I have had both as pets over the years a Ball Python and a feeder Rat. The ball python was something that I wanted from the time I was a really young boy. I remember riding my bike up to the pet shop for what seemed like every day for the entire summer break. Fascinated by nature and eager to learn what I could about the creatures of the world to the likes I have never seen. Coral you can stare at for hours and never get bored with sea anemone and clown fish; long before anyone knew the name Nemo. I was Drawn towards the creatures of the swamp way in the back corner; the smell of peat and moist soil sparked curiosity inside of me. I was always intrigued by amphibians. How much they change from a tadpole to a frog is creepy (I like creepy). Most of all at the end of the isle past all the lizards and turtles were the snakes. The burmise Python was amazing; with the hypnotizing camouflage patterns on its scaly skin drawing you in as it moved in a rotating coil it was huge and so majestic.
I had grown closer to the pet shop owner over the first few weeks of the summer so he asked me if I wanted to see him feed it. He explained to me (mostly because I asked a million questions) that there is a big difference between a snake eating in nature and feeding a snake in captivity. There was no way I would ever get a burmise python but a Ball Python is kind of like a miniature version of one so that is what i wanted since that day. Fast forward a decade or so and i am finally at a point in my life I can have a snake of my own so i get one. At this time I had moved into a giant Victorian house that needed some work and some friends of mine and I fixed it up while we lived there as a rental agreement. I used to go to the pet store in town and pick up feeder mice for the snake once a week.
One of my housemates thought it would be a nice gesture to get me a month's worth or more of feeder mice at one time and brought them home in a bird cage. I got home from work late that day and came home to a bird cage hanging in my room. Naturally I was puzzled but i was tired so I went to sleep. In the morning my housemate asked me if I liked my gift. I laughed and said I don't get it. An empty bird cage? What's that all about? His eyes got all big and he giggled the feeder mice must have escaped. So we had some feeder mice running around the giant house. Late that same week I was talking to my pet shop guy about the escapees and he told me that if I had a Rat that the mice would just move out because they will not stay in an environment where there is a Rat. It was a full grown feeder rat that had actually killed a red tail boa that it was supposed to be lunch for. I thought that was one cool story so I got him. After I brought Him home I didn't notice any mice after that, whether it was the rat or the time the snake escaped and was missing for two days I'll never know.
I had grown closer to the pet shop owner over the first few weeks of the summer so he asked me if I wanted to see him feed it. He explained to me (mostly because I asked a million questions) that there is a big difference between a snake eating in nature and feeding a snake in captivity. There was no way I would ever get a burmise python but a Ball Python is kind of like a miniature version of one so that is what i wanted since that day. Fast forward a decade or so and i am finally at a point in my life I can have a snake of my own so i get one. At this time I had moved into a giant Victorian house that needed some work and some friends of mine and I fixed it up while we lived there as a rental agreement. I used to go to the pet store in town and pick up feeder mice for the snake once a week.
One of my housemates thought it would be a nice gesture to get me a month's worth or more of feeder mice at one time and brought them home in a bird cage. I got home from work late that day and came home to a bird cage hanging in my room. Naturally I was puzzled but i was tired so I went to sleep. In the morning my housemate asked me if I liked my gift. I laughed and said I don't get it. An empty bird cage? What's that all about? His eyes got all big and he giggled the feeder mice must have escaped. So we had some feeder mice running around the giant house. Late that same week I was talking to my pet shop guy about the escapees and he told me that if I had a Rat that the mice would just move out because they will not stay in an environment where there is a Rat. It was a full grown feeder rat that had actually killed a red tail boa that it was supposed to be lunch for. I thought that was one cool story so I got him. After I brought Him home I didn't notice any mice after that, whether it was the rat or the time the snake escaped and was missing for two days I'll never know.
