Snake and a story

Posted by on July 20, 2015 in blocks | 4 comments

snake

 

Here’s a fabric version of an 8-ft-long corn snake my family owned for about 4 years. We thought of him as a pet, so I’m throwing him into the mix.

There’s a funny story associated with the snake. It had been owned by my brother Lawrence, who’s a naturalist, and when I flew out to St. Louis some years ago to visit him and his family with my 3 sons, one of them really fell in love with the snake. So my brother gave it to him, and when we left, packed him in a plastic box with air holes in it. We packed it in one of our suitcases and checked it. Quietly.

When we got to NYC we were picked up at the baggage area by a prearranged cab driver. My boys were so excited to see if the snake had lived through the trip they got the suitcase off the carousel and opened it up to see the snake. The driver got so upset that he didn’t want to take us home, but we put him back and closed it up and eventually we convinced him.

We kept the snake for a few years. He was very tame at the beginning, but grew more wild over time. Maybe because my two cats would sit outside his cage and watch him. Anyway, after he bit me for the 3rd time while I was trying to feed him (thawed frozen mice) I decided to get rid of him.

My brother said he would take the snake back, so I packed it in the original box, put lots of padding around it and shipped it by UPS as “fragile artwork.” He arrived save and sound.

Since the snake was so big, and very handsome, my brother donated it as a door prize at an reptile convention and someone took it home. That’s all I know.

4 Comments

  1. I love your story about your snake and I love your block as well. We are getting quite a menagerie of pets this month! what a great quilt it will make for whoever is lucky!

  2. My oldest son (now aged 41) has a “pet” snake. And some pet lizards, and a pet rat and lots of fish. All yucky if you ask me! Your snake (fragile artwork) is cute. I love the fabric you used.

  3. What a wonderful story and a very neat block Ginny! I have enjoyed both…we had a Macaw for 30 years, 2 bearded lizards, Vada the rat, 2 turtles, dogs, goatis ands and Bernice the chicken who escaped slaughter and became a dear creature for 5 years…many more as well…I remember one of my boys crying because someone stole h tadpole…it really just grew legs!

  4. Your story brought back many fond memories of raising three sons and a daughter, all of whom were wildly interested in the natural world and anything that swooped, swam, slithered or skittered. One summer we had every species of Michigan turtle in our garage lodged in aquariums and terrariums. Our oldest was, and still is, a huge fan of snakes. We, not so enthusiastically, housed snakes in abundance when he was growing up, to encourage his interest in nature; and it has provided us with lots of funny stories over the years. He is now a father himself, still an avid naturalist, very involved with the herpetology society in Florida and passing the “bug” on to his own sons. Thanks for the memories!

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