Snakes as Pets ????

Greetings once again hivers 😁 My blog today will be about this extraordinary pet snake. She's not the average cuddly pet that most people are familiar with. Karma is her name, jumbo rats are her game. She is a Colombian Red Tailed Boa Constrictor.

Never in a million years would I have thought ....some day I will live with and care for a 9 ft snake, but here I am with her draped across me while I drive!!

Its all due to my husband who has an avid fascination with snakes. In our area, we are surrounded by diamondback rattlesnakes. My husband has been bit by one, which earned him a 3 day hospital stay. It was a bit crazy because the hospital did not have any anti venon the day he got bit, and it had to be couriered in. His arm swelled up 3x the normal size but he talks about the whole experience very nonchalantly. One might think that the fascination would abrubtly come to an end after this. Not a chance though, the fascination is alive and kicking.

Unlike the rattlesnake, Karma is non venomous (as are all constrictors). Here, she is quite content to lay on the dash of the car soaking up the sun. She is quite an easy keeper and doesn't require a lot of maintenance.

This photo was taken a few years ago on a hot summer day. I would like to think she appreciated a rare chance to feel the earth underneath her 👍

Her main food is jumbo rats that we purchase at the pet store. They are sold frozen and we thaw them before we feed them to her. The next set of pics are at feeding time.

Using what i call rat danglers (tongs), the rat is dangled in front of her.

She is quick to strike, it all happens so fast!

I didn't get the angle I wanted to show her swallowing the rat. That's karma for ya hahaha