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What’s in a Name
The Brown House
Snake is found throughout Zambia and as it’s name implies, it tends
to like visiting human habitation in search of its favourite food,
mice, gecko’s and small rats. It kills them by constriction and as
it has no venom, it is entirely harmless to man and in view of the
service it provides by clearing the house of unwanted pests, it
should be encouraged to take up residence whenever possible. It is
uniformly ruddy brown above and underneath it is off white with an
almost mother of pearl sheen.
In view of its
placid nature it lends itself as the snake of choice for amateur
herpetologists to handle and although it can bite frequently when
settling down, the bites are not particularly painful and it tames
as a pet very successfully.
It was therefore
no surprise that when my eldest daughter Marie asked to have a snake
as a pet we chose a brown house snake and it lived in a tank in her
bedroom for many years. Friends coming for sleepovers were often
disconcerted to find that they were sharing their bedroom with a
snake but once it had been brought out, introduced and fondled most
of her friends got used to the idea and in fact often asked me if
they could have another one for themselves. The one draw back of
keeping a pet snake is of course that it has to be fed live prey and
Marie was kept busy most weekends, seeking tender morsels to satisfy
the appetite of her scaly friend.
A cat will cuddle
up on its owners lap, a dog will lick the hand that feeds it, so
what does a snake do to show appreciation for the care and attention
that it receives? In this case it was obvious; this snake used to
love intertwining itself all over her hand; round and round in and
out of the finger of one hand; so eventually it was difficult to see
where the fingers were as they were completely engulfed with
writhing snake and this gave rise to naming the snake Wrap.
 I am often asked
to go to schools to give talks on reptiles in general and I always
take a small croc, a snake or two and a tortoise to act as props and
to easily demonstrate features that separate mammals from reptiles.
Wrap is often taken on these excursions and it is wonderful to see
small children who initially scream and run away when he is first
taken out of his bag gradually come closer and often end up stroking
and petting him. One such visit was to the Community School last
year but unfortunately when I arrived there the bag in which he kept
was empty and I feared that he would either expire if the sun got
too hot or escape through the many holes that exist even in the most
modern cars. An exhaustive search followed, but alas no snake and I
had to assume the worst, that Wrap had finally gone walkabout and I
had some tough explaining to do to my daughter.
About two days
later I was travelling into Lusaka with my other daughter Michele,
we were fortunately still on the dirt road because she suddenly said
“ Er, Dad, there’s a snake coming out of the air conditioning vent”!
I glanced down and was pleased to see that it was Wrap. “ Oh great’,
I said, “It’s only Wrap, please grab him and we can take him home”.
Unusually she was somewhat reluctant so I stopped the car and gently
removed him and he went to school with her for the day. Returning to
the farm we had to stop off for some groceries and Michele took Wrap
into the shop with her and it was amusing to see shoppers scattering
in all directions when they saw what she had wrapped round her hand.
The girls are now
at school in Europe so Wrap is back in the Reptile Park but when
they return on holiday, he is again petted and played with and
although it may sound strange, I get the definite impression that he
is genuinely pleased to see them just like any other more orthodox
pet. |
June
2007