Thank you all for the welcome! We have a bit of an array of stranger critters in our home.... We have had snakes for almost 20 years. My daughter had bearded dragons first, I was not too keen on having snakes in the home, but she talked me into a blue tongue skink and I fell in love with what an awesome lizard Robin was (she was half puppy and half lizard I swear). Everyone joked she was brilliant, it was just a natural step from blue tongue skink to snake
Fast forward way too many years and now she has some awesome lines of boas, a couple interested ball python projects and some great Chinese Beauty lines. She also has some strictly pet snakes, a couple large reticulated pythons and her first large snakes is a Boat Constrictor Imperator (a normal boa) that I jokingly called Lucky when she was a tiny little baby because my daughter was lucky to be getting a snake that would get big, and 17 years later, Lucky is still with us and gotten to be a big big girl. My daughter has also gotten in spider / tarantula hobby keeping.... funniest thing is that I cannot get onboard with her spiders, tho they are cool to look at and I've gotten a few videos for her when she was feeding, but no real interest.... We kinda fell into Mantis keeping with an ooth that showed up on our Xmas tree. It was ironic because I have had a lifelong love affair with Mantis that started when I was a little girl, my grandfather would have one from his tomato garden for me about everytime we would go down to visit. He would have one in a jar or under a basket, he would put it on my shoulder or in my shirt, the Mantis would hang out with me all day and I would put him back in the garden before we left. Was a memory I had about forgotten until I saw the mantis babies. My daughter is having a great time laughing at me with being all excited and interested in Mantis, we are talking about making the one wall in the kitchen / dining area for just my Mantis obsession
My other person interesting critter is my Max, a 31 year old blue and gold macaw that adopted me when I was a volunteer at a large parrot rescue almost 6 years ago. He is my best buddy, follows me around like a puppy most of the time. I never wanted a big parrot, but he decided one day I was his mom and seems he was right! I live with Multiple Sclerosis, Max is like having a toddler in the home, so he is the main reason some days that I know I need to get my butt up and moving but things hurt... he is out and about with me everyday usually 8-10 hours, so he keeps me going! You don't want me to start talking Max, I am literally like a mom with cute baby pics and videos, I will babble on and on about him
The only critter in our family is Chip, an American Quarter Horse that will be 21 years old this April, he has been with our family since just before his 4th birthday. He has been my daughter's best friend in life, awesome horse! We have been dealing with alot of hoof issues with him, but he has been such a big part of the family that we refuse to give up on finding a way to keep him sound and pain free.
I won't go on and on too much!! But if anyone has questions about any of our critters, just ask!! Few random pics... Chip and Max of course! A baby pic of Cleo (one of the favorite snakes in the home) and a recent pic of how big she is these days!
