My ball python is striking at her food, but not eating. Help?!?
This is not terribly uncommon behavior. It is defensive in nature. The snake is uncomfortable and is defending its meal. Thaw the feeder, warm it up a bit more than normal, offer it and then leave your Ball in the dark with its meal. It should go ahead and eat when it feels secure. Two of my boas exhibit this same behavior. Given your description, it is pretty obvious you are feeding pre-killed or F/T. You are to be commended for this. It is also normal for them to refuse food this time of year. Keep in mind, that a snake can go several months without eating with no harm if it is otherwise healthy. Edit: While you will find many that advocate feeding outside the home enclosure, this is not good practice. It is a pervasive myth that has not worked itself out of the hobby yet. Why would you feed outside the enclosure and then have to handle the snake within minutes of feeding when you are not supposed to handle for two days after feeding? Also, a snake can stay on "feeding mode" for days after a feeding. It is very easy to slip up and get a bite during this time. As the snake gets larger, it becomes more cumbersome to feed outside the enclosure. If you use loose substrate like coco-bark, care fresh or aspen, simply feed on a paper plate, a square of cardboard or some other similar object to prevent ingestion of the bedding.
My baby is 8.5 months old and is on a milk strike. What do I do?
The pediatrician does not believe I am producing enough milk (baby is not gaining enough weight and waking often at night to nurse) and suggested I offer him some formula. He was pretty convinced my baby would take a sippy or bottle if he was hungry enough. That has not happened. I even stayed at my mom's and let my husband have him all weekend. My husband tried all types of sippy cups, bottles, cups without lids, cups with straws. He resorted to spoon feeding him to ensure he was getting liquids. After two days of this, I caved, and nursed him. My baby will not even allow anything to his lips other then the breast. What do I do? I am ready to wean. I want to be able to give him one bottle or cup a day. Please help.
I'm taking a 6 month leave from my Finance job to go and travel across Europe and Asia and embark on a journey of self-discovery. Any advice?
Pack 30% less than you would normally. Ask yourself if you could carry your bag up 5 flights of stairs or rush a mile quickly with stairs to catch a bus or train. Do not plan your itinerary too much beyond basic flights. Let the journey unfold and be free to spontaneously change your route or time based on new information or desires. Do not rush from destination to destination, moving every day or two. It is exhausting and you spend more time moving than living in the moment and soaking up new culture and experiences. Bring a sturdy, keyless combination pad lock. Cheap padlocks are easy to pick so research lock pick videos on YouTube before you buy. Cheap keyed or TSA locks are even easier to pick. . Bring a multi tool, some duct tape, zip ties, ziplock freezer bags and thin rope. You can fix or jury rig most anything with those. Buy a 5 liter paksafe travel safe to lock up your electronics and money belt and leave it locked in your room. Don't carry valuables in public and don't trust security in dorm rooms or wooden lockers in hostels. Bring a stuff sack to carry dirty laundry. Bring a small First Aid kit. Add extra cut band aids/small bandages.Strike up a conversation with every person you see who looks like a fellow traveler. You will find it is significantly easier to meet people this way than back hone. I once was an extremely introverted person with heavy social anxiety and I was still very comfortable meeting people while traveling; that led to much personal growth for me and significantly more travel.
Nasty roommate. i'd really like to let her have it.?
Being mean may not be the right way to approach the situation. Perhaps being firm is more precise. It seems your roomie has some serious personal issues that she isn't willing to deal with; hygiene being one of them. Since you're in a housing contract, I would suggest that if she won't change her ways that you contact the powers that be and tell them you need to have an immediate change made due to the reasons listed above. Either she has to move or you do because eventually you're not going to be able to be firm or polite; you're going to blow your lid and that'll be difficult for you and others involved. Sometimes you may have to be harsh: "Look, I wasn't raised in a pig sty. If you want to live and act like a pig and roll in the mud fine, find somewhere else to roll in the mud, not here. Tell her too that you find her personal hygiene habits totally and completely disgusting. But, you need to think too, there have to be some deep rooted emotional issues for her to be the way she is.
My parents won't let my boyfriend into my room?
Me and my boyfriend have been going out for a year and a half he's 17 and I'm 17 in three months! He's been over to the house loads and my parents trust him! But we're only ever allowed in the sitting room and even then we have zero privacy as my little siblings keep coming in because they've no where to go! My mam knows we've had sex but I've assured her that I have enough sense not to try anything with everyone down stairs! My sisters boyfriend is coming over the same day and we can't all sit in the sitting room so it makes sense for my boyfriend to come up stairs but they won't let us! I've agreed to having the door open for them to check on us and for them to even ring his mam! How do I convince them?
My husband never assists me with cooking or cleaning. Instead, he's always playing video games. He told me not to complain about it. What can I do?
I remember when I was married, my husband used to come home and go directly to the TV or the newspaper and not even look in the directions of the kitchen. We both work full time and my traveling distance to work was an hour each way, while his distance was 20 minutes top.I got tired of coming home to find him in the living room instead of starting dinner or helping the boys with their homework. One day I came home and did exactly what he normally did. I sat in the living room and starting watching the Brady Bunch and reading the papers. He looked at me funny and said, what’s wrong? I said nothing’s wrong, why you ask? He said, well what are we having for dinner? I told him he had a 40 minutes head start on dinner so he better start or we are not eating today. I did this for a week before he got the message.Another time, he said he didn't see what the big deal about cooking and cleaning was, that it was not really “work”. So for a month, I went on strike. I got up got dressed and went to work, came home and stayed in my sewing room until bed time. I told him since it was so easy, let's see him take a shot at it. I gave him a copy of my schedule.5:30am - Get breakfast ready, fix and pack lunches for 4, let the dog out6:00am - Wake the kids, help the younger ones get dress, Let the dog in, get ready for work7:00am - Drop the kids at the before and after-school care. Continue to work5:00pm - Leave work, get kids from the before and after-school care by 6:30pm. Drop hubby’s uniform off at the dry cleaner.6:30pm - Cook dinner, help kids with homework, do a load of laundry, let the dog out/in, clean the kitchen after dinner, return calls, check homework or school notes.8:00pm - Get kids ready for bed, find clothes for everyone to wear the next day, fold and put laundry away. Let the dog out/in for the nightWhat took me 20 minutes took him an hour. The kids were always out of clean clothes. He never remembered to take his uniform to the cleaners. I lost 10 lb because his cooking was so bad. He was always late getting the kids to the before and after-school program, which meant he had to take them to school. After that month, we shared everything and had more family time together.Sometimes, you just have to let them see what it is that we mothers do!
If I have clinical depression and spend 2 years not meeting anybody, not doing anything fun, locked up in my room thinking, not studying or pursuing any hobbies, etc., is that 2 years of wasted time? Is there no silver lining in that whole experience with depression?
Hello.I understand that depression can feel like a waste. It can feel like agony, like hell, like a vise around your head or chest, like a million demons focused on beating the crap out of your self esteem . . . and that's just getting started.I have two main things to share with you.First of all, it's not your imagination. Yes, depression is a complete waste of time. There are many ways you can weigh a life, and unfortunately, depression robs you of much of what life can give you. Things, very important things, like making meaningful friendships, reaching out to help others, and sharing who you are, become impossible goals.Here's the second thing. You have to find a way to do the impossible anyway. Depression makes the task unbearable to contemplate. So jump past the contemplation and just do. You've got to. No one's awarding a prize at the end of your life for the most pain suffered, nor is anyone grading you on a curve according to what the rest of the class is achieving. It sucks, it's not in any way fair, and it's totally freeing, once you allow it to be. Time to make a friend. Time to leave the little room. Go grab a bite to eat and strike up a conversation with the people who make your food. Or . . . go hang out at a bookstore and ask for a recommendation for an author you already know and love. Or . . . make a real friend online.Only you hold the key to the lock on your door.Good luck.