Building a Relationship

The most important thing you can do with any pet, no matter what kind, is to build a relationship. Most people seem to have this general opinion that snakes are an animal that you can not build a relationship with. It's almost as though most people believe snakes are like fish; mindless, thoughtless, lumps of flesh you feed and put on display. How wrong those people are!

Like people, cats, and dogs, every individual snake has its own unique personality. They have likes, dislikes, fears, and favorite foods. They recognize their handlers and learn to either like or dislike them. They have body language that a person can learn to read if they are willing to be open minded enough to listen. Despite what the common belief is, a person can build a relationship with a snake.

For Shiva and me, I took a route highly discouraged by most experienced herpetologists. Shiva came everywhere with me when the weather allowed for it, or if I had appropriate heat pads with me. She would coil up in my hair like a scrunchy and rest her head either on the top of my ear or right in the middle of my head. Sometimes she would coil around my neck like a necklace and observe from there. Other times she would slide herself into my purse and peek out at the surroundings. I even took her with me to my "The Fantastic in East Asia" class on movie day.

Shiva came with me when I visited my parents for Christmas that year. I blasted the heat in the car and she perched on the rear-view mirror and looked out the window at the world as it flew by. The whole time she was calm and relaxed. I set up a small Sterilitte container at my parent's house with under tank heating (UTH) for the weekend. Most snake people told me that things such as this would stress out my snake, yet Shiva even ate while we were visiting my family, while my whole family watched even (stressed snakes are known to refuse food).

Needless to say, I admit that while my actions to take Shiva everywhere with me may have been foolish, may have caused her some potentially unnecessary stress, Shiva seemed the better for it. She was less jumpy, less scared, and she saw the world from the safety of my arms and therefore was not phased by going outdoors or seeing new people. It became obvious as the months passed that Shiva grew to trust me. Ultimately, I believe that the difference between a socialized animal and a sheltered animal is the same, no matter what species.

(Photo: Shiva visiting me at work [brought in by my ex], coiled around my Ipod and checking out the security cameras)