When I held a friend’s snake and spent ten minutes talking to him about how to care for it, I felt certain that I was ready to own one. However, I made a massive misjudgement of how specialised these animals are and ended up putting myself, and the snake, in danger. A little learning is a dangerous thing.
I had kept horses and rodents all my life. As a consequence, I knew a great deal about them and how to care for them, and I frequently gave advice to friends who were thinking of buying their own rodent pet, or who was having trouble with an existing one.
I went over to visit my sister at her new boyfriend, Neil’s, house, and was excited to see that he kept snakes. He had three, in varying sizes, all in separate tanks. He told me that he had kept snakes for the last ten years and that he wasn’t very interested in other types of pets. He got one snake out to show me and I was fascinated. It was so beautiful and warm to hold around my neck. When Neil realised how much I was enjoying playing with the snake, he casually suggested that I get one for myself. I told him that I liked the idea but that I hadn’t ever kept a reptile as a pet before. He reassured me that it snakes were easy to keep and proceeded to give me a quick lecture on his routines with them.
I left my sister and Neil at his house and walked back home. All I could think about was getting a pet snake. I kept imagining myself with my very own snake hooked around my neck as I watched television in the evening. Neil had told me how to look after them, so I was pretty confident I had learned enough. I searched the classified adverts in the local paper to see if anyone was trying to rehome a snake. I was in luck; someone in the next town on from me had a royal python that he could no longer keep. I rang the number immediately and arranged to go and visit the snake the following morning.
The next day I rang the vet and explained about the snake’s lack of appetite and about his strange habit of watching me as I moved around my bedroom. I told the vet that I was worried the snake was sick, and asked if he could do something about it. The vet gently told me that he was very worried; he said that snake’s exhibit this behaviour when they are deciding whether or not they could eat a person, and that he was probably ignoring his food as he was starving himself ready for a bigger meal. The vet also added that this might be the reason that the last owner wanted to get rid of it.
I felt like such a fool for rushing out and getting a pet without learning about the species properly. I had asked Neil for some information and, having spent ten minutes finding out about snakes, I was convinced that I knew enough to own one. In the end I gave the snake to a reptile expert; I simply didn’t have the knowledge or experience to care for such an exotic pet. Learning just a little about them had turned out to be more dangerous than learning nothing at all.
