my pet snake...
Growing up, my family was always an animal-loving, pet-loving family. We had some really terrific dogs, cats and kittens, hamsters, gerbils, and a turtle. But I never had a pet of my very own…
Until my friend Tony came to my house after school one day bearing gifts. He generously presented me with a gardener snake he’d caught, and wanted me to have, with some live insect food that went along with it.
What was a girl to do? Thank him, and accept the gift, right? So I did.
Tony was a pretty cool friend actually. He had several snakes of his own, one big one that had terrifyingly free reign (at least I always thought so) in his bedroom. It slept on his bed! I guess he wanted to share his love of reptiles.
I never imagined myself a proud pet owner of a snake, but I turned out to be. The little fella lived in a glass aquarium on my dresser. I made sure he had plenty of food (recruited one of my brothers to help me out with that part). I got good at locating him in his home (he was good at hiding, camouflage and all), and I’d wish him “good-night” at the end of the day.
But one day after school I couldn’t find him… I looked and looked. Took off the lid and poked around. Nothing. Nothing but snake skin… No snake. Naturally I began to panic and informed the household of the situation. We searched for a long while but to no avail.
A few days went by and still no Harvey (that’s what I called him.) I figured he probably got out of the house and was living it up in the real world. (Which I’d contemplated sending him off into anyway, had I not had to report every so often to Tony about my pet’s well being.)
One day after I’d given up my pet for lost, I heard my younger brother scream a scream I’d never heard him scream before. The poor kid (about 5 years old at the time) had been sitting peacefully on the toilet, when all of a sudden Harvey popped up out of the bathroom vent, inches away.
It looked like Harvey had been living in the ventilation system.
I ended up giving Harvey back to Tony before we moved overseas. He told me he was going to release him back into the wild (there were a lot of woods in the area of upstate NY where we lived). Being a temporary snake owner did one thing for me anyway. My heart rate goes into overdrive whenever I see a spider, but I've never been afraid of snakes.
Until my friend Tony came to my house after school one day bearing gifts. He generously presented me with a gardener snake he’d caught, and wanted me to have, with some live insect food that went along with it.
What was a girl to do? Thank him, and accept the gift, right? So I did.
Tony was a pretty cool friend actually. He had several snakes of his own, one big one that had terrifyingly free reign (at least I always thought so) in his bedroom. It slept on his bed! I guess he wanted to share his love of reptiles.
I never imagined myself a proud pet owner of a snake, but I turned out to be. The little fella lived in a glass aquarium on my dresser. I made sure he had plenty of food (recruited one of my brothers to help me out with that part). I got good at locating him in his home (he was good at hiding, camouflage and all), and I’d wish him “good-night” at the end of the day.
But one day after school I couldn’t find him… I looked and looked. Took off the lid and poked around. Nothing. Nothing but snake skin… No snake. Naturally I began to panic and informed the household of the situation. We searched for a long while but to no avail.
A few days went by and still no Harvey (that’s what I called him.) I figured he probably got out of the house and was living it up in the real world. (Which I’d contemplated sending him off into anyway, had I not had to report every so often to Tony about my pet’s well being.)
One day after I’d given up my pet for lost, I heard my younger brother scream a scream I’d never heard him scream before. The poor kid (about 5 years old at the time) had been sitting peacefully on the toilet, when all of a sudden Harvey popped up out of the bathroom vent, inches away.
It looked like Harvey had been living in the ventilation system.
I ended up giving Harvey back to Tony before we moved overseas. He told me he was going to release him back into the wild (there were a lot of woods in the area of upstate NY where we lived). Being a temporary snake owner did one thing for me anyway. My heart rate goes into overdrive whenever I see a spider, but I've never been afraid of snakes.
Total Comments 7
Comments
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You just made me look under my desk, for snakes! lol I can appreciate them from a safe distance, or behind glass (the more the better). My friend had a pet snake, for a day, until he found out it was a copperhead. If i found a snake in the ventilation system I think someone would have to call 911!Posted 07-02-2008 at 06:40 AM by arguy1973
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I admire people who have no fear of snakes.... really, I do..because I'm "askeered" of them..My sister once killed and cut a blacksnake (clean down the middle0 found in our attic swallowing bird eggs from a nest we had been watching...eeewwww!!!Posted 07-03-2008 at 06:09 AM by Miss Blue
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LOL this reminded me of a male cousin and his facination with pet snakes....I always admired it....from a way long distance!Posted 07-05-2008 at 11:59 AM by aiangel_writer
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I've never had an urge to acquire another pet snake...
But not being afraid (of the non-dangerous kind anyway) comes in handy when your son runs screaming into the house after seeing a garter in the backyard and I was able to call him back, calm him down, pick it up and show him how interesting it was... But as far as pets go, dogs are what I love.Posted 07-08-2008 at 09:10 AM by emeraldsky
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I got into more trouble playing around with snakes as an adolescent and early teen than anything else. But now that's a story of it's own. Thanks for bringing back some fun memories.Posted 07-18-2008 at 04:38 PM by Nomadicus
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you made me think of our two pet snakes, stanley and stanley. They were both ball pythons, and very friendly. We miss them..they both died last summer.Posted 06-09-2009 at 03:09 PM by poconoproud
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ball pythons
Well, I woke up early this morning for some reason, and decided to do laundry so I wouldn't have to worry about it after work today when I see something that looks like a piece of string or something I looked, and looked weird so I throw something at it it didn't move, so I reach to pick it up and it was a baby snake. I panicked called 911, wildlife, and they told me to call pest control.
I left to go get mothballs, and come back ready to get him out of the house. I trap it in my unused fish tank. Not even 30 mis later I see a second one, and now I know the noise I've been hearing in the house is not mice it's a snake and her babies.Posted 10-25-2021 at 06:06 AM by Pampam13
