A funny but true story (long)

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Posted by Dean on September 09, 2001 at 08:05:47:

Hi Folks;

Thought I'd share this 1 with you all;

Once upon a time, bout 3 weeks ago to be exact I recieved a call from a lady interested in a couple of Corn snakes for her kids for pets. So they came over to my house mother & 5 kids. Really nice kids I might add, not the typical family situation where my snake room gets treated like a petting zoo & everybody's squawking "I wanna pick up THAT snake" etc. The mother told them ALL just to look, not to go up next to the glass, ask if they could touch anything & say please. Now she kept rotating her kids cuz she had a 3 month old infant out in the van & her older kids were taking turns watching their baby sibling.

While all this was going on, the mother had a 2 year old little boy up in her arms who was screaming to get down. So the little guy was adorable, round rosy cheeks, wearing a little ball cap & some 'Oshkosh B'Gosh' overalls, sort of a 'Spanky, from the Little Rascals' look to him. So I let him touch a snake, he giggled with delight, then he wanted to 'see fishies' as he put it after spying my tank full of Japanese Koi, so we sat him by the edge of the tank & let him throw little pellets into the fish which made him squeal with delight. Then the mother looks over & screams "JEFFERY NOOOO!!!!" Seems the little bugger was taking a drink outta my fish tank.

So she held him in her arms for another while as a 2nd shift of kids came in from the van. Little guy squalks again, I suggested to the mother she sit him on the floor to watch my big Russian ratsnakes who are quite active during the day. It seems to work they put the little bastard into a trance of sorts.

While his older sisters picked out a couple of baby corns to buy, I thought, 'this kid's waaaaay too quiet' & out of the corner of my eye, I noticed him sucking on something with all the tenacity of a bright red all day sucker. But it wasn't a sucker.....

While his mother had him in her arms next to my bar (my rec. room is a snake room) he had obviously got ahold of 1 of the feeder mice I had out thawing. I pointed it out to mom who @ this blew a gasket, she whisked him into the bathroom right off the bar & cleaned his wretched little mouth out with handsoap. So all seemed well, we got the mouse from him after a minor struggle which involved bribing 'Rosemary's baby' with a Mr. Freeze (I'm sure it tasted better than a mouse) which I figure he must of had in his mouth for @ least 5 minuites judging by the amount of baby drool on it.

I then had to console the mother that "No her child would not die of the black plague", these mice were raised in clean facilities, vet checked, yada, yada, yada. So after that it was "Well kids, make up your minds as to which snakes you want to buy, so we can get out of here". Children picked out a normal & an anytheristic corn, they also bought 100 frozen pinkies, they all went home & lived hapily ever after.

HOWEVER after they had left I put the mouse back on the paper towel in the very spot where little Jeffery had taken it from cuz you could see the wet 'mouse print' that had developed during the thawing process. Right next to that same mouse which was on the end of a row of about 15 thawing mice I had placed 4 pinkies to cup-feed 4 baby Everglades ratsnakes Mike Vince had sent me. There was only 1 left so it's safe to assume that little Jeffery ate 3 of my pinkies, after all they DO look like red Gummibears. THANK GOD the mother didn't know that.

The moral of the story you asked.... when families come to buy snakes WATCH THE DAMN CHILDREN!!!

Follow Ups:

Oh, that's a good one!! N/P Jeff Hardwick 09/09/01 (0)
Yeah, thats funny Shaky 09/09/01 (0)

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: Hi Folks; : Thought I'd share this 1 with you all; : Once upon a time, bout 3 weeks ago to be exact I recieved a call from a lady interested in a couple of Corn snakes for her kids for pets. So they came over to my house mother & 5 kids. Really nice kids I might add, not the typical family situation where my snake room gets treated like a petting zoo & everybody's squawking "I wanna pick up THAT snake" etc. The mother told them ALL just to look, not to go up next to the glass, ask if they could touch anything & say please. Now she kept rotating her kids cuz she had a 3 month old infant out in the van & her older kids were taking turns watching their baby sibling. : While all this was going on, the mother had a 2 year old little boy up in her arms who was screaming to get down. So the little guy was adorable, round rosy cheeks, wearing a little ball cap & some 'Oshkosh B'Gosh' overalls, sort of a 'Spanky, from the Little Rascals' look to him. So I let him touch a snake, he giggled with delight, then he wanted to 'see fishies' as he put it after spying my tank full of Japanese Koi, so we sat him by the edge of the tank & let him throw little pellets into the fish which made him squeal with delight. Then the mother looks over & screams "JEFFERY NOOOO!!!!" Seems the little bugger was taking a drink outta my fish tank. : So she held him in her arms for another while as a 2nd shift of kids came in from the van. Little guy squalks again, I suggested to the mother she sit him on the floor to watch my big Russian ratsnakes who are quite active during the day. It seems to work they put the little bastard into a trance of sorts. : While his older sisters picked out a couple of baby corns to buy, I thought, 'this kid's waaaaay too quiet' & out of the corner of my eye, I noticed him sucking on something with all the tenacity of a bright red all day sucker. But it wasn't a sucker..... : While his mother had him in her arms next to my bar (my rec. room is a snake room) he had obviously got ahold of 1 of the feeder mice I had out thawing. I pointed it out to mom who @ this blew a gasket, she whisked him into the bathroom right off the bar & cleaned his wretched little mouth out with handsoap. So all seemed well, we got the mouse from him after a minor struggle which involved bribing 'Rosemary's baby' with a Mr. Freeze (I'm sure it tasted better than a mouse) which I figure he must of had in his mouth for @ least 5 minuites judging by the amount of baby drool on it. : I then had to console the mother that "No her child would not die of the black plague", these mice were raised in clean facilities, vet checked, yada, yada, yada. So after that it was "Well kids, make up your minds as to which snakes you want to buy, so we can get out of here". Children picked out a normal & an anytheristic corn, they also bought 100 frozen pinkies, they all went home & lived hapily ever after. : HOWEVER after they had left I put the mouse back on the paper towel in the very spot where little Jeffery had taken it from cuz you could see the wet 'mouse print' that had developed during the thawing process. Right next to that same mouse which was on the end of a row of about 15 thawing mice I had placed 4 pinkies to cup-feed 4 baby Everglades ratsnakes Mike Vince had sent me. There was only 1 left so it's safe to assume that little Jeffery ate 3 of my pinkies, after all they DO look like red Gummibears. THANK GOD the mother didn't know that. : The moral of the story you asked.... when families come to buy snakes WATCH THE DAMN CHILDREN!!!

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