Absolutely the case here. Unless you are very familiar with the person typing it can be difficult to get a read without having something to clue in the intent. A JK or /a is a super easy addition that many people recognize as such for joke or sarcasm. Or if allowed, some people post a silly gift to prove the lighthearted intent. Otherwise it just appears like a solid statement.
Also there are some very young readers that come across these forums so making sure it’s taken as a joke is important
I absolutely was that kid. I snuck in two balls pythons as a kid. Once my mother found out I wasn’t allowed back inside until they were no longer on my person.
My mom was against me having any pets when I was younger, as she knew she’d be the one caring for it. But my dad loved animals. One time, he and I bought a bunny. We brought it home and told her that we found it along the side of the road miles and miles away (so she wouldn’t make us go “looking for its owner.” Guess who got to keep the bunny? Haha. She lived out a great life as a well-taken-care-of bunny. RIP Carrots.
For clarity, I didn’t sneak her in. I just brought her home and didn’t say anything. A baby burm will fit in almost any pocket and it wasn’t until she was @ 10 ft long when she was discovered.
Longest I ever got away with a hidden critter was a tarantula I found at school. I kept him in a critter keeper in my closet for about a week before my parents found him. They let me keep him for another week before they made me tearfully release him back into the wild.
Ball Pythons are probably one of the most docile species I have ever personally kept besides the single Boa Constrictor that I got as my first snake almost 16 years ago.
I don’t really understand the hesitance of them allowing you to have a Ball Python as they are on the smaller side of the types of Pythons in the trade and don’t pose a threat to people unless you are bothered by their bites, which are harmless. I’ve had a worse bite from my Hognose snake (mild swelling of the bite area) when it was a baby than an adult BP.
I guess they might correlate Ball Pythons to other much larger species like the Burmese Python, which has had documented human kills. Just because Ball Pythons are a constricting snake doesn’t mean they are dangerous… I’d understand their concern if it were a larger species, but I guess they consider any snake larger than a Garter Snake a “big” snake lol.
