The Snakes.

As many of you who follow me regularly may know, my husband breeds reptiles. When I met him, I did not understand much about reptiles, let alone breeding them. It wasn’t a passion of mine in any way, shape, or form. But I am a huge animal lover, so it made perfect sense for me to take an interest in something that meant a lot to him. Once I started learning more about the snakes he was working with at the time, which happened to be boa constrictors, it really became quite fascinating to me.

Up until this point, the only real experience I had was with a snake named Stanley that lived under our front steps. Every morning, my mother would open the door to our house, and there Stanley would be, curled up in the sun. My mother, who was a huge animal lover, named him Stanley because, in her world, everyone deserved a name—something I have carried on in her memory. I was never afraid of Stanley because she told me that he had a specific job. We lived in the country on the edge of huge woods and fields, and Stanley’s job was to rid the house of mice. She greatly appreciated him because she didn’t want to use poison, another practice I have continued. But having an actual snake as a pet, or a business, was not something that I had ever considered.

So you might be wondering, why is she talking about snakes?

I bring this up because I love to support my husband in his love of reptiles as well as his business. In addition, I really do find them to be quite sweet and very beautiful. He’s currently breeding western hognose and eastern indigo snakes. The eastern indigo snake is on the endangered list, and he had to be granted a permit to receive them from out of state . I respect this immensely. In my support of what he’s doing, I often post pictures of the snakes, especially when they are babies and hatching out of their eggs. The responses I get from people are just fascinating. So many people say how much they can’t stand snakes. They put a hard no on the pictures in the comments. They say there’s no way they would let their husband do that. The list goes on and on.

Now, let me be very clear. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and beliefs, and I don’t even mind the comments. This is about the willingness to support somebody else in what they do, to remain curious, to learn about something that you don’t know anything about, and to recognize that just because we get frightened by something, it doesn’t mean we should shut it down. Remaining open is one of the most important things that we can do if we truly believe we have a growth mindset. I have learned so much from these creatures. They are resourceful. They are little works of art. They are smart, and above all else, they are curious.

I think it’s important to remember these facts everywhere in life. When you shut things down for a lack of knowledge or out of fear, you leave yourself closed off. When we build walls, we build prisons for ourselves. 

So here’s to all the snakes out there that are just trying to survive in a world where most people hate them. We, as humans, like to think we have it rough, but I’ll tell you, I think the snakes have it way worse than we do.

Have a blessed day my friends…

Kim