Pets, pt. 3
My next pets were a pair of wild snakes. The first my friend Phil and I discovered amidst the branches of a small bush in his backyard. This one was not in the best shape; it didn't react much at all when we picked it up and there were a number of spots on it where the scales had been broken. I think that it had suffered some serious bird attacks and wasn't feeling too well, but it revived under my care and I was happy to have another snake! This one was a black rat snake--a close relative to corn snakes, although obviously not as colorful:
Less than two weeks later, a friend of my mom's found a small, quite youthful snake in her basement and gave it to me as well. This snake too was quite tame, and I originally thought it was a gray rat snake, because it looked like this:
It was actually just another black rat snake; apparently their young tend to lose their gray patches as they grow. See if you can tell the difference:
Like night and day, eh? Clearly a 14-year old should have been able to tell the difference! In any case, these two got along quite well in the same cage. Their favorite resting spot was on the tree branch that was braced into opposite corners of the cage to provide a diagonal line. First the adult black would lie down, then the young one would lie down on top, resting its head right on the other's. Too cute! I'm sure mom must have a pic of this somewhere; if we can find one, I'll post it later.
I named the black "Cindy" and the gray "Julia", after two of the many, many women on whom I had had a crush that went thoroughly unrequited. We had no idea if these snakes were female, but who cares, right? They're snakes!
(As a side note, about 2 years later, Julia (the person) and I faced off on "It's Academic", the DC and Baltimore-area high school quiz show. Quite accidentally, our two high schools were matched up and we were on our respective teams. She was as standoffish as she had ever been, so I felt no pang of retroactive remorse in my naming practice.)
When I went off to college, I had to give up Cindy and Julia; I contacted the National Zoo to find out what could be done. Since Cindy was found as an adult in the wild, the herpetologist told me that we could let her go in the wild with no problems. Julia, on the other hand, had spent too much of her development with me, so he was kind enough to take her for the zoo. I have few illusions that he actually kept her, but you never know--she was awfully pretty. The snake, not the person.
Less than two weeks later, a friend of my mom's found a small, quite youthful snake in her basement and gave it to me as well. This snake too was quite tame, and I originally thought it was a gray rat snake, because it looked like this:
It was actually just another black rat snake; apparently their young tend to lose their gray patches as they grow. See if you can tell the difference:
Like night and day, eh? Clearly a 14-year old should have been able to tell the difference! In any case, these two got along quite well in the same cage. Their favorite resting spot was on the tree branch that was braced into opposite corners of the cage to provide a diagonal line. First the adult black would lie down, then the young one would lie down on top, resting its head right on the other's. Too cute! I'm sure mom must have a pic of this somewhere; if we can find one, I'll post it later.
I named the black "Cindy" and the gray "Julia", after two of the many, many women on whom I had had a crush that went thoroughly unrequited. We had no idea if these snakes were female, but who cares, right? They're snakes!
(As a side note, about 2 years later, Julia (the person) and I faced off on "It's Academic", the DC and Baltimore-area high school quiz show. Quite accidentally, our two high schools were matched up and we were on our respective teams. She was as standoffish as she had ever been, so I felt no pang of retroactive remorse in my naming practice.)
When I went off to college, I had to give up Cindy and Julia; I contacted the National Zoo to find out what could be done. Since Cindy was found as an adult in the wild, the herpetologist told me that we could let her go in the wild with no problems. Julia, on the other hand, had spent too much of her development with me, so he was kind enough to take her for the zoo. I have few illusions that he actually kept her, but you never know--she was awfully pretty. The snake, not the person.
posted by bryduck at 11:18 AM
5 Comments:
Rat snake...Reminds me of a certain president.
Don't mean to offend your snake.
I'm sure they both lived happy lives. The one is still at the zoo. I'm sure of it.
Should Slang be worried that if she ever divorces you, you'll start naming snakes after her? Not that she would ever divorce you, of course, but, you know, hypothetically.
SSSSSSSlang. Has a nice ring. If I ever divorce you, I'll be happy to carry on as a snake. However, I'll never divorce you. So there.
:*
How come you didn't mention that Cindy got out of her cage periodically, causing havoc with Good Old Mom till she was located. Then there was the time Mom walked down a hall with stairs going up to the bedrooms - yours being at the head of the stairs) to her right (there being wrought iron rails) & came face to face with Cindy as she tried once again to make her getaway by slithering down the stairs (quite a few of them, actually - she was no small snake!) And we wonder why GOM has a heart condition!!!
Love you!
GOM
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