Why do YOU love them?

[clipclopclip]

So I finally figured out the exact reasons why I love snakes. I tried to write it out as best as I could with my limited eloquence.

I would love to hear anyone else's reasons why they love snakes! I don't mean the laundry list of "1. don't have to take for a walk 2. is pretty" but more of a description of an underlying reason for the allure of snakes.

Here is my description of why I find snakes so attractive:

"There is something so incredibly exciting and calming at the same time about these animals. It is probably a feeling close to what a bonsai keeper feels for his charges. They are aesthetically pleasing while being deeply meditational.

Their symmetry, muscular bodies, brightly contrasting colors and subdued hues, their scale shapes and habits of living….all of these things fascinated me and appealed strongly to my sense of art and life at the same time. Living works of art.

To hold one of these animals is to feel the strong push and pull of deep and old natural longings. To hold a creation made perfect in many ways for many situations. A masterpiece of evolution and color, never tamed.

I think that because it is hard to anthropomorphize a snake I love them even more. There is such a destructive quality to how humans try to create animals in their own image. It really sickens me and fascinates me at the same time. Since snakes don’t get anthropomorphized often I don’t feel like I need to fight the tide of human egotism and superstition.

Snakes have their share of myths of course. But since the myths are so old they have taken on a more sterile and historic quality that precludes them from the realm of crude and dirty humanity today. It makes the animal feel special, not sucked into the industry of mistaking animals for humans by dressing up dogs in clothes, and pretending that Fifi is a child.

Snakes seem to be inherently scientific. Hard facts of genetics and possibilities for color combinations make them the ultimate artist’s palette. Captivating and intrinsically worthy of respect, snakes are my hobby, reason for continued learning, and excuse for the acute observation of life."

What are your reasons?

[jknudson]

Simply put, the captivate me. I have always been drawn towards them, some of my first school art projects were drawings of snakes.

Other than that, I have a lot of furry animal allergies, so with me, reptiles just fit.

[Patrick Long]

Its the way they move, the way the act, they way the live!

[Beardedragon]

A few things, I was never allowed them when I was a kid, they are easy to take care of once youve had as many reptiles as ive kept, and I can wear them around my neck My beardies could hang, and the turtles could bit on, but with snakes you dont have to worry about them( as much) There are so many other things but who wants to read a huge reply!

[clipclopclip]

A few things, I was never allowed them when I was a kid, they are easy to take care of once youve had as many reptiles as ive kept, and I can wear them around my neck My beardies could hang, and the turtles could bit on, but with snakes you dont have to worry about them( as much) There are so many other things but who wants to read a huge reply!

Haha write as much as you'd like

[frankykeno]

For me, Rachel, even if they are captive born, even if they never were free - something about holding a snake in my hands makes me feel, just for a instant, that I am holding a small piece of a wild world I can never be part of. It's like the snakes allow me to share that place with them just for a little while. Allowing my human interference in their secret world, accepting me because I know, really no matter what I do with them, in the end it's up to them if they accept my touch.

When I watch them hunt and consume their prey I'm in touch with a reality that my plastic wrapped meat world removed me from long ago. When I produce their food, and I see them grow healthy and strong on it, I feel satisfied and proud in a very elemental way. There's no disconnection from nature when you share your life with snakes even when they live in plastic tubs in your spare bedroom.

Lastly, and lately, watching these baby snakes that we hatched out last week. Their little heads poking out of their eggs, instinctively making their own slits no matter the nice hole I cut for them, how they are such little and perfect replica's of the big snakes, having one determined little darling try to bite me not an hour out of her egg - well it just humbles me how perfect nature made them. Again I'm reminded of why Mike and I got into snakes, not for some cash we could make, or the rush of breeding up a morph - but just for the pure passion and fascination of it all.

[clipclopclip]

That's a great answer Jo!

I hope to share the experience of breeding in a few years. Not rushing it, just enjoying learning and the possibility of having babies

I agree with your post ...they are so fundamentally wild that they bring a bit of what we have lost back to us.