Pastel butter genetic stripe yellow belly ball python

[Rachel Padgett]

This is Mocha. She is the sweestest snake in the world! She is so gentle and kind! She loves to snuggle and give kisses 💋

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[Zoodulcis]

She is absolutely stunning!  Makes me miss my ball python, gone lo these many years.  Does she like to crawl under clothing and come peaking out of a sleeve or neckline as a joke.  I swear mine had a sense of humor.  Does she truly like crickets?

[Rachel Padgett]

She is a show stopper lol People love her! She loves to be in my shirt! She will either come out the sleve or neck and just chill out. She is such a sweetheart. No she does not eat crickets lol but they had a section for ball pythons so i figured i would show her off 😊 We have 2 others also! Another just Genetic Stripe and a Black Axanthic.

[Zoodulcis]

I don’t know about you, but I find snakes to be extremely calming.  I have always loved them.  I must have the gene, because although my parents loathed snakes, my cousin became a herpetologist.  So it’s in there somewhere.  I am an expert in the human-animal bond and one of the most fun studies I ran across in the course of my doctoral dissertation was the beneficial effects of a pet snake on physiological stress response.  If you are interested I will post the citation in this forum. You all seem like the sort of folks that might resonate with this.

[Rachel Padgett]

Yes that would be awesome! I was terrified of snakes before we got our girls! They truely changed how i feel about them!

[Zoodulcis]

You got it!  Please look for the citation in a post that I will supply early tomorrow morning.  And kudos to you for getting over any fear of snakes.  I never had one, which makes me kinda weird.  To prove that point, I also saw a study where there was an attractive woodland scene that was highly rated by viewers as to pleasing aesthetic qualities.  When a figure of a snake, so disguised by the grasses and underbrush of the same scene that almost none of it was visible, but a bit was, was photoshopped in study participants rated the scene as much less pleasing, although they did not know why.  Wait, what!  So your reaction to ophidians is/was much more normal than mine!

[Zoodulcis]

Good morning, here is the citation I promised.  Unfortunately, this article is very hard to come by for people outside academia, which I was reminded of this morning.  In short, the researcher found that when a study participant was asked to ‘just relax’ his cardiovascular response went up, indicating stress.  But when asked to stroke his pet snake of 25 years ‘Beaux’, a common boa constrictor to whom he was extremely attached, his heart rate and blood pressure went down.  This old study is one of the few that takes the human-animal bond between herp owners and their pets seriously, unfortunately.  It is interesting that it points out what so many of us already know, that attachment to our animals yields all kinds of personal benefits.  The citation is:

“RM and Beaux: Reductions in Cardiac Activity in Response to a Pet Snake” by Timothy Eddy, The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, September 1996. Volume 9, page 184.  Even if you never read this article, knowing waht it says makes for a good conversation topic at your next cocktail party or bar-b-que!

[Rachel Padgett]

Mocha is not a girl lol We found a sperm plug in his tank! His name is now Bahama! He is my cuddle bug! He loves to get in my shirt and lay on my bare skin. He LOVES to go on car rides. He is by far the sweetest snake ever. He’s my gentleman!

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[Zoodulcis]

Sounds like since spring is in the air, Bahama is ISO a lady friend 😆

[Rachel Padgett]

Nope nope nope! Lol no ladies for him! I don’t want to breed him and it take his sweetness away. Lol People are always stopping me when I take him out asking if I would ever breed him. I just can’t bring myself to do it. 😏 I want him to always be my sweet boy!

[Zoodulcis]

That’s hilarious!! I can understand that, though. You said when you take him out. Does he go shopping with you?

[Rachel Padgett]

When the weather is nice yes! I take him where I can. I’ve been kicked out of many places because of him. But the same places allow people to bring dogs. It makes no sense to me. Oh well! Not my rules! But yes I do take him shopping when I can and he LOVES it!

[Zoodulcis]

Having been a professional dog trainer for obedience, and search and rescue, I can say without prejudice that I would rather sit on a park bench with a well-mannered snake than a barky dog any day. But since one of the things I studied briefly for my doctoral dissertation was human instinctive and trained responses to certain forms of animal life, I understand the restrictions some venues have for certain animals. I disagree with it, but I understand the apparent need, from their point of view. On the flip side, I know people who have a pathological fear of bunnies and turkeys! I think the only thing to do is to frequent the venues that allow the snake, and give them your business when you can. And educate the public whenever possible.

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