Pets on the Road

Tres with our Children's Python

One of the joys and challenges of being on the road is having pets on the road. Many people avoid bringing pets on the road due to the added inconvenience and cost. But, my family is very attached to our furry and scaly friends, so they had to come along.

“Scaly?”, you question. Yes, we are even different from most people in our choice of pets. We have four snakes living with us in our RV. I had always wanted to have a snake ever since freshman biology with Mr. Riedford at Mt. Vernon High School. Most other students avoided his collection of pythons, but I was one of the few who always sat on the snake side of the room, and handled one of the them whenever I got the chance. But my parents were disgusted by snakes and refused to let my have one. Then when I moved out the responsibilities of adulthood pushed the thought of snakes from my mind. But, there is something about becoming a parent that lets you tap back into the dreams of youth. So, two years ago I finally bought my first snake, a Children's python named Phoenix. Later, we acquired three corn snakes. Much to my husband's astonishment, all four of the kids love the snakes as much as me.

The first challenge of snakes on the road was their housing arrangement. Their usual glass aquariums were completely unfit for the road. So, I drilled holes into the sides of clear plastic bins, and I keep the bins securely closed with bungee cords. Not the most aesthetically pleasing, but it is functional, and the snakes don't seem to mind. Then, to save space, we stack the snakes' bins on top of a set of small plastic drawers. So the kids' room has a tower of snakes!

Tower of Snakes!

The next challenge is temperature control. Snakes are cold blooded, and can neither warm nor cool themselves. Different species have a different range of acceptable temperatures. My Children's python is from a tropical region of Australia, so he needs extra heat. A heat lamp on top of his terrarium works quite well, even with the plastic terrarium. The corn snakes are from more temperate regions and so are comfortable at standard room temperature. But when you travel in August, overheating your snakes is an more pressing concern. The day I left home, it was forecasted to reach 106. I knew my cat and my children could just pant or sweat, but I worried about frying the snakes. So, I left my home at 3:30 in the morning so I could make my drive while it was still a reasonable temperature. Since arriving here, we make sure to always keep the air conditioner running. No dry docking for us with snakes on board.

Finally, we have the challenge of feeding the snakes. In case you didn't know, snakes must eat rats or mice, there is no such thing as snake kibble. At home I keep a large quantity of frozen mice in the deep freeze. On the road, my freezer space is too tight to devote any space to rodent-cicles. So on feeding day, fortunately only every two weeks, I make the trek to the pet store and feed the snakes as soon as I get home. Michigan City has been challenging. The local store had only frozen rats and live mice that they could kill for us. Captive snakes are picky and don't readily switch between types of rodents, so the rats were out. As for the mice, my children had just spent the last few minutes watching the cute little feeder mice run on their wheel, and they begged me to spare the lives of those mice. So then it was off to the next pet store 20 minutes away. Fortunately, they had suitable mice. Hopefully it will be a bit easier in Indy.

We also have our elderly cat along for the ride. She hated the trip up here, but since we have been stationary, she has been pretty happy inside the RV. We knew our hyperactive dog would do poorly on the road, but fortunately my brother and his family are willing to care for her for a long term.

Happy Cat!