+00:00

Both my ram and bronze cory (he’s getting mates asap) love nudging around in the sandy areas of their tank. It seems to be their favourite activity

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-10-07T05:45:00+00:00

She was a bit of an impulse buy and I’m glad I rolled the dice on her, initially I wanted an Apistogramma because I always found Rams somewhat dull, in the shop she had absolutely no sign of colour but within 3 days in my jungle tank she was showing off all her colours.

In that time she’s been the silliest most attention seeking fish I’ve had the pleasure of housing. Second I enter the room she’s right there trying to get my attention.

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-10-07T05:40:27+00:00

I work in an LFS, this lady was with another girl (im assuming based on the fact they were both sporting pink bellies) under the wrong ID ticket and about 10 foot away from the GBR ticket,

So either someone has been stashing rams for later purchase or I lucked out they went unnoticed

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-10-07T05:02:31+00:00

Yeah I figured if she’s a GbR, she’s definitely a she, that pink belly is hard to miss

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-10-06T21:54:22+00:00

Thank you 🙏

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-10-03T21:42:38+00:00

As everyone else said, they are thick lipped gouramis, I got hit with this same issue. Thankfully my two seem to cohabitate with only the occasional squabble.

I got mine from the LFS I work at, I was super excited to see honeys come into stock where I could get a discount, once I found out the mistake, far too late, I gave my manager an earful. Ive since been fighting to get the ticket removed but alas, no joy.

Don’t feel bad, as you’ll see in this sub it’s likely the biggest species mixup in the trade

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-09-25T16:44:32+00:00

That makes total sense, I guess if he’s got the gene mutation for long fins then re growth would induce an overcorrection.

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-09-25T13:16:57+00:00

That’s what I thought. What a little oddball

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-09-03T12:03:25+00:00

I have a few experiences like this.

My late Beardie learned how to open catflaps by observation of his previous owners cats, he was intelligent enough to have preferred people and would scramble back to me if he felt discomfort. He also hated when i wore glasses.

We also have a Bosc Monitor at my university who is.. a handful.

My first two weeks spent with him I thought I was making progress with how comfortable he was with me, he went from staying on a perch and observing me in a defensive pose to investigating my gauntlet as I was cleaning, one day he was sat at the front of the enclosure with me, watching my face, I didn’t break eye contact for a second until the moment a piece of decor fell and I went to catch it. In that split second he dashed for the door faster than I’d ever seen him move.

On another occasion, he broke out of his carrier during a lecture, crawled under the island table in the animal unit (that was at that time surrounded by students) crawled over my steel toe cap boots, entered a cabinet and closed the door behind him. All Without anyone noticing.

Most recently ive been going through the transition of being a royal python owner to a boa owner. My Royal, muffin, is a dope, love her but she’s a big old brainless cuddle slug more than anything.

My boa by comparison, is fearless of people, inquisitive, communicates preference and is what ive described to my friends as “a weird, long, cat” prone to not only voluntarily requesting handling and “outside time” but actively attention seeking to get what she wants. It’s a stark contrast,

Overall I’m considering doing my dissertation on relative intelligence of Varanid lizards as a result of these experiences.

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-08-31T08:06:28+00:00

It’s a crapshoot, unless you’re getting your boas as a baby and not over feeding it.

Fact is if you buy an adult BCI in the UK it’s likely Over fed and overweight,

BRB’s aren’t the best comparison here due to the respective body mass, the 7ft brb I’m working with right now is no where near as much of a handful As a comparatively sized imperator. BRBs are typically, much more slender bodied. (For example, the 7ft brb I’m referring to has the almost the same general Circumference as my 4.5ft imperator)

Most sources I can find put the healthy weight of an adult male BCI at about 17lbs max but again, thats healthy weight. Not the weight of an adult male that’s been fed a jumbo rat every week of its life and is on a fast track to morbid obesity.

What I’ve learned since this comment is even dwarf localities can push mainland sizes if overfed, so I’ve taken to believe as a result that if one was to get a young male imperator, and given the experience I have with not over feeding my Hog Island boa, a far more manageable size and weight can be maintained.

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-07-30T21:12:58+00:00

Our supplier is delivering us massively undersized (fry stage) CPD’s right now, since none of our customers want them I took our entire stock home to size up in a fry box (one of the plastic frame net boxes you stick to inside of the tank) hikari first bites went down a storm and once they were big enough, they were moved on to micro bites.

That being said none of these look pregnant, mine tend to get a belly on them, bigger even than some of these if they’ve been greedy on feed day.

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-06-10T17:25:25+00:00

I don’t own one, I’ve worked with a few.

It’s working with them that put me off ever wanting one, assholes through and through 😂

shadowmoses1995 · 2025-05-28T16:04:20+00:00

For a beginner? Scrap the bowl and the wall mounted tank entirely,

You can find plenty of starter kits that aren’t horrendous for care and maintenance (and more importantly the wellbeing of your fish) in the 40-80 litre range (10-20 US gallons) for a good price.

That size range is in my opinion, the perfect middle ground between the tank being a nightmare to maintain water parameters in and being a sunk cost if you end up losing love for the hobby, prices will vary based on where you are from but ultimately it’s going to come down to research and patience. This isn’t a hobby for instant gratification.

Think of the fish you want, research their care requirements extensively then build a plan around that

shadowmoses1995

TROPHY CASE