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zdashamberI've been thinking about getting a corn snake for years, now, and I may move on that soon. Nice thin snake-y critters, come in pretty colors, grow to about 4' over the years... I mentioned this aspiration to my sister and was met with an unexpected "Ew! Why would you want to do that?"
It's a critter. I'm kinda sad to be a monoculture, here, when it comes to vertebrates in my house. It's nifty, it's quiet, it's non-smelly. It's undemanding: if I ignore it, it's still perfectly happy. My house plants? Are succulents. And none of your wimpy sorts, either; I've got an aloe plant that I grew from a 2" tip cut off another aloe plant, rooted in water in a plastic cup on a windowsill... A plastic cup that went bone-dry so that the first roots withered away.
But I mean honestly, snakes just feel nice to hold. "They bite!" No they don't! Corn snakes are like garter snakes! "A garter snake bit me." Yeah, wimpy bites... Besides, it's like mice: you move smoothly and inexorably, and they don't bite you. "The mouse bit me, too." Um. Right. I'd forgotten that. Sorry; er. Still.
So I applied to my parents... "I can't believe [sister] doesn't think it would be cool for me to get a snake!" "A snake? Ick, why would you want that?"
::sigh:: My family are nuts, I tell you. (What happened? I thought they thought it was cool when I brought home the near-perfect 6' snake skin I found in a verge... Had that thing stretched between nails on a board in the garage for years.) (Actually, lest you get a poor impression, my family are cool.)
Maybe they're just less willing to suffer the stink of a scared snake. I mean, in Colorado, there were plenty of nifty little garter snakes, and our cat would occasionally catch them, and by the time they were rescued they were full-on with the "don't eat me! Would you eat something that smelled like this?!" stink. It's like a black plastic bag full of garbage that's been left in the sun for half a day.
My plan is smooth inexorable movements, and patience. No snake will fear me. I am universally loved by the Vertebrata. (And the Formicidae, apparently... You ants get offa my desk!)
In California I haven't seen a single snake in the wild. Damn shame.
It's a critter. I'm kinda sad to be a monoculture, here, when it comes to vertebrates in my house. It's nifty, it's quiet, it's non-smelly. It's undemanding: if I ignore it, it's still perfectly happy. My house plants? Are succulents. And none of your wimpy sorts, either; I've got an aloe plant that I grew from a 2" tip cut off another aloe plant, rooted in water in a plastic cup on a windowsill... A plastic cup that went bone-dry so that the first roots withered away.
But I mean honestly, snakes just feel nice to hold. "They bite!" No they don't! Corn snakes are like garter snakes! "A garter snake bit me." Yeah, wimpy bites... Besides, it's like mice: you move smoothly and inexorably, and they don't bite you. "The mouse bit me, too." Um. Right. I'd forgotten that. Sorry; er. Still.
So I applied to my parents... "I can't believe [sister] doesn't think it would be cool for me to get a snake!" "A snake? Ick, why would you want that?"
::sigh:: My family are nuts, I tell you. (What happened? I thought they thought it was cool when I brought home the near-perfect 6' snake skin I found in a verge... Had that thing stretched between nails on a board in the garage for years.) (Actually, lest you get a poor impression, my family are cool.)
Maybe they're just less willing to suffer the stink of a scared snake. I mean, in Colorado, there were plenty of nifty little garter snakes, and our cat would occasionally catch them, and by the time they were rescued they were full-on with the "don't eat me! Would you eat something that smelled like this?!" stink. It's like a black plastic bag full of garbage that's been left in the sun for half a day.
My plan is smooth inexorable movements, and patience. No snake will fear me. I am universally loved by the Vertebrata. (And the Formicidae, apparently... You ants get offa my desk!)
In California I haven't seen a single snake in the wild. Damn shame.