permanently agressive. . .
Well, it makes me sad to think that my Penny would be agressive towards me, since she hasn't always been a biter. But also, I am not afraid of her. I know she will get some more length and width on her in the coming years, but I will never be afraid to grab her long enough to put her in the feeding box or to take her water dish. Usually it doesn't even give her enough time to musk me (another favorite activity of hers.) And maybe, as a wild captive, that is all the stress I need to put her through.
I don't believe that I should really treat my snakes as "pets" in the traditional sense. When I put Penny back in her cage and she rattles around, moving at every shadow in an "S" position, I am reminded that snakes are not like dogs or cats and that keeping them is a different thing than keeping dogs, or horses, or even rats as companions. I feel guilty almost, because I own snakes for more vanity reasons than I would own a dog; a dog is for companionship, my snakes are in my home because every aspect of them fascinates me. I mean, what a selfish reason to keep a living creature in a Rubbermaid container! (Though it is a nice, big, clean one!) And so, I would rather be tagged once in a while than put this creature through more torture of handling when she doesn't even tolerate it, much less *like* it after months of patient handling on my part. I have other snakes that don't mind being held for infinite amounts of time as far as I can tell. I can be holding my normal corn, go and touch him right on the tip of the snout and he doesn't even flinch. He strolls back into his hide when I put him in his cage, and sticks his neck back out inquisitively, while Penny almost always rattles her tail and bolts as far into the substrate as deep she can get. I've treated them pretty identically thus far. Penny doesn't like my big scary self, and I suppose I can't blame her. I figure the best I can do is to make her captivity as stress-free as possible.
I suppose you could argue that if I "tame" her down now while she's only a yearling, then handling, cleaning, etc would be less stressful in the future for her. Some snakes never do tame down, though. And I think to myself that if people keep cobras, mambas and rattlers without ever just handling them for the sport of it, then I can certainly keep a corn snake that way.
I'm sorry for the long, ranty message, but I've been thinking a lot about this bite, and about herp-keeping in general. (So now everyone must suffer as my thoughts come spewing out here at 4 AM
) Everywhere you turn, it seems, there is someone talking about our right to keep herps being threatened, or someone insisting that it isn't right to keep "wild" creatures captives. Just a couple weeks ago there was a discussion on Kingsnake about whether it is wrong to anthropomorphize snakes that made me think in this way, too. There are many debates circling around the herp community to which I am a very new member with barely a year of actual keeping under my belt. I think snakes are the most wonderful creatures, and I believe that keeping them is an excellent and most important hobby for us to have, because people preserve what they love. As a novice snake keeper, I really just want to do what the snakes would have me do, if they had a say in anything. In my mind, that's the best way to do right by the animals. I guess I would love to hear other people's thoughts on this matter. My mind is always open concerning these critters, as I have relatively little experience. And I'm certainly not suggesting that if anyone has a nippy snake they should leave it alone and never handle it-- or that it's cruel to handle it-- no way! I'm just trying to do right by Penny since she doesn't like me
. Well if anyone took the time to read this, thanks, and sorry so crazy. It's late. . . Mom drugged the turkey. . .
