what I know

This is what I have learned since Nessie moved in with me.

Arafura Filesnakes are not pretty, at least not until you have lived with one for a very short time. 'The face only a mother could love' is how someone described Nessie when she was first seen... I love her face. It is saggy, she has cheeks you would love to pinch and she appears to be wearing a perpetual grin. She has the longest tounge I have seen on a snake yet and surprisingly, it appears to be split almost all the way up it's length. Of course, I haven't asked her to open wide and say 'ahh', but unlike my other snakes that clearly have forks, Nessie obviously has chopsticks.

When Nessie arrived and I opened the container she was freighted in, I was surprised to see she appeared much smaller than I had thought she would be. Arafura's can stretch, lots. It is as though the whole body is made of toneless jelly. The skin wobbles, the face wiggles and everything else is saggy. Even in the tank, she still appears wibbly. It is the most wonderful cute sight.

Her skin is like a small sharks, rough to the touch, but not sharp. They have a very good grip just by using their file shaped scales alone and to pick her up out of the water for tank cleaning is very easy as she does not slip and slide away from you as a fish would do. She is very even tempered (must be that smile) and has not gone out of her way to avoid being taken out of the tank, nor has she attempted to bite me.

Her swimming is ungainly. I had read pages about how agile they are underwater. I am yet to see this. Nessie appears to find swimming very difficult and does not move like an eel or seasnake, rather, she looks like a landsnake having problems moving against a high wind. This doesn't stop her getting about, it just makes you want to stick your hands in the tank and help her.

She moves best when anchored against something and can instead use her muscles against the anchor point. This she does for most of the daylight hours. Anchoring in amongst the roots of her driftwood, stretching slowly to the water surface to take a breath and then zipping rapidly back down into her hiding spot. The contrast between the slow creep to the surface and the speedy retraction is astounding and leaves people blinking. It is almost impossible to imagine a snake so clumsy looking, capable of such speed. It is easy to see the wild in the snake in these movements as she warily surfaces, slowly, so as not to attract attention to herself and looking out for predators and then rapidly speeds backwards out of harms way. Interestingly, I can move about when she is doing this, without any bad reaction from her. It certainly appears that she does not view me as a predator.

Her tank is full of driftwood, rocks and reeds and I was surprised to see she doesn't really make an effort to hide herself from sideways view. You cannot see her from the top of the tank, she always makes sure she is sheltered under something. However, she does not appear to be worried about shelter from the side. This makes for wonderful viewing and I am pleased, as I did expect to be keeping a snake that no-one could see, therefore did not believe I had.

I have not seen her feed yet, although I know she is doing so. She has a voracious appetite and will take a fish nightly. Once she has settled in well, I will try leaving the nightlights on and attempt to peek in on her.

For all the food she has taken, I have seen no sign of fecal matter at all. Pages I have read inform me that the digestive system is so good, there are no solids, only liquids. This I can believe, as although I had read that, I was still expecting to see some small form of solids. (Note to those so inclined - If you want to dispose of a body, truly dispose of it, forget acid, I recommend feeding it to Arafura Filesnakes.)

Of course, with no sign of solids to indicate that she has fouled the tank, I have to be super careful at this stage with my testing, as I would hate to have a toxic bloom and be unaware and therefore, unable to deal with the situation and possibly end up with a sick snake.