Convincing my Mom

She wont care about feeding the BP mice/rats. LOL, she's not afraid of them too. Shes a pest control technition. LOL. She sees snakes everyday. When I got my beardie, she didnt even say yes. she told me what ever my dad says. Shes just worried about the dogs. I stilll need to know if BP's are cowards to other animals or will it fight back?

BPs are nearly always cowards. Your snake is in a lot more danger from the dog than the other way around.

Whether the BP will try and eat the dog is iffy at best. Depending on how the snake has been fed in the past, it may not associate the smell of the dog with food. My female BP Dixie has showed no interest in rats yet, even though a rat is a proper sized meal for her. She was not interested in p/k rats, in live rats, or in f/t rats. She is very interested in mice, however, which leads me to believe that was what she was fed before. My next step will be trying a small rat that has been housed in mousie smelling shavings for a little while, to see if enough mouse smell will help her make the connection between rat and food.

However, as has been mentioned above, don't bet the dog's life on the snake NOT associating it with food. A toy chihuahua is a small furry mammal, which fits the general demographic of the python's dietary requirements. Even if the snake doesn't think of it as food, if it feels threatened by the dog it may strike and inflict injury in defense. Be sure to keep them separate.

The real issue you may need to determine with your Mom is why she may not want you to have a snake. If it's due to a phobia (and snake phobia is a very common one) logic and reason are not going to get you far. I know; my daughter wanted a tarantula when she was a teen-ager, and I'm arachnaphobic. I can keep it under control most of the time, and I realize it's completely irrational, but the phobia doesn't just go away because I can admit I have no real reason to be afraid of a tarantula.

If her concern is the safety of owning a snake, doing some research and showing her the statistics for Ball Pythons especially can be advantageous to you. You own dogs and cats already; a ball python is less dangerous to humans than dogs and cats are. I've yet to have a piece of furniture ruined by a snake, and I've lost count of such damage done by dogs and cats. I have a scar or two on my hands from being bitten by a parrot. My snakes have yet to bite me.

Some people think of snakes as being somehow "cruel" in that they swallow their prey whole. I've watched Dixie kill and eat mice (she was raised on live food, so it's going to be a process to get her to transistion to pre-killed), and I've seen cats kill mice. The cat is cruel, if such a trait can be applied to an animal. When Dixie kills, it's a fast strike followed by the coiling, and in a minute or so it's over. When the cat kills a mouse, it can be an hours long process of repeatedly clawing the mouse enough to slow it down, then releasing it to chase it and claw it again. Afterwards, the cat may not even eat the mouse. The cat we consider cute and playful, while the snake is often regarded as cold and cruel. Go figure. Various breeds of dogs are known for wholesale killing. Ask someone who has had a terrier get into their chicken flock. The dog won't just kill one chicken to drag off and eat; it will go from one to another to another, killing all it can catch. Dog's are "man's best friend", even with such a killer instinct in many breeds.

Don't get me wrong; I love both dogs and cats, and we own several of each (or should I say, they own us?). My point is that if we evaluate all pets by the same criteria many people evaluate snakes, our most beloved and common pets don't exactly shine, either. Nature isn't always "pretty" in how things are done. Predators kill, whether we're talking a spider that traps and bites the fly, or a toad that swallows it alive and whole, or the snake that constricts to kill before eating, or the canines and felines that chase and grab their prey, or on to humans that use weapons and slaughterhouses.

when i wanted my ball python i had trouble convicing my mom to let me get it, i resorted to bribery lol. i told her i would get a job if she let me get a ball python.

Mammals and Reptiles should never have anything to do with each other ... unless it has to do with eating!
I actually have a parrot, and I make sure they're never in range of each other ...

I have two chihuahua's as well, one of them has seen my Kingsnake and is all scared of it so I know she wont go around my BP. You might find your dogs will be terrified too.

As far as your parents go, you gotta know how to play the game. Tell them whatever they wanna hear, kiss their ass! it may take a while but be slick and evil and you can accomplish anything, people can be so easily manipulated if you know what to do and say.

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Originally Posted by RealmIyce

I have two chihuahua's as well, one of them has seen my Kingsnake and is all scared of it so I know she wont go around my BP. You might find your dogs will be terrified too.

As far as your parents go, you gotta know how to play the game. Tell them whatever they wanna hear, kiss their fanny! it may take a while but be slick and evil and you can accomplish anything, people can be so easily manipulated if you know what to do and say.

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I must agree. :twisted:

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Mammals and Reptiles should never have anything to do with each other ... unless it has to do with eating!

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haha, funny stuff

Don't use bribery, Go and get that job ( part-time ) show her that you can take care of the responsability of housing the snake and pay for the food and vet bills. She might open her mind.........GOOD LUCK!!

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