My aunt came over for dinner last night. Her friend/neighbor has a ball python, so I took her upstairs to see the snake rack. She's freaked out by snakes but was fine with checking them out. So I slid Panndor's tub out (I call him the puppydog; he's the one I always take out when people are over because he is SO docile) and my aunt just gasps and goes, "He's just in that little thing!" She was absolutely shocked that he stayed in just a 41 qt tub with one hide and a water bowl. I explained to her that his needs are met, and he spends 98% of his time in the hide, and is perfectly content that way. She didn't mention any specifics about her friends husbandry, but given her reaction, I'm picturing a 50 gallon tank filled with all kinds of crap... whatever... So I'm chitchatting, holding Panndor and letting him do his thing, and suddenly she mentions, "Oh yeah, my friend walks around the neighborhood with her snake around her neck everyday." I must have such a look of horror on my face. She goes, "Oh the snake just loves it." I go, "No, your friend needs to read a book." My aunt was obviously kind of aggrevated by this, and kept insisting, "The snake loves it! He does!" We live in the scorching south, by the way. I was like yeah right, she needs to read a book about her snake, he's probably stressed as hell by that. Next, she asked if I fed mice. I said I fed rats weekly, and she was shocked as hell by this too. She goes, "My friend feeds once a month." I said wow, why in the hell does she do that. She insists the snake would never eat more than that, how could someone possibly feed more than once a month. I was sufficiently aggrevated but didn't want to put off a relative, so I just said again, "Yeah, she really should read a book."

I'm not sure if I'm more aggrevated with this woman's utter naivety towards a pet she's had for three years, or my aunt's constant validating of her friends "facts".

Anyway, yeah...