SNAKES ON A NECK
[ view more snake photos on flickr ]
At lunch today we were all sitting and waiting for our food. Someone noticed that there was a man walking down the street with a huge 7 foot yellow python curled around his neck. Naturally, Desiree and I raced over to him with camera in hand.
We ran over to the man and he handed Merlin (the snake) over into my arms. Merlin kept "sniffing" me and slowly wrapping himself around my neck. My only thoughts were to try and keep his little face away from me, negleting the fact that he could just strangle me at any point if he so chose to do so.
I always thought I'd be reluctant to hold one of these creatues, especially since I never have previously. As he was getting his face closer and closer to mine I did get a little nervous. It's very hard to tell how an animal might react to someone. I have no prior experience with the mannerisms of snakes. Surprisingly, I fell in love with this little guy. He was so loving!
Someone left me a MySpace comment a long time ago on my "Snakes On A Plate" video that said something to the effect of "You look like someone that would be afraid of a real snake". I'll fight you.
As a side note, there is a law attempting to be passed in Florida if you own a snake that is more than 2 inches in diameter, you must have a high-tech identification tag implemented into it's body. This is to cut down on owners releasing them into the wild where they can be a danger to other wildlife and people. At least this way they will know who's responsible for letting it free.
We miss you, Merlin. If the random man would have taken credit, I would have bought you :(
Then again, if I did purchase him.. there is the matter of taking him on the plane?