Stirling the Snake - - Ball Python

 Not really sure when I began liking the slithery scaly friends of the wild, but I know when I was very young I would walk over two miles (by myself at the age of 6 or 7) to the department store (TG&Y) and I would stare at the snakes in the pet department.  The pet supplies were in the back, as well as the snakes, hampsters, turtles and birds.  I don't remember there being very many lizards in the store. I try really hard to remember sometimes because I often wonder why they didn't carry lizards. Maybe there wasn't much of a demand for them; the average house in Oklahoma had a few breeds or species of lizards hanging around. We had snakes too, but only the garden variety and usually the roosters kept them in their place.  I would walk to the store and literally practice staring by eye-balling a Ball python. I was very upset to find out that they didn't actually beat me as often as they did, but snakes don't have the ability to blink! Here I thought I was just  a lousy staring person; turns out I was really pretty good at it.

    So, today, as I have in the past, I decided that I needed a new Ball python. I don't often wake up thinking that I do need a new friend, but when it happens I am apt to just go out and get whatever it is that my head and/or heart is thinking would be a good remedy to fix whatever the voice inside me is ranting about.  "You really like snakes Jude, you know you do."  It's right, that voice I mean, I do like snakes. I love them as a matter of fact. I've always been a fan, and wow, look at the calendar, it's been almost 25 years since I've actually owned a Ball python, Dang.  Yes, it was time.

    I have Bob. Bob is a Leopard gecko.  He's really cute fun to handle, and he's named for Robert the Bruce who, by the way, fought in Stirling, Scotland.  The name Stirling was not an accident. I have Bob and NOW I have Stirling. I suppose I could have named the snake Wallace, but I have a guitar by that name, so it was going to be Stirling or Falkirk, and I liked Stirling.  Bob was my first reptile in a long while. I think I was really more into horses and also letting the kids have their pets. I had the dogs, the cats, and just sort of put the lizards and snakes on the back burner until I realized this morning that when I do move Bob will need something to stare at and watch.  Geckos are solo animals, you don't want to put two in the same cage, but putting something across from him to give him something to do makes sense. I get Bob out and hold/play with him, but he's not likely to cuddle and snakes do cuddle - - or snuggle, or sort of grip onto you and use you for a scratching post anyway. I like that.

    I'm that girl who has never been afraid to grab a random toad and run with it to chase the boys or make the other prissy girls scream. That's me. I can stick my hand into a hole and pull out a kingsnake, corn snake or garden snake. You won't catch me trying to wrangle a rattler, nope, Momma didn't raise an idiot. I know those boundaries. I was the girl who went to the Zoo to see the Anaconda. I was the girl who took her python to class and waited to see how long it took someone to figure out why my hoodie was moving.  Later, I brought millipedes, snakes, guinea pigs, toads, and even spiders to school when I taught - - those were the days I liked. Gone are the days you can do that now. Too many wussy parents out there freaking out because the teacher put a big furry spider on top of their kid's head! (I only did that a few times, and the kid wanted it, so get over it parent!)

    I love Stirling already. I wasn't even sure if the store I went to would have a Ball. I thought I may have to run down to the reptile sanctuary (we have them) and adopt one. I lucked out! If I really wanted to go overboard, and I may go overboard next month, I would have picked up the Blue-Tongued Skink! Oh, My, GOSH...I love those lizards. It will happen. I'm pretty sure of it, but I do have to move out first. I need more room in the house. Right now we have six lizards I think, now the snake, and tanks are big. They take up space. When I get my own place soon my living area will have a couple of good sized tanks for Bob and Stirling, and yes, I'll probably get the Blue Tongued Skink - - probably name it Falkirk.  I mean, I could name it Lewis; I like that Isle. 

    Stirling was wrapped around my wrist while I was trying to type this blog, and it became apparent that if I wanted to stop misspelling words I'd need to put him/her back into the tank. It's not impossible to do, but you really want me to be more word-accurate. Some of the concoctions I came up with were a bit....well, not even words.  I think what I appreciate about snakes, that is to say, over most other animals, is that they are absolutely different from one another. You can breed the stuffings out of the Ball pythons and you'll never get two with the same markings. It's like tigers, zebra, giraffes, really special if you ask me. I like how some of the "spots" on a Ball resemble alien heads; have you noticed? It's really rather cool. They're not scary. They're not slimey, they don't bite (they can bite) and they don't eat you. Balls don't constrict, they hug. I won't be allowing him around my neck anytime soon, but they don't squeeze the life out of their prey like a constrictor does.

    Oh, and you may ask yourself (or me) what I feed Stirling.  He/she will eat dead frozen mice but I'll defrost and warm them up before feeding. They eat one good sized "fuzzy" right now, and as they grow they'll need two or a small mouse.  Over time they eat larger rodents, but again, because the domestication process has changed for reptiles over the last 25 years (thankful) I don't have to feel live animals anymore. NOPE....all frozen, all dead, all not named and potential pets.  I can't do that. I didn't like dropping a live animal into the cage....it was sad. Made me cry a little. Stirling ate Thursday, so she/he won't eat again until next Thursday. I'll keep about 10 in the fridge so if you come by and see a little container marked "Artic Mice" you may not want to open it if you can't handle seeing dead mice staring back at you - - now that I think about it, staring down a dead mouse would be just as effective as staring down a live snake - - I'd lose that battle.

Photo Credit: Me