Snakes Snakes Snakes!

We named him "Snakester".

Two weeks ago, I took my kids to a Creation Day Camp (like Vacation Bible School, but with a different name). They'd all been asking me when they were going to go to this camp because we went the past two years also and played in the nearby creek after camp was over.

So we went, played, learned and had a good time in the creek.

"Ahhhh!" my son screamed as he jumped out of the water. "I touched something! It looked like a snake!"

His kicking had clouded the bottom of the creek so I couldn't see anything at first. I assured him he was fine. Out of my peripheral vision I saw movement upstream. It was a snake!

The kids caught the snake. They passed it around and were very gentle - even when the snake pooped on their hands. (Grrrroooossss, it pooped on me too.) Probably 10 kids handled that snake from 12 years old down to 3. It was amazing. There was some talk of trying to keep the sweet little thing but I explained we shouldn't do that because it was a wild snake and it wouldn't like living in a cage.

They dubbed it "Snakester" and built it a house of rocks in the middle of the creek (which it escaped as soon as they weren't looking). My kids have wanted to have a pet snake for probably a year now and my response has held firm:

They have to raise the money. (It's like 200.00 to purchase a snake, tank and accessories. I think I'm safe.)

They have to find a space to keep the tank. (They will have to purge a bunch of stuff to make room in our 1000 sq ft house.)

They have to research how to care for a snake and prove they know how.

IF they meet those requirements, then I promised to help convince their we "need" a snake.

Guess who's working on a Snakes Unit Study so they can meet stipulation #3?

Me.

Would you let your kids have a pet snake? Do you have one? Any advice?