I had gotten out of keeping reptiles for nearly 25 years. Since then: I got married, had kids , worked hard, all the typical things we do as we grow up. Along with all this came enormous bouts of anxiety and other issues I never had dealt with in my younger years.
When I was 47 we had a tragedy in the family. A relative, her husband, 4 dogs, and 4 cats all died due to Carbon Monoxide poisoning. The only survivor was a bearded Dragon and a Betta fish.
Due to my past experience with Burms, Boas, and and array of lizards. I was asked to care of him.
Having this little dude, reinvigorated my old interests. After a few months I got a Ball Python then some Childrens Pythons.
Having these scaley babies around again, has all but depleted my anxiety issues. If I have a stressful day, a little “snake time” washes all my problems away. I can shut my brain down and just pay attention to these guys. Don’t get me wrong; I love my dog and he is great, but there is something about handling a snake that really calms me.
So in short, not only are they great pets but they are just great for the soul as well.
Thank you for sharing that with everyone. Keeping reptiles has helped my family also. Coincidentally I just looked at getting a trio of children’s pythons after considering them for a months. I decided not to get them right now but maybe in the future.
Sorry about your family’s loss. I understand what you mean about snake time. I have always had mammal babies, but 5 years ago an opportunity to take in a rescue beardie presented itself and my love for scalie things has grown from there. My whole family thinks my, in my opinion, modest collection of animals is ridiculous. I love all their little personalities and caring for them is almost therapeutic for me.
There is nothing corny about anything you have said. I suffer from anxiety and chronic depression and my scaley babies are my life, I don’t know what I would do without them. Imo there is something therapeutic about reptiles, especially with heavier bodied snakes. Just “cuddling” with my BCI’s makes every day better, sure there just seeking your body warmth but to me at least its calming. Thanks for posting on this subject and I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your family members.
I was in a rut as well and getting into snakes certainly helped perk me up! Definitely can relate.
However I would caution people any “addiction” is eventually destructive. If you can’t take care of yourself you have no business taking on more and more animals even if it makes you feel good.
There’s a lot of people using the hobby like a drug instead of dealing with their problems and then building into it from a positive place.
Not to be a buzzkill because there’s definitely something therapeutic in working with reptiles, no doubt about it. But it can turn destructive if it overtakes everything else- relationships, your health, your ability to be responsible and pay bills, etc.
I know, I agree that reptiles are very soothing for some people. I let a vet(eran) with PTSD hold my bearded dragon and I could see the guy become very calm as he stroked my dragon. Amazing! So I get your snake time. Snakes are soothing too, I just got a ball python, she is still a baby, but she gives me 'neck massages;, it’s great!
100% agree… I know it sounds weird but they should allow reptiles to get emotional support animal status. I’m talking paperwork in hand official type of stuff you can show a landlord if they try to evict you because you have reptiles as pets. I have a friend who’s a Veteran and suffers from deppression and his animals are actually what kept him from commiting suicide once…He said he came home from work convinced on taking his life but as he shed tears he pulled out one of his snakes sat down and let it glide thru his hands and he felt almost instant relief. These reptiles CAN save lives.