Slithering things

The husband and I decided to get the spawn a pet.  But dogs and cats are too mainstream.  And she finds them boring.

So we decided to go for something else.  I know as much about ball pythons as I do about bettas, and ball pythons have the benefit of being somewhat more cuddly than fish.

We broached the idea with the spawn.  She decided it would do.

We went to the local pet store and picked one out.  She was ecstatic, and fell in love immediately.  She named him Slither.

We got the tank all set up, and Slither was happy.

She was a very attentive owner.  Things were going swimmingly.

Until, about three weeks after we got him, he died.

The spawn was devastated.  The husband and I decided to get her another one, but we would go with an actual breeder, with a captive-bred, healthy animal.

And that's what we did.  I bought a hatchling female Mojave morph, and she was shipped to a small local reptile store.  In the meantime, I cleaned out the tank to get rid of any germs or bacteria or whatever killed Slither.

We got the call that our hatchling had gotten in, and went to pick her up.

We were expecting something the age and size of Slither.

What we got was very different.

Here's a size comparison.  Here's Slither, the day after we got him.

And here's the new one, the day we got her.

So we weren't expecting that.

What had happened was, when I bought her online, it turns out the company actually didn't have any female Mojaves.  So they had to track one down, and this is the youngest they could find.

I mean, it's a good thing.  She was probably just under a year old, judging by her size.  Yearlings are usually hardier, healthier, and less fragile than hatchlings.  They're also more expensive, and we got her for the price of a hatchling.

The company lost money on the sale.  So it's cool.  It was just unexpected.

The spawn loves her, and named her Karana.

We've had her about 8-ish months, and she's great.  The spawn is so happy with her pet.

She's a wonderful pet owner, very responsible.  Of course, I do most of the caretaking, but she's right there, helping.  When I clean the tank, she's there, holding the bag for me to scoop the old substrate into.  She sprays down the tank every day (we live in the desert, so we need to spray the tank every day to keep the humidity up).  She helps me defrost the mouse each week.

Karana is a very eager eater.  As soon as she realizes she's in her feeder bin, she's up and looking for food.  And she'll strike at anything warm enough and close enough.

So the spawn just stays back and watches during that.  And when Karana is done, she'll help me put her back in her tank.

It's awesome.  And it's great when we go to get more frozen mice, we almost always take Karana with us, and the spawn likes to have Karana around her neck while we're walking through the store.  Without fail, someone talks about how unique it is to see a 5-year-old girl with a pet snake.

I remember once, the cashier looked at her and said, "You like snakes?  Why do you like snakes?"

The spawn said, "They're cute."

The cashier said, "You know, most little girls think puppies and kitties are cute."

The spawn shrugged.  "Yeah, they're cute too.  But Karana is the cutest."

So it's adorable.  I love how into animal care she's gotten.