Boa Constrictors Snakes are probably the easiest animals to keep as pets. When compared to dogs, cats, birds and other warm-blooded animals, they are extremely low maintainance creatures. For instance, they need to be fed once in three weeks, they poop once in three weeks, they don’t need to be taken out for walks everyday, they don’t need a lot of space to run or fly around, they don’t leave fur on your cushions, they hardly ever get ticks, and they don’t need to be given baths at all!
Don’t get me wrong—I love dogs and cats. I have a three year old Rottweiler named Diesel, who is a lot of fun. But he does need a lot of food and attention. There is, however, one aspect in which Diesel scores majorly over a snake: he’s willing to eat dal and rice if I’ve forgotten to buy mince! Good luck convincing a snake to do the same! It is one of the fussiest eaters on the planet. First of all, a snake will only eat what it has killed. Secondly, it must be the right kind of animal (if a snake wants a rat it won’t eat a frog, and if it wants a lizard it won’t eat a mouse). Thirdly, the food must be the right size (if the prey is a bit too big it is immediately rejected). Fourthly, it must smell right (albino lab rats apparently aren’t as appetizing as regular wild brown rats). Fifth, the snake must not be close to shedding its skin, or else it won’t eat, even if it is starving. Sixth, its prey must be presented to it in the right environment (the ambience accompanying the meal must be top notch—don’t get the humidity right and you’ll have one snake who won’t be giving your restaurant any business). Thank God snakes are deaf, or one would have to worry about background music as well! The ‘fussy eating’ part is one of the main reasons why I don’t keep snakes as pets, the other being that it is against Indian laws to keep indigenous snake species as pets. My collegue Marc Jaeger in Switzerland, though, has solved both these problems. He has over six hundred snakes from all over the world—mambas from Africa, cobras and kraits from India, rattlesnakes from the US and anacondas from South America. All of them have been legally acquired over many years and Marc now organises exhibitions with them all over Europe. How does he manage to feed so many finicky eaters? Well, he buys his food in packets. Frozen rats and mice in packets! When it’s feeding time, Marc thaws out some mice and warms them up in warm water. He then picks one up with a grab stick and shakes it in front of the hungry snake’s face. The snake, sensing the warm body of the mouse, grabs it without realizing that it is actually already dead! The baby boa constrictors (south american) in the picture would grab new-born mice and instinctively coil around them, as they usually would to suffocate their prey. I clicked pictures and watched, pleasantly surprised, as six boas (only a foot long) proceded to engulf their prey two feet away from me. P.S.: Marc has the most amazing snake park I’ve ever seen and I highly recommend you seeing it in case you visit Zurich in Switzerland. His web address is http://reptilexpo.ch Pics and text; Rahul Alvares
