I enjoy observing them as much as handling them. This is why I can see myself keeping venomous in the future (completely legal where I am). I see snakes as being somewhere between "pets" and "specimen." It just depends on the individual animal as to which way they lean on that scale. My ball is my baby, but an animal without the capacity for emotion will never quite be a "pet" for me. My dog is my pet, she loves me as much as I love her and would die for me.