Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The circle of life

My friends sometimes ask me jokingly, "If there was an earthquake and all your pets' cages broke and the animals escaped into the house - what would win?"

Mind you I have several species of snakes as well as various lizards, salamanders, cats, rabbit, parrot, tarantula, and backyard visitors such as toads, frogs and turtles that hang out for a while.

There are never any real confrontations, in fact the cats are terrified of the rabbit and they stay away from the parrot's beak, so there is harmony here for the most part.

However... earlier today, Pepper the parrot squared off with Monty the corn snake.We keep the board over the tank because otherwise the cats sit on the screen to look out the window - and today Pepper climbed up the curtain and decided to explore. He was tapping his feet and squealing, and he peeked over the edge to find a hungry snake staring back at him. Monty stalked him just like he stalks a dangling mouse, shaking and sniffing and coiling up. And of course Pepper, the instigator, had to keep poking at the screen and squeaking.

Eventually Monty got bored, and Pepper climbed off the cage, but it was hilarious watching their stand off which lasted almost 10 minutes. Monty is a pink snow variety (not albino) corn snake, and about 4.5' long. He's a cuddly friendly snake, have had him for about four years now.

I wonder who would win if there was no screen between them? I'd be glad to never find out :P

7 comments:

Kim said...

A *gulp* cuddly snake?
*shiver*

;)

hey, would you mind if I linked your blog on mine?

Heather Buchanan said...

In the cute-competition, though Monty is quite charming, Pepper definitely wins.

Your plethora of critters must provide you with endless drama and entertainment.

Maggie said...

My BIL has a Monty, though he's a ball python (he was named when BIL was a teenager). It's Exordium the 6' long diamond carpet python who amuses himself by tracking the 40lb dog of the house as he wanders by the cage :)

Weird Bug Lady said...

Go ahead regal :)

Yeah, there's never a dull moment in this house.

Katie L. said...

Ooh, that's a toughy. They are both giving eachother the evil eye! I love it! Might be a pretty fair fight :)

Callooh Callay said...

Great photo! My money's on the parrot, but let's hope it never comes to that.

Unknown said...

cuddly snake? hmmm...I have to give that a think.