A cute article

[The Toecutter]

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/pets-an...rom-house-fire

Pet snake saves family from house fire
Rescued animal returns the favor by warning family when an electric blanket catches fire.

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: A cute article

I want to believe.

[Czechs Mex]

Re: A cute article

I also found a cute article about snakes/pets.



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332913,00.html

[The Toecutter]

Re: A cute article

I also found a cute article about snakes/pets.

If the family wants the dog back after the snake is done with it, I am sure that the zoo could oblige.

I recently fed my corn a baby chick. That is a good snake and deserved that treat(and smelled a bunch of them in Oklahoma and went ape**** in the passenger seat, so I had to stop by and get one. This snake loved the smell of chicken). My corn is fairly intelligent, but not quite to the level of the blacksnake in this article(assuming the article is true); it can open the latches on its enclosure and knows a hand signal for "come here"(and doesn't try to bite my fingers either, and responds with a full belly indicating that it doesn't think my fingers are food), which is quite impressive for a pea-sized dinosaur brain.

Indigo snakes are probably the most intelligent of snakes. They were nearly hunted to extinction for the pet trade, and were widely known in the early 20th century for following their keepers around without need for an enclosure. Cobras and mambas are almost as intelligent as Indigo snakes, but they are venemous and can be very dangerous, but if domesticated, can be allowed to free roam(keeping one of these, even by an experienced herpatologist, is usually not recommended, but there are families that keep them and can handle them without anyone ever getting bitten. Domesticating them is *hard* and has to start at a very early age).

Caimans also make good pets too, apparently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3h2CA001rM

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: A cute article

Is snake upkeep expensive? You know, like, feeding?

[The Toecutter]

Re: A cute article

Is snake upkeep expensive? You know, like, feeding?

That depends upon the snake. A corn snake costs about $8/month to feed if you buy live mice for it, but the cost is reduced dramatically if you buy pre-killed and frozen mice/rats(not all snakes will accept this. My corn is picky and eats only live. It depends on their personality). A former boa used to cost about $15/month to feed. I also have owned garter snakes that would cost roughly $3/month of goldfish and earthworms. There are giant pythons and boids that require pigs and goats, and that can get extremely expensive; a 200+ lb snake could easily cost $2,000+ a year in upkeep, but that is at the extreme end. I've never kept venemous snakes and have no experience with them, but I imagine keeping antivenon on hand, in case of a bite, would not be cheap(a good idea to keep some on hand, even if the venomous snake in question is extremely docile and has never bitten anyone).

Vitamin supplements are also relatively cheap and sometimes necessary, depending upon the snake and its diet.

If a pet snake ever requires the services of a veterinarian, the bills can run into the thousands of dollars, but none of mine had ever needed this.

Enclosures and climate maintenance will probably be your biggest expense(my corn has a 20 gallon tank and uses about $1.00/month of electricity for its heating pad, but a bigger snake, like a 6-10 ft boa, will require substantially more, probably around $10/month in electricity), and even then, a 10 foot boa is probably much cheaper than a dog to keep(under the condition it stays healthy). Just make sure you take care of the animal; a snake in poor health can become extremely expensive to treat.

[marcus]

Re: A cute article

Read the article with a smile... then read the comments and god damn those people are vicious.

IMPOSSIBLE! ANIMALS ARE DUMB! LOL IF YOU BELIEVE IN THIS YOU ALSO BELIEVE IN GOD AND OTHER FAIRY TALES. CYNICISM! RAGE! HATRED! URGH!!!

[Duel]

Re: A cute article

im scared of snakes

[Nixon]

Re: A cute article

I was scared of them too, until I was forced to interact with them more because of my job. They're usually pretty mellow, especially if they're familiar with you. I ended up liking one of the rat snakes so much that I wanted to keep it.

I like the original news story. It's nice reading stuff like that, since most news is depressing.

[162]

Re: A cute article

Wow, that IS cute! Go snake go!

Actually, I believe snakes, like other animals, have empathy.

[Goufunaki]

Re: A cute article

[orius]

Re: A cute article

My corn is fairly intelligent, but not quite to the level of the blacksnake in this article(assuming the article is true);

I don't know how intelligent the snake in question is, it maybe have been just an instinctive fear reaction to seek out its keeper.

Cobras and mambas are almost as intelligent as Indigo snakes, but they are venemous and can be very dangerous, but if domesticated, can be allowed to free roam

I don't know why anyone would want to keep one of them. They are fatally venomous to humans, so I wouldn't want one around. They're probably not agressive unless they actually feel threatened.

Caimans also make good pets too, apparently:

I wonder how many Floridians would agree.

There are giant pythons and boids that require pigs and goats, and that can get extremely expensive; a 200+ lb snake could easily cost $2,000+ a year in upkeep, but that is at the extreme end.

They're also going to be big and heavy, and probably powerful enough to suffocate a human if they feel threatened.

[Cutter De Blanc]

Re: A cute article

This article made me smile. It's like some kinda disney movie, and Long Long saves everyone.

[Fushigi na Renamon]

Re: A cute article

I know nothing about snakes, really, but I'm definitely willing to believe that one saved its owner's life. Sure, they do have pea-sized dinosaur brains, but in every species, even humans, there are always going to be individuals who are smarter or stupider than the rest. I think it's entirely possible.

For some reason, as bizarre as it was, I found an alligator under a kotatsu sort of hilarious. >_>

[Goufunaki]

Re: A cute article