1) No one takes your ice cream. Because it’s resting on a bag of frozen rats.
2) You have a use for all of those college text books.
.
The more weighty the tome, the better. I recommend something other than the Twilight series. Not only are they rather lightweight in a literary sense, trade paperbacks aren’t heavy enough to hold a rosy boa in its cage.
.
3) Overnight visitors are rare. Buy one snake, and suddenly all the out-of-town family is piling into a hotel. And they invite you to swim in the pool. Double score!
4) All the neighborhood kids think that you’re the coolest parent in the entire world. What kid doesn’t want to share a room with a python?
5) Your bad-itude level increases exponentially. People will not mess with you when they hear the words “Yeah, I’ve got to go home and feed my boa.” There is no need to add that said boa is five inches long.
BIG, SCARY BOA! Do not be messing with me.
There may be a few disadvantages, too.
1) Cages can’t be kept too near a window. Not because of drafts, but because their red night bulbs give the neighbors (and the cops) the wrong idea.
2) It’s extra sad to open the freezer and realize the only thing you have to eat is a bag of rats.
3) It’s hard to find a house-sitter.
4) Reptiles have no respect for the saying “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
5) People who live in the same house don’t appreciate nearly drinking a mouse that is thawing in their favorite cup. There might be an entire blog post on this particular topic. Sorry, sweetie! I’ll try to remember to quit using your cup!
Becoming Cliche 
Good lord – that boa can lift books at that size? Yikes. Eh hmm, just what size will it reach? Have you thought of the size of book you’ll need then… ?
He’s full size now. But all he needs is a quarter-inch of wiggle room, and he’d be gone. We weigh the odds in our favor. That’s one snake I don’t want to have to catch.
Just what is hard about catching him? Fast mover or how he might react?
Both. He’s kind of a nasty one, which is really unusual for his species.
Can I start calling you Roxanne now?
You can, but you have to say it like Sting does.
Oh, I can totally do that. ROOOOOOOOOOOOOXAAAAAAAAAAANNE!
That thing will eat a Labradoodle!
And maybe it should. Maybe.
HAHA Yep 😀
awesome 🙂 you would definitely have been the coolest parent-of-a-friend when I was a kid! My mom was (is) firmly against snakes. Geeze, you get bitten by one rattler as a child, and suddenly you’re all “eww, snakes, I don’t like them”. BAH. And all I wanted was a corn snake.
Oh, your poor mom!
I do recommend corn snakes. They’re easy going and easy to keep!
My uncle earned his ‘snake bite treatment’ scouts badge from that particular adventure 😛
There’s a silver lining to every venom-laden cloud!
Cute, I enjoyed that. Frozen rats in your freezer
, how funny is that?
My youngest wants a gecko. And that might be happening in the near future.
What kind of gecko? Great beginner lizards are leopard geckos and crested geckos. The one to avoid is the Tokay gecko.
We are avoiding new world geckos at all costs. They have suckers on their feet that make them quick.
So this thing about thawing rats in a cup? Hope you have a post on that soon – sounds really interesting!
Thanks for the tip about keeping people away from ice cream.
I have absolutely no desire to have a reptile in the house, but I wouldn’t stop anyone else and yes I would invite you for ice cream.
Being a full-fledged member of Slytherin, I’m sure that I would be able to housesit for you anytime. Although I do prefer not to find rodents in my cups.
I was sooooo thinking this was a good idea. Until you mentioned the thawing rat in a cup. Then I threw up a little in my mouth.
Just remember to never drink something at my house that you didn’t pour, and you’ll be safe.
I thought that was a frat house rule… ah, growing up ain’t easy… 😉
Now we must hear about the cup…lol.
I will work on that one. It’s a great story!
your snake is beautiful 🙂
Thank you! She’s a wonderful little snake.
My husband adores reptiles. Me – not so much. But I’m allergic to everything furry, so the reptiles find their way in, but rarely out. We’ve had a series of turtles and tortoises. They seem to escape or get some weird turtle infection or something, but by then I’m ready to kill dh because he likes to collect the animals but like a six-year-old keeps “forgetting” to clean up after them. But other than the messy cages (which he swears THIS time he’ll do better with, unlike the other 5,000 times) I admit I like turtles okay. They’re kind of cute, and like me, they’re slow. I identify with that.
Right now Thing Two (the youngest who is obsessed as daddy with pets) has a pet hermit crab. He creeps me out but she adores him and carries his cage with her everywhere. Yayyy.
LOL! I always wanted a little snake – but ended up having snake food as pets instead. The red light part cracked me up. 🙂
“2) It’s extra sad to open the freezer and realize the only thing you have to eat is a bag of rats.” Yeah, Heather. I hate it when that happens! 🙂
See? I knew I wasn’t the only one that happens to.