Oh, For Learning's Sake!

J has always had an impressive thirst for knowledge, so we try our best to foster a fun learning atmosphere in our home to keep his desire for facts burning.

Despite this, every mom has her limits and being welcomed home by this reptile on our kitchen counter was certainly pushing it.

Although harmless, Outer Space gave me the heebie-jeebies at first. It really wasn’t the reptile itself that sent me into a hypertensive state but rather the thought of it escaping and roaming freely in our home. Remember the slug?

I put my own anxiety aside all for the sake of learning. After all, J wants to be a herpetologist when he grows up, so Outer Space was right up his alley. The agreement was that we would feed it once and then release it to go find a snuggly home before the winter weather arrived. So a few days after we met this slithery guy, Steve and the kids went to the pet store to buy an appropriate reptile meal while I went for a run.

I arrived home to a dead infant mouse unthawing in a glass of water…not exactly what I had expected. This was the entrée recommended by the pet store associate, but because I know everything there is to know about having a pet snake, I really didn’t believe that a living snake would go for a dead mouse. A mouse…yes. A dead one…no.

We gathered around and waited as Daddy bravely tossed the carcass in the cage and wiggled it around with a straw.

Sure enough, Outer Space attacked it like a natural born killer, and we were left impressed and wanting more action. Three feedings in all, our catch-and-release idea turned into a two week long adventure.

We all grew quite fond of our lovely serpent, even me. However, with the beautiful autumn weather soon ending and a small counter top habitat in need of a cleaning, it was time for Outer Space to be reunited with a more natural snake-friendly environment. If we delayed his release any longer, we would be forced to keep him for the winter… an option that wasn’t really an option in my mind.

One happy, free, long (almost a two footer!!) snake…

One very sad, heartbroken boy…

…all for the sake of learning.