It's a bit of a story:
One, she's 12 and has been pestering me for a smart phone. Who needs a smart phone at the age of 12? I did just fine without a phone until I was 18 years old. She makes it sound like she's the only person on the planet 12 years old and older without a smart phone and that her life will cease without one. Seriously, suicide was mentioned during this period of drama. Granted, her favorite pet (her baby yellow footed tortoise) had just died after the day I finally grounded her from her electronics (a Kindle Fire) because she wouldn't let the phone issue go and wasn't showing gratitude for the electronics she already had. Of course her poor tortoise had to pass away the morning after the night I'd grounded her. She'd had a very difficult week. Life as a preteen is hard...(no sarcasm there).
(Way too much of a distraction- why start a bad habit so young?)
Second, she'd just started school again and her science teacher has a few reptilian pets, one a ball python named Archimedies ("Archie" for short). My daughter fell in love with him. When I picked her up from school, Archie was the first thing she talked about when she hopped into the front seat of the car. (Weeks later and it still is.) It was great to see her smiling again. She talked about his adorable beady eyes, his cute little hole in his smile, and his curiosity. Naturally she wanted to learn more about Archie and ball pythons. She witnessed Archie during feeding time and surprisingly she thought it was "cool" and not gross and eerie. (More power to her. I always thought it was creepy watching a snake squeeze a rodent to death and slowly gulp it down. "Cool" aren't the words I'd use.)
Beady eyes and a hole in her smile- Okay, it's "kind of" cute...much cuter than the picture of the eyes below
Third, her passion are dogs and wolves, but her father sadly has severe allergies to dogs, even hypoallergenic dogs. We tested this and took him to a West Highland White Terrier breeder who had a new litter 0f 6 week old puppies. My husband played with them, put their faces up to his and within a few short minutes he started to react. The cornea of his eyes were bulging past his pupils. He was bloodshot and his eyes were watering perfusely and were itching like crazy. Asthma settles in too. So there goes our dream for a cute little pooch. Bree will have to wait until adulthood when she gets a place of her own to have a pup.
"An allergic reaction very similar to my husband's around dogs (and any other fury or feathered creature)"
Naturally we as animal lovers, especially my daughter BreeAnna and I, have had to look into other pet possibilities. We've had fish, birds (also found out some of us are allergic to birds), aquatic frogs, hermit crabs, leopard geckos and tortoises. I'm sure I'm missing something, but long story short, reptiles and amphibians have become our passion. We no longer have fish or hermit crabs, but we do love our leopard geckos and tortoises.
With my daughter's new found love, Archie, she started begging me for a ball python. I told her, "maybe".
"Mom, maybe always means no." I told her that wasn't true, but she's right; it usually equates to "no".
She kept doing research and teaching me what she learned about ball pythons. "MOM, they're not scary; they're not mean. They're docile and they have the cutest little faces." I just remember horror stories of rattlesnakes growing up appearing in my grandmother's sock drawer and I remember my dad killing snakes because there were several venomous herps in his yard and he didn't want us to get harmed. My daughter came home with more and more information about ball pythons: "They are pretty chill, mom. They're slow and they like to hang out on your arm or around your neck. They're easy to take care of. You only have to feed them once a week to every other week. They're soft on their belly. They ball up and hide their head when they're scared."
"Mom, maybe always means no." I told her that wasn't true, but she's right; it usually equates to "no".
She was so passionate about getting a ball python. She searched up ball pythons for sale on the internet and found her match she said. She pleaded. Every once in a while the phone issue would pop up again which really stressed me out though I try to remain cool and collected. Inside I become unravelled though. So I calmly said, "Phone or ball python" to see what she'd say...
"If I were a normal teenager I'd say phone, but...."
She couldn't quite bring herself to complete the sentence, but she ended up saying, "ball python and then a phone". I told her she had to choose one, though she may get neither. I just wanted to know which was more important to her. The ball python came on top. If ball python came out on top, it must be important to her because she was so persistent with getting a phone.
OR 
Another important detail is that BreeAnna wants to become a veterinarian when she grows up. She's allergic to cats and rodents, but not dogs. I told her she would be working mostly with cats and dogs, but hopefully she would grow out of her cat allergies like I did. I had terrible allergies and asthma around cats, but when I turned 13, I didn't react as badly as I had and now as an adult I don't react at all anymore. I really hope this is the case for her. Because I know she absolutely loves animals and I'm positive she's going to pursue a career in animal sciences, I want to provide her with opportunities to work with animals hands on. I don't want her to be just book smart.
And so I began my research on ball pythons. I submerged myself in ball python literature and YouTube videos. I also read professional peer reviewed journal articles on ball pythons and husbandry. The more I learned, the more comfortable I became, though I haven't had any personal encounters with a ball python yet. I've held some garter snakes and a gopher snake when I was around BreeAnna's age, but not really since then. They felt kinda "cool" I remember, but I still want to crawl out of my skin when I see a picture of a snake. The more I learned about ball pythons and watched videos of them with their owners, I started getting more comfortable with the idea of my daughter having a pet ball python. I say pet ball python because some of the other snakes still give me the "heebie jeebees".
Too true. I read about snakes and I dreamt about snakes.
From the title, you know I already gave in. And we're not just getting one, but I'm now getting one too! They come in the mail around 10:30 in the morning (Tuesday). Cages and set ups are ready and waiting. My daughter is ecstatic; I'm excited, yet nervous. I have no idea how I'll react in person. I'm generally a pretty brave person and as a kid I wanted to work as a wild life veterinarian. I became a nurse instead because I realized I wasn't as brave as I should be to work with animals. I was a bit jumpy when animals were unpredictable and would "strike". It was the initial element of surprise that would make me jump, but then I'd usually be fine. It was mostly reptiles paradoxically that would make me jump. My daughter can take a bite calmly; she's born to work with animals.
Anyway, the real test is tomorrow...or over the next few days. The first couple of days we will let the pythons get used to their new homes before we handle them much. We don't want to stress them out prematurely. Wish me luck. Bree doesn't need luck.
Here are the soon to be new members of our family:
"Steve Merlin Banana Cream Pie Eshelsnake Eshelman"
(Bree's snake- a Coral Glow Calico ball python)
AND
No name yet (My Python- a Pastel ball python)
Would love some suggestions for a name for this little lady. Please leave suggestions in the comments, pretty please.
This is the beginning of Project Herpetology. We'll have a blog, website and YouTube channel about herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians) in the wild and in captivity, husbandry, along with our own family stories and adventures with our "herps" and others. We'll have some twists and fun additions so be sure to follow us. :) We'll be including several printouts, such as husbandry guides, kid worksheets, coloring pages, puzzles, craft directions and more. Also included will be videos on making reptile and amphibian origami and other crafts.
AND if you're interested in purchasing a ball python, Gregory Exotics is where we are getting ours. He's amazing to work with."What started out as a father trying to bond with his son and share some favorite childhood interests, quickly rekindled an obsession for reptiles that was once thought lost." As he learned about ball pythons, he fell in love with their temperament, size, and variety in colors. Along the rode he began breeding his own varieties. Check out his website. He's a great guy and he's super helpful! https://www.gregoryexotics.com/
Gregory from GregoryExotics.com
