A Snakey Thanksgiving (D/U No no!)

[MedusasOwl]

My Mom and Brother came down for Thanksgiving this year from CO, as it was both a holiday and my birthday so as a gift I didn't have to travel anywhere, lol. It was their first time seeing the snakes, and I have to say... SO proud of Mom.

She said "no promises!" and has been very squeemish about the whole thing, but after meeting them in person she pet them and even all but held Ma-tsu. So proud! She was impressed with how nice they felt, not at all slimey, and thought Gomez felt very nice on her feet. She also said she was surprised at how really denim blue Ma-tsu is, as the flash on my camera tends to wash her out to more of a grey. I need to work on that photography wise.

Sadly Falkor was in blue, so we mostly let him be, no pics. And Mom insisted no pics of her as did Karen, so mostly it's all me and Chewie (my "little" brother. When the heck did he get over 6ft!) He loved them! Sharing my critters with my fam? Best birthday gift ever.

"Wake up, Ma-tsu! We have company!"



Here's Chewie chilling with Gomez.





Gomez loves hats, lol.





Given Chewie's size, he and I are a great size reference for Ma-tsu I think! I'm about 5'7 and he's 6' something. Great guy that he is, he's given me permission to put these pics up in the Blue Gorgon photo gallery soon as I get that organized! Beauties are GOOD sized colubrids!





These two I just think are sweet.





Ma-tsu hogging the camera. "No, don't look at him, look at MEE!"



Also, Irwin opted to play Ninja Burger with us.







So, yeah, that about sums it up! There were more snakey cuddles than that, but that's all the pictures I got of it. It was a good week. Hopefully someday we'll live a lot closer.

[frankykeno]

Wonderful pics Sheree! I'm glad you are a great week and they enjoyed meeting your scale kids too.

[tigerlily]

That's great. It looks like everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I think my favorite is of your brother holding Mat-su, with her tail wrapped around his face. It's wonderful that your mom was open to the experience, and sounds like she enjoyed it as well. I know I love sharing my herps to any and all who are interested, but it's just more special with family!

[JLC]

It sounds like a totally awesome holiday!! And great pics, too!!!

[Snakeman]

haha unfortunately my family is afraid of my snakes so i didnt bother bringing them out, but those are some cool/big snakes!!!

[Blu Mongoose]

Great pics, looks like your brother and the snakes were having fun.

[MedusasOwl]

Course, if it was spiders, it would have been a whole nother story with my Mom. She's long been used to non-human grandkids, she just needed to grow accustomed to grandkids of the non fuzzy variety, lol. She still thinks it's gross that there's rats in our freezer though.

Chewie's never even touched a snake before so it was a very cool and new experience for him. He's a total natural with animals to begin with, so I wasn't really surprised at how great he was with them. I miss them both a lot.

[tigerlily]

Course, if it was spiders, it would have been a whole nother story with my Mom. She's long been used to non-human grandkids, she just needed to grow accustomed to grandkids of the non fuzzy variety, lol. She still thinks it's gross that there's rats in our freezer though.

Chewie's never even touched a snake before so it was a very cool and new experience for him. He's a total natural with animals to begin with, so I wasn't really surprised at how great he was with them. I miss them both a lot.

LOL! That's funny. I think my mom would have been better off with the spiders. She kept several Ts when I was a kid. (childhood trauma!) I'm much better about the Ts now, but I still get a bit girlie about em. My mom also had the issue with a freezer full of rats, and wasn't thrilled when I forgot to tell her about the bucket of thawing rats in my spare bathroom.

I share my love of reptiles with two of my sisters. My brother was pretty cool with the snakes, and was a bit shocked when it was feeding time. I think he enjoyed them all in all.

I completely understand your longing for family. I'm very close with mine but we live 15 hours away. My stepmother was just diagnosed with breast cancer. It's times like this that it just kills me to be so far away. My mother was also treated for breast cancer about two years ago. It's kinda weird that it brought my family together. Of course, it's still terrifying but I'm trying to keep positive.

[Entropy]

Very cute pictures! Looks like your brother is a Resident Evil fan.

Ma-tsu is quite nice.

[MedusasOwl]

Thanks! And yes, my brother is a die hard Resident Evil game fan. Don't mention the movies to him, though. He's a purist.

My fam got to miss feeding time, even f/t Mom'd be beyond squicked, lol. She's VERY arachniphobic though. Multi-leggers don't bother me unless they're being noisy, stinky, or venomously bitie!

It's hard being so far away... I think it was an 18 hour drive for my brother and Mom to make it down, and my sister couldn't make it. It's longer on the Greyhound, which is what I took the last 3 visits up to see them. Both of my grandmothers have had cancers, as did my mother in-law. It's really tough... but the best thing you can do is try to stay positive. Even long distance that good energy really helps.