In February of 2010 I purchased a three month old female ball python named Earth Melody. It was my third year in college and I was living off campus for the first time, alone in a one person apartment. It was awesome to finally move out of those noisy college dorms and have my own bathroom and kitchen. It was also cheaper. In the lease I was not allowed to have any animals in the apartment with the exception of fish, nor could I operate any prostitution rings (what? That's what it said in the terms and conditions I kid you not). Not that I really planned on getting a dog or a cat or any other mammal (including prostitutes). The place was just too small and those animals were expensive to maintain. Around midway through the fall semester, I started seriously considering a pet, and no I wasn't going to get some boring old fish.
What about a reptile? I had always wanted to have a reptile pet, specifically a snake. As a child, I grew up watching Animal Planet and Discovery Channel (Steve Irwin was the BOMB!) and at age 14 I caught my first wild snake at my annual church camp. Yes church camp. Boy did that make the camp counselors thrilled. My mother, who wasn't thrilled either, never ever even considered allowing me to have a pet snake. She was one of those "Ew ew! Snake!" people. So anyway, reptiles, especially snakes, were cheap and easy to care for, and all they did was sit in an enclosure, much like fish. It's not like it was going to break out and wreck the apartment.
So flash forward. I decided to get a ball python from PETCO (yes, I know now that PETCO is the worst place to buy a snake. But I made absolutely sure she was healthy before purchase). Earth was the biggest of the three left in the tank. In mid February I moved her into my apartment and hijinks ensued. First she wouldn't eat for five weeks. Then I found out that the $250 snake tank with all the accessories was a total rip off that was not suitable for a ball python. I ended up getting a $10 dollar plastic tank with holes screwed into the side. It held more heat and humidity than the glass tank.
There were some other problems but I'm not going to spend time explaining them. The next step was socializing my snake. I was fortunate that Earth already had a very docile temperament. She never bit or hissed at me. She didn't have a single aggressive bone in her body. She was overly shy and easily frightened though, and it took a while for her to warm up to her new surroundings. I was told that socializing a snake in getting used to people was very important before they got big and could do some damage.
Fast forward again. It's spring and the weather was warming up. I decided to take Earth Melody out for a walk the first time. This was all very new to her and she nearly constricted my neck in fear. Then she uncoiled and wouldn't stop moving around, her tongue flickering constantly. Periodically, she would turn around and smell my face, as if checking that I was still there, because I was the only familiar scent.
I walked up to the college campus and received a multitude of reactions to my adolescent python. Some people were absolutely fascinated, many people screamed, other people were disgusted and told me straight up, and some simply ignored me, or maybe they didn't notice the snake around my neck. While some people were totally cool with Earth, I was shocked by the prejudice toward me and my snake. Now I totally understand that some people don't like snakes ok? I get that. That's why I kept her around my neck and didn't dangle her in people's faces screaming "Look! I have a snake!" But people seem to think that it's perfectly ok and necessary to vent their distaste of my python to my face. More guys did this than women, (which surprised me) and it was them that also threatened absolute malice on my snake. "If you come near me with that snake I'll cut its head off!" and other nasty shit. Come on, would you say that about someone's dog or cat? Let me mention that Earth was barely two feet long, little more than a pound and, when she was curled up, she could fit into the palm of my hand. She posed no danger to anyone.
One thing really pissed me off, was the use of the word "thing". "Isn't that THING illegal here?" "Is that THING venomous?" "Why would you bring that THING here?" "Why would you keep that THING in your house?" Earth was not a 'thing' she was a living animal.
Another annoying thing that people did was try to scare me. Keep in mind, these people know absolutely nothing about snakes, but think they do. They portray Earth as an unpredictable, bloodthirsty monster that was going to strangle and eat me in my sleep. My own mother was one of those people, which especially bugged me, because, who doesn't want their mother to be supportive of what they like?
Ok let's get some facts straight about snakes:
1. There are only two types of pythons in the world that has been recorded to be maneaters. This is the Anaconda in South America and the Reticulated Python in Thailand. Those snakes usually go after children, and women. Even a full-sized man would be too big to swallow. Though there are many snakes in the world that are powerful enough to kill a man, very few are able to swallow one. Ball pythons get to about 4-5 ft. They do have the strength to strangle someone but and adult can overpower one. A nice trick to removing a constricting python is to bend its tail backward. And there is absolutely no way a ball python can swallow a human.
2. Snakes are hardly unpredictable. Anyone who has knowledge about the behavior of snakes will know that attacks can easily be averted. Dogs and cats are more unpredictable than snakes due to the different thought processes and intelligence levels. It is a fact that more people are attacked and killed by dogs every year than pet snakes. Just every time a snake is involved in an attack they get more media coverage. Point is, you're taking the same risk with either adopting a python or a German Shepard. Every animal has the potential to do damage.
Ok, now that's out of the way, let me flash forward again. It's early into the next fall semester. A cool new group of women moved into the house in front of me and they all loved my snake, and they all loved having parties. One Friday night they had a party and they invited me to come over. They also wanted me to bring my snake. I had never taken my snake to a party and I was curious to see if she could handle it so I brought her along. It was just next door so I could take her back if things got hairy.
To my relief, Earth was completely fine with it and many of the people the people there adored her. But of course there was one guy, like most guys here, that was complete chicken shit. Of course all of his friends mocked him and dared him to hold Earth. He finally gave in to peer pressure and slowly eased Earth into his hands. Then he just had to say it. "Shit I'm never doing this again! Snakes are fuckin evil man! That's why Satan took the form of a snake in the Bible-" and on and on. I snatched Earth back immediately, wanting to slap the shit out of the guy. Ok, just where in the Bible does it say snakes are evil? No wait, you actually believe that stupid little Garden of Eden fairytale? If he wasn't drunk out of his mind at the time I would have rightfully called bullshit.
It's not the first time I've heard this crap. I am very well aware of the Christian mythology regarding snakes as well as others. Just about every presentation on snakes I've seen on television usually did a review of ancient historical attitudes and beliefs toward snakes and then proceed to show how they are utter bullshit. Unfortunately, there many people in the world that still believe that bullshit. So snakes are 'evil' eh? Let me get something straight about 'evil'.
Evil is a subjective term created by humans based on subjective beliefs. Therefore 'evil' cannot apply to the objective natural world
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