Jenn
New member
Hi all.
So I have this friend, who I'll call L. I met L during my undergrad and he was a few years younger than me. He's into all sorts of snakes and pretty much any pet you can keep in a tank. He even started up a small feeder business out of his home. Every time I went over, there were always roommates and lots of friends hanging out. The vivs were mostly in his room, and a few out in the living room. All decorated and generally awesome looking.
Fast forward two years. I graduate and move back home for a year. I would often come to town to visit, and my visits usually involved going to his house to say hello and catch up. In hindsight, there was a gradual change. Fewer people, more snakes.
I started graduate school this year and moved back. I didn't see him until a few months ago, though. As soon as I walked in I was really taken aback. Vivs were everywhere. On the kitchen table, the tv was put on the floor and vivs now filled the entertainment center completely. No one was home but him.
He began showing me and a mutual friend I brought over all his new snakes. Most notably a rattle snake. Its viv was in the living room placed on the entertainment center where his tv used to be. There was also some sort of large python in a viv next to it, and the weight was pulling down the shelf. Causing the rattle snake viv to slant downwards. It became a trend as he showed us each new pet that all I seemed to ask was, "is this one venomous, too?" (My snake knowledge only really consists of basic husbandry of corn snakes).
He even had some tarantula looking spiders. He said they live in some tropical ecosystem and in the wild, when they are fully grown, they hunt birds. I'm not sure how many of these new animals have the capacity to kill a human besides the rattle snake. I have visited homes before that kept venomous snakes. In my limited experience, the snakes were always kept in their own room. Their vivs were stacked meticulously, and the owner could only open the viv if it was slid out. The vivs definitely were not placed haphazardly on any open shelf in the entire house.
The biggest red flag to me was when he confided that he had trouble with the rattlesnake. He said, "Cleaning its cage and feeding it is really hard by myself, I've had some close calls." I asked if he was planning on getting rid of it he said "I don't know. I got it from someone who didn't want it anymore." And went on to the next animal.
Sorry for the length, I just wanted to express my concerns in what I believe is a situation that has the potential to get very serious, very quickly.
My question to you all, as people who I gather keep plenty of snakes, and lots of different kinds, is what should I say? What's a proper way to bring up my concerns that don't sound like I'm attacking him? In other words, what is a way someone could talk to you about something like this that would make you want to listen to the concerns, and give them serious thought?
So I have this friend, who I'll call L. I met L during my undergrad and he was a few years younger than me. He's into all sorts of snakes and pretty much any pet you can keep in a tank. He even started up a small feeder business out of his home. Every time I went over, there were always roommates and lots of friends hanging out. The vivs were mostly in his room, and a few out in the living room. All decorated and generally awesome looking.
Fast forward two years. I graduate and move back home for a year. I would often come to town to visit, and my visits usually involved going to his house to say hello and catch up. In hindsight, there was a gradual change. Fewer people, more snakes.
I started graduate school this year and moved back. I didn't see him until a few months ago, though. As soon as I walked in I was really taken aback. Vivs were everywhere. On the kitchen table, the tv was put on the floor and vivs now filled the entertainment center completely. No one was home but him.
He began showing me and a mutual friend I brought over all his new snakes. Most notably a rattle snake. Its viv was in the living room placed on the entertainment center where his tv used to be. There was also some sort of large python in a viv next to it, and the weight was pulling down the shelf. Causing the rattle snake viv to slant downwards. It became a trend as he showed us each new pet that all I seemed to ask was, "is this one venomous, too?" (My snake knowledge only really consists of basic husbandry of corn snakes).
He even had some tarantula looking spiders. He said they live in some tropical ecosystem and in the wild, when they are fully grown, they hunt birds. I'm not sure how many of these new animals have the capacity to kill a human besides the rattle snake. I have visited homes before that kept venomous snakes. In my limited experience, the snakes were always kept in their own room. Their vivs were stacked meticulously, and the owner could only open the viv if it was slid out. The vivs definitely were not placed haphazardly on any open shelf in the entire house.
The biggest red flag to me was when he confided that he had trouble with the rattlesnake. He said, "Cleaning its cage and feeding it is really hard by myself, I've had some close calls." I asked if he was planning on getting rid of it he said "I don't know. I got it from someone who didn't want it anymore." And went on to the next animal.
Sorry for the length, I just wanted to express my concerns in what I believe is a situation that has the potential to get very serious, very quickly.
My question to you all, as people who I gather keep plenty of snakes, and lots of different kinds, is what should I say? What's a proper way to bring up my concerns that don't sound like I'm attacking him? In other words, what is a way someone could talk to you about something like this that would make you want to listen to the concerns, and give them serious thought?
