Here is the rule regarding personal pets in our family: A kid must be at least 6 years old because that’s when they start getting a salary and the parents have to ok the animal choice. Well Corra watched Naomi go through mice and gerbils and Garyn go through a few reptiles before landing on a bearded dragon. She decided early on that she wanted a snake. Now something you may not know about my husband is that he loves him a good research project. He dove into pet snake and became an expert.

Ball Python was the snake of choice for many reasons. Since this new member of the family will be with us for the next 20-30 years, Neil agreed to be co-owner.

The snake joined us almost exactly one year ago. Since we are just over a year into Corra and snake ownership, I’ve realized a few things. Snakes are ideal for kids who love to name things and change those names regularly. We aren’t sure on gender so we went with male because that’s what Corra wanted. Our snake has gone by: Jared, Hunter, Chocolate Chip Cookie, Triple C, Cookie Hunter, Dumbledore, and three others that I lost track of. I just asked for the current moniker…he is now Arthur. I’m certain it has nothing to do with the fact we are watching “Quest for Camelot.”
Snakes are ideal pets for kids who may or may not lose interest. Arthur could care less if anyone handles him. Neil likes holding him so he is handled enough to be tame and friendly, but Arthur won’t pine away with loneliness if Corra doesn’t look at him for weeks.

Snakes are ideal because they don’t need to be fed everyday but when they do eat it’s very exciting. He started eating various sizes of frozen mice and is now onto rats. Eventually he’ll get big enough to eat grown rats, but now he’s still on babies. Arthur has a really cool strike and feeding time is fun to watch. Snakes really are fascinating.

Another interesting thing is when he sheds. I’ve got some nice snake skins on our nature shelf, but unfortunately no good pictures. When we notice he is starting a shed, Neil has to make sure his tank stays really humid to allow the old scales to slough off well. This last one wasn’t great and he’s still working off skin.

You might notice that Coco is in her pjs in all of these pictures. Usually snake time is early in the morning before anyone else is up.

As much as I joke about how she loses interest, she does love him. Choosing a snake and learning to become a snake handling expert is definitely in keeping with how she lives life. She is her own person and a crazy assortment of weird and awesome, drama and cuddles. Luckily I love snakes too and am looking forward to adopting him when Corra goes off to college or on whatever adventure takes her away from home. We might come up with a new name, though.