Chronicles of a new snake owner.

[Artemis]

So now I understand what everyone means when they say that Ball Pythons are a good starter snake if you can deal with the leaving them alone in the beginning. So I did that, and it paid off. Omega is eating f/t rat fuzzies now, and I had him probed today, its official, he's a boy- I can continue to call myself psychic . First shed ended up being ok. Most of it came off in one piece and he shed his head beautifully. So far Im feeling really good.

Now I can relax a little bit that I know he is doing well, and I am taking good care of him. So in comes the handling, and thats going really well. Im slowly learning to trust that he wont bite me, and he is slowly learning to trust me, too I think.

Questions now are more in depth- how much is too much with the handling? Can my snake actually hear me? (I talk to it like I do the cats, and my husband insists it cant hear me- I think it does, and its learning my voice =)

It is insane how even the other shoppers at the LPS react to the snake. Its amazing how curious the little kids were, wanting to touch or hold him, and how conversely freaked out the older ladies were. One poor woman standing next to me nearly had a heart attack when her hubby pointed out that I was holding a snake. She jumped straight into a nearby display. I tried really hard not to laugh- she hadn't even noticed it until he said something! The probing was quite the adventure, but the snake didnt seem to mind too much.

Anyways- if anyone can tackle my questions about the deeper subtleties of having a "pet" snake, that would be awesome. Im hoping hubby is wrong and it can hear me.

And a big big thanks to everyone who has helped me get this far. All the good advice has really been utilized, and paid off. I appreciate it. I'll post some new pics of Omega soon. He is looking awesome all freshly shed and fat =)

Artemis