Snakes

My eight-year-old son wants a snake. A snake! In my house! I have to say mom is freaking out just a little bit (ok, maybe a little more than a little bit). He has actually wanted one for awhile now but we've put it off so far but are now starting to talk more seriously about it.

Being me, I have done a lot of online research to find out which snakes are best for beginners - most docile and easy to care for. What I have found are corn snakes, milk snakes, and ball pythons are said to be best for beginners with corn snakes seeming to come in first place in my opinion.

I took a ride to the local pet store this past weekend to check them out in person. They had these tiny corn snake babies about the size of a pencil. They were really cute. Then they showed me what they ate. They took me to an aquarium full of live mice with baby mice sleeping or feeding under them. Little pink mice with no fur, little limbs flailing about - really cute. This is what our snake would eat! Pinkies! They recommend you buy them frozen and just thaw one out as you need it. This squeamish mom is supposed to keep frozen baby mice in her freezer and then stick one in a bowl of water to thaw the little baby out when it is feeding time? Can you hear me saying "ewwwww" from here?

Oh yeah, corn snakes are known to be escape artists! A loose snake in my house - something to look forward to.

We're even planning on going to a snake show next weekend to find out more. Creepy!

My son's school library has a snake that eats fish. I think I could handle a fish eating snake over a mouse eating snake but from my research, it looks like this snake would be a garter snake and I've read that they can be an ok beginner snake but they are not as docile and can have more of a musk scent. I'm not sure a garter snake would be a good choice for my son but I am going to d more research today and dig up some more information.

I can't believe I am considering having a snake in my house.