...when I love them this much. They have some personality. Nothing is cuter than when they yawn though.


And, I finally found something to explain to people when I tell them I love ball pythons. Misconceptions answered.

Give me birds anyday!

I love the exotics. Reptiles, fish and of course birds. They're all so unique and adorable in their own way. I used to have a female ball python named Medusa. She was a good friend. I used to make her a princess hat out of pink construction paper. She was fun.

My grandmother hated snakes and unintentionally taught her descendants to be afraid of them. But nonetheless I've come to appreciate them somewhat and have touched a couple of pet snakes, and would like to get better acquainted with snakes in a safe setting. It doesn't help though that a lot of the local wild snakes are deadly dangerous - I've had some close encounters with rattlesnakes, including one that shook his rattle at me. People literally heard me scream from a block away when that happened.

I can't stand rattlesnakes. We got some around here too. Mean creatures. I think ball pythons are the best snakes. They're not wiggly, bitey or anything. All they do is plop down. And they come in all sorts of pretty colors and patterns.

My granddaughter LOVES snakes so I have gotten used to them through her. I have a sweet black snake that I meet every once in a while out in my garden.

Snakes in gardens............ ohhhhhhhhh........
glad I live in cold old Wales.....
At least I wont meet one of those!

That was exactly how i thought Pythons were like (except for the rough skin.)

Medusa was a lovely pet. She was such a pet rock. Just plopped down and sat in the sun. I would take her outside with me.

Here's Medusa:

Your ball python is gorgeous!

I like reptiles and think they're endlessly fascinating to watch and feed and care for, etc. I used to have a veiled chameleon that I bought as a hatchling and I loved watching him tiny fruit flies when he was a teensy thing. They start out a pale green color and his first color changing ability was when he was hunting his fruit flies, he'd suddenly be covered in dark polka dots all over. He grew to adult size, but he never got the full coloration as he got sick with a respiratory illness he couldn't combat.

Now, while I like reptiles, I can't abide bugs... at all. But I managed well enough with his crickets and stuff and when he was sick, I made him cricket soup for weeks. It involved catching individual crickets from my stash, pulling off their hind legs, then squishing out their insides so you could get rid of the exoskeleton. Then mix that with a few drops of water and some calcium powder (I think? It was a long time ago, it was a medicinal thing the herp vet gave me to treat the illness) and then suck it all up in an eye dropper and feed that to an uninterested and unwilling chameleon 1-2 times a day.

Needless to say, once he passed away from the illness, I never got another reptile because honestly, I think I have PTSD from cricket soup.

Also, as fascinating as they are, I found that I do need some sort of emotional something between me and my pets that I just couldn't get from a reptile. I realize that others do have emotionally satisfying relationships with their reptiles, I'm just not one of those people. But man, they sure are interesting and fun to look at.