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!
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