We like to let our daughters have pets. They learn about responsibility, about work, and even about grief. Our oldest daughter had two cute rats. (Yes, pet rats can be cute.) Our second daughter just recently lost two English Budgies. Recently all of our daughters have been talking about the pets they want to get now.
One of the things our daughters love about traveling is watching Animal Planet. We don't have cable so about the only time they get to watching hours of TV on animals is when we're traveling.
A couple days ago our girls were watching Austin Stevens move a dangerous snake. Our youngest was fascinated.
Today while our oldest was buying a dress, our youngest was checking out the toy animals. She found a clothe snake. She decided she wanted to buy it. It was $4.95. She named it Violet. For the next hour as we walked around she pretended to feed it. She talked about how it got scared when there were loud noises. She kept it save. She told us what it was feeling and thinking.
If this goes on for another day or two we may end up with a snake this June. Does anyone have suggestions on a good breed for a pet?
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Technorati tags: travel, animal planet, pet, snake
7 comments:
Corn snakes are often inexpensive, easy to keep, and actually quite beautiful. They don't get very large.
It is funny that I'm answering this post. I worked at pet stores as a kid, and even then, I would NOT touch the snakes. I loved the lizards, though.
Good luck with that!
Natalie--whose family is about to get suckered into adopting a new puppy...
Thank you for the suggestion.
I half expect my six year old to change her mind when confronted with the reality of a snake. We'll see.
Good luck with the puppy.
Baby corn snakes are a good deal more aggressive and likely to bite than older corn snakes. If handled at all regularly, adult corn snakes are very tame and easy to handle.
Ball pythons are very nice and give you the 'big snake' look without actually getting very large.
You do have to feed these critters mice, you know. I'm not sure your six-year-old's enthusiasm will outlast watching cute dead (or worse, cute living) mice be fed to a snake.
Rachel
We have a Rosy Boa. They don't get very big (3 feet tops) and if taken care of properly, are very mild and typically will not bite.
However, snakes require A LOT of work. Different breeds have very specific cage and feeding requirements. It's easy to do something wrong without realizing it and end up with a bitey snake.
In other words, do LOTS of research before you commit. :)
I have a pet snake myself. His name is Tango and he is an albino striped corn snake. This is my first pet snake i have ever had. I've had him for nearly 2 years now. If you are getting a pet snake the best snake to start out with is defently a corn snake. Also you can get some fantastic colours in this breed. Tango is a bright tangy orange wit bright red stripes from his head to his tail. His has a shiney pearl coloured stomach. He is now 5foot this may seem huge but he isn't actually that big.
I hope this is helpful.
My girlfriend is a teacher and her 1st grade class had a corn snake for awhile. Here's some pics if you'd like to check them out for yourself:
kevinludlow.com
the full URL is:
http://www.kevinludlow.com/index.php?module=Photos&op=album&albumID=340
Kevin that snake looks very similar to our daughter's cornsnake.
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