lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Oct 18, 2021 21:31:52 GMT -5
Oh, and just for fun: shown below is my latest ball python egg incubation time lapse video (Clutch #16-2021). Video has audio (to make it less droll).
Nothing fancy (by my standards) produced in this clutch.
I don't put 'high value' clutches in the time lapse incubator because the temps are more shaky then my standard incubators.
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Post by perkins17 on Oct 18, 2021 22:14:02 GMT -5
With Halloween upcoming: Photo #170  Ha! Cool! Good idea! |
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CLErocks
spending too much on rocks
Member since October 2021
Posts: 342
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Post by CLErocks on Oct 19, 2021 2:45:26 GMT -5
Do you ever heat the stones to make them more pleasant to the snake? Just curious…really excellent pics! Thanks for sharing?
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Oct 19, 2021 5:24:39 GMT -5
Do you ever heat the stones to make them more pleasant to the snake? Just curious…really excellent pics! Thanks for sharing? Snakes are cold-blooded so absorb heat from their environment. My snake rooms are a stable 80F year round and every enclosure has a hot spot of aprox. 88F. Excluding the winter: the stones are not cold enough to drain enough body heat from the snake for it to notice before I finish my photo session. In the winter I will place the stones in the rooms a few days beforehand to let their temperatures stabilize with the ambient levels of the rooms. If I did want to heat the stones I would use one of the calibrated hot spots in the enclosures to heat the stones to 88F. Something to keep in mind is that human skin temperature is usually around 91F (varies based on conditions), so the stones won't feel warm to us, but, will to the snake.  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Oct 20, 2021 5:02:46 GMT -5
Photo #173  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
|
Post by lordsorril on Oct 21, 2021 19:33:44 GMT -5
Photo #174  Utah Wonderstone: I had previously finished a larger piece (Photo #10-all rotary), however, I was eager to try some smaller pieces in my vibe tumbler in an attempt to improve my results. Even with lots of pre-rounded smalls: the vibe was too aggressive and I had to switch back to my rotaries (AOx+Plastic Pellets) to undo the damage and smooth them out again (weeks). The sheer amount of pores in the stone created a mottled polish again...so, for all my effort: there was no improvement to my technique. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Oct 22, 2021 21:50:32 GMT -5
Photo #175  This photo came out a little off-balance. I was hoping to get the snake to form a 'U' facing the camera between the rutilated quartz and the chevron amethyst. Unfortunately all the photos of my target pose were out of focus and/or the snake turned to look in the opposite direction. I sold this snake prior to reviewing the photos...so I'm out of luck for a reshoot.. |
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 22, 2021 23:24:05 GMT -5
Photo #175 This photo came out a little off-balance. I was hoping to get the snake to form a 'U' facing the camera between the rutilated quartz and the chevron amethyst. Unfortunately all the photos of my target pose were out of focus and/or the snake turned to look in the opposite direction. I sold this snake prior to reviewing the photos...so I'm out of luck for a reshoot.. If you want snakes to do what you want - and give you a smiley face picture, I hear you just have to look them in the eyes and give them a kiss!  Although, you should be careful if their eyes start looking like this:   |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Oct 25, 2021 9:27:14 GMT -5
Photo #176  Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan, this was my pilot piece for polish...it was much more difficult than I anticipated...seems like varied hardness between the striations in the stone. The stress fracture in the center was my fault due to insufficient moisture in the vibe from a piece of sandstone rapidly deteriorating. I had to switch from small gravel based to large ceramic-based media in the vibe for this one. Sharp eyes might see some flecks of pyrite in there. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Oct 26, 2021 17:04:53 GMT -5
So I was at my local Home Depot and noticed they had bags of cheap landscaping rocks with some barely noticeable 'banding' in them (image shown below).  They look like sandstone. Wasn't sure if they would tumble/polish...for a couple bucks: I didn't mind the experiment. Note: Pay no mind to my painfully swollen hand in the photo above (compliments of my 3rd C-19 vaccine shot). Photo #177  Tumbled and vibed they come out with a 'wet look', but, no sheen. I'm still pleased with the final outcome. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Oct 28, 2021 21:11:04 GMT -5
Photo #178  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Oct 29, 2021 21:02:52 GMT -5
Photo #179  Interesting pattern on this snake...based on the parents I can take a good guess at her genetics: she may be valuable to one of my projects in a few years. |
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Post by holajonathan on Oct 30, 2021 9:45:21 GMT -5
So I was at my local Home Depot and noticed they had bags of cheap landscaping rocks with some barely noticeable 'banding' in them (image shown below). They look like sandstone. Wasn't sure if they would tumble/polish...for a couple bucks: I didn't mind the experiment. Note: Pay no mind to my painfully swollen hand in the photo above (compliments of my 3rd C-19 vaccine shot). Photo #177 Tumbled and vibed they come out with a 'wet look', but, no sheen. I'm still pleased with the final outcome. I bought a bag of large quartz landscaping rocks a few years ago and they tumbled great! I think I paid $8 for 30 or 40 pounds of them. They were called something like Mexican beach rocks as I recall. Who knows where they came from, but they were basically chunks of orange and yellowish quartz. I'd say your tumble was successful in terms of how much they improved. They would make pretty awful landscaping rocks as purchased, but pretty amazing as tumbled. |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Oct 31, 2021 5:18:51 GMT -5
Photo #180  |
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 31, 2021 6:47:32 GMT -5
Photo #180 That's a pretty cool shot with the snake's head right next to the rock...shaped like a snake's head! |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Nov 1, 2021 6:05:30 GMT -5
That's a pretty cool shot with the snake's head right next to the rock...shaped like a snake's head! I didn't even notice until you mentioned it! |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Nov 1, 2021 6:06:36 GMT -5
Photo #181  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Nov 3, 2021 17:19:53 GMT -5
Photo #182  |
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lordsorril
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since April 2020
Posts: 937
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Post by lordsorril on Nov 4, 2021 20:11:57 GMT -5
Here is my final ball python time lapse egg incubation video for 2021, tough one to end on:
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Nov 4, 2021 20:32:35 GMT -5
Sad that only 3 survived.  |
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