Losing Mowgli

Our Children have always had different and unusual pets.

When we lived in Texas they were not only taking care of dogs, cats, horses, pigs, calves, rabbits, turtles and chickens, but they also had to help with the Wild Boars and Kinkajous. When we moved to Indiana, Jesse had a cute little Indigo Skink that she had a leash that she would put on him while he sat on her shoulder.(his un-timely was a cause for much sorrow in the family)

The children always wanted a snake, but Cali's fear of this kind of reptile kept us from getting one. In 2003, after Cali married and moved out Cody and Hillary talked Darryl into getting them a baby Ball Python. Mowgli has been their baby ever since. He is a wonderful pet, very gentle and is fun to hold and watch. Now for those of you with Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) a Ball Python may not be what you want, but to each his own.
Well, last week Cody was cleaning Mowgli's cage and watching him move around on the floor. Skye was watching Gideon for Cali. Cody didn't realize that we didn't have the bark needed to line his cage, so consequently Mowgli was left to explore under Cody's watchful eye while he waited for Cali to bring more bark.

Fast forward one hour......... Skye is working upstairs on the computer and Cody has Gideon in the high chair feeding him some lunch while watching Mowgli move toward the kitchen. Gideon managed to get hold of his peas and fling them making a huge mess and when Cody finished cleaning it up he couldn't find Mowgli anywhere. We started looking everywhere for him, tearing the kitchen upart, pulling out the drawers searching the cabinets, back in the storage room and pantry, in the dining room, but no luck. We then searched the rest of the house but to no avail. He was probably curled up somewhere taking a nap by now.
Well, I found the whole situation rather funny. I mean Cali is due any minute and their is a 4 ft. snake loose in the house. Not that we had to worry about him hurting anything.... well, maybe the cat if she got too close, but he is just not dangerous. I left for school before Cali arrived and I guess they spent the rest of the evening covertly searching for the snake. With all of the whispering and huddled meetings between Skye, Ryan and Cody, Cali was bound to get suspicious. When she asked what they were doing Skye said they saw a mouse and wanted to get it.

Cali: "It's just a mouse... that's what you have a cat for".
Skye: "yeah, I know. But this is a rouge Mouse".
Cali: "What? You're kidding right? What is wrong with you?"

Well, they finally gave up the search about 7:00 and Skye went to clean up the supper dishes and who should peek his head around the corner and look right at her. Mowgli. He was so cold he could barely move. As soon as they had him safely in his cage they told Cali what was up. She is certain that she and her sweet unsuspecting baby boy were in mortal danger the whole time, but all in all she handled it quite well.

The other day I was in the store with Skye and we passed the baby department. I said I should buy more things for my grandchildren but Skye said I didn't need to, "Let their other grandmas buy things, you give them something money can't buy. According to Cali, you give them "Near Death Experiences". Hmmmm.... not sure what to think about that :-/

Mowgli is safely back in his "house" and acts as if nothing was wrong. For those of you who really do have a problem with snakes DON'T WATCH THE VIDEOS!!! Every week or 10 days we feed Mowgli dinner. His preferred meal is rat. The two videos show how naive and dumb domesticated rats are. They will walk right up to a snake. They last an average of 45 seconds in his cage. When we put wild rodents into the cage they are smart and know to be afraid. Sometimes it takes Mowgli and hour to catch them.



For those of you afraid to get your child a reptile for fear of salmonella here is something for you to think about. In the news recently was a report that cautioned parents against buying hamsters, turtles, or other reptiles and rodents for pets for children under five. They said they might get salmonella. They further explained that the chance of a child getting salmonella from a pet might be as high as 11 percent. Hmmm..... makes you think doesn't it. If the chance might be as high as 11 percent where might they come in contact with the bacteria the other 89 percent of the time. How about.... the kitchen, a restaurant, school, the park and just living life! Here's the deal. Anytime you or your children handle any kind of animal, yes even the dog or cat, wash your hands with soap and water. It's that simple.