Dakota enjoying the ☀️ after having two mice the night before. 😋

When I do something with the terrarium, Dakota always has to watch what's going on. He's very headstrong and likes to design himself. No idea where he got this from. 🤷‍♂️

Except for the painting, I haven't posted about Dakota in a year and a half!😲

To compensate for that, there is not only a photo, but also a poem that I wrote 6 years ago.🙈

It's in German, but I've translated it for you below.🐁

-

Die Schlange

Im Dunkel vergraben, harrte sie aus.
Ihr Kleid ward zu eng, niemals kam sie heraus.
Die Sicht ward trüber Nebelschwaden gleich.
Sie harrte aus, das Kleid ward feucht, das Kleid ward weich.

Es drängte sich, ein Muskelzucken, unruhig auf.
Es schlängelte sich, zum Mäuseschlucken, schon bald herauf.
Der Drang zum Gedeihen, er ward ihr inne.
Ein neuer Glanz, ward in ihr, da drinne.

Sie kam nach oben, platzte gleich.
Ihr glänzend Körper, voll Muskelfleisch.

-

The Snake

Buried in the dark, she persevered.
Her dress was too tight, she never came out.
The view was like gloomy clouds of mist.
She persevered, the dress became damp, the dress became soft.

It urged itself, a muscle twitch, restlessly.
It soon snaked up for mice to swallow.
The urge to thrive, it became her.
There was a new shine in her inside.

She came up and was about to burst.
Her shiny body, full of muscle meat.

That's how my painting looks now. I changed the title from "Terrarium Snake and Monarch Butterfly" to "Inside". That's an insssider.
❤️😉
It's almost complete. Later it gets a frame that represents a terrarium. Then, if sloth wills, it's finished.

Without cuddle scene it goes straight omnomnom!🐁🐍💕


(time lapse)


Incidentally, it's not necessary to go to the maximum feed size. Show me a species that always hunts the strongest and biggest prey. The opposite is the case. Especially with terrarium animals that aren't at the mercy of nature, it's absurd. As smart as the animals in the wild, we as pet owners should minimize risks. I usually feed young rats, about twice the size of this mouse. Always dead. Usually I don't feed at this time of year, because of wintering. But it's still quite warm this December, so the snake doesn't have a reduced metabolism. So it gets a mouse for safety. Should be digested quickly.

The mysterious back of my painting. On the dark areas is a thicker color layer. Partly I dug into the layers with the brush, which then created these lines. As you can see, the snake consists of only a few layers of paint. Most of the layers I needed for the wood. You can't see the butterfly, because of the stretcher. The idea for the motif came to me during the painting. Originally I just wanted to paint my snake in a beautiful landscape. It's my first tempera and at the same time my first canvas painting ever.

I applied varnish to separate the tempera from the following oil colors. The tempera have given the painting its extreme radiance. Now I want more nuances, transitions and spatiality. I hope to achieve this by subtle overpainting with transparent oil paints. I'm curious if it works as imagined. Through the varnish cracks have become visible immediately. The painting already experienced some shocks since spring 2017. I'll try to hide those cracks a bit. Practice makes perfect, so I keep on learning by doing! But I definitely want to start soon with a new detailed painting and this one blocks me. It keeps me trapped, but basically I'm already happy with it and all the statements are already included. That's why I'll finish it now. It later gets a frame that represents a broken terrarium.

Dakota snaking around, analyzing everything!🐍💕 The world outside the box is strange and frightening. Just one look and then quickly back to the hide! 😅

Dakota in the dark!☻
The hide and seek game must be possible!🙄 The more safety a terrarium suggests to the animal, the freer it moves.😉 Don't force it to be openly on display. Let it make its own decisions.🐍 That's how it gets really interesting. My corn snake Dakota feels safe between branches and foliage. My leopard geckos also have some thin branches vertically in the terrarium, in addition to roots on the ground and caves in the back wall.

I just felt like changing the sky.