I am aware of this. Like I said, I do see no blame in the cats, they were being cats and doing as expected there is no fault there. I am aware they need to be kept separate, and apart from this incident, in which I let my guard down and allowed a keep to temporarily be in a less than secure setting, which I should have not allowed myself to feel comfortable with, all species in my household, with the exception of the interacting between dog and cat, are kept completely separate. However, if the cages are secure, I see no issues with the animals being able to see one another, if they are unable to interact and never show signs of stress. My problem here was not one which the cats were allowed to be close enough to see the snake, the problem was that they were able to reach and interact with the snake. I was never under any illusions that if the two species were to interact it would turn out well, I have never hoped much less believed they would be 'friends' with the snakes. On the cats side of things, my mistake was not that I trusted them not to harm the snakes if given the chance, my mistake was that I trusted them to stay off the shelf that they knew I didn't want them on even when I wasn't present. Which looking back, and knowing my cat, should have been a big fat duh. But hindsight is 20/20, we can't turn back time, yadda yadda. Point of the matter is I made this mistake. It happened. And I do understand what I did wrong and how it could have been handled differently and avoided. However now I can only take that into account and use it in the future, which I am doing.

So thank you for your concern, and I appreciate the advice, and I admit I did have a lapse in judgment; you are right, I should have known better. But please don't be mistaken. I do not "trust" my cats. I do not let my animals meet each other or interact or expect them to play and get along. Forgive me if I should snippy or aggressive in response, but that is what it feels like you are assuming or insinuating, and I admit I'm not much of a 'people-person' or otherwise sociable even when I'm not tired and already feeling guilty enough about this. True, I don't separate off full rooms, due to inability, but I keep my snakes in secure tubs or terrariums, on shelves with barriers and covers enough to keep them safe from the resident larger predators. When I upgraded Nagisa's keep, it failed to fit where the old one was as I thought it would, being larger, and I put it on a shelf that was not secured as well, making the mistake that, since the cats weren't actually allowed on there, it would be safe for a short period until I could clear a better area for it. That there was my mistake. I will not make that mistake again.