The Return of the Mother of Cats

Hello Guys & Dolls!!!

What a long time it's been! My last post was in 2018 and man a lot has happened. 

I figured the best way to update ya''ll on the adventures in the past 5 years would be to create a weekly blog entry for each event. So, come with me and dive into the past!!! 

Adventure #1 - Bella Boop Snoop!

I had never grown up with reptiles, no did I ever have any interested in having a reptile. The closest thing to reptiles that we grew up with was probably my dads tarantula named Edgar Allen Poe, or his black widow he named Charlotte.

But I like cute furry things ya know? That's always been my MO.

Well, one rainy spring day, the Utah Reptile Expo was in town. So we decided to go check it out for fun. There were so many different reptiles to see. But the booth that caught me was a booth dedicated to Reptile Rescue. They had reptiles that had found themselves in unhealthy situations or that had injuries. Working in Animal Welfare, anything rescue will pique my interest and open up my heart. They had some lizards and some ball pythons. Some of the pythons had wounds from heating sources and that made me so sad. As we wondered through the rest of the critters, we came across a cute ball python that had a respiratory infection.

Never did I expect to fall in love at first site with a slithery snake, but she caught me good. Wait...Did I want a snake? Were we thinking clearly? I knew NOTHING about caring for a reptile, let alone a snake! 

We decided to walk around the rest of the expo to discuss this decision, I couldn't shake it. Something told me she belonged with us. So, we went back and adopted her! I remember clearly, walking out with her bundled up in my hoodie. It was raining and I didn't want her to get cold or more sick. 

We got home and set up her new home. What a crazy decision we had just made. Now, What were we going to call her though? Well, the only thing that made sense in our lives was to name her after our favorite Harry Potter villian, Bellatrix. Bella for short. 

We had her for a week and decided to take her to an Wasatch Exotic Animal Care since she was still sneezing from her cold. Seemed simple right? Well...turns out, the way you need to administer medications to a snake is by giving them an oral medications as well injections. Ummmm, excuse me? New snake owner here, and you want me to stick a needle in this thing?! What had we gotten ourselves into? Talk about weeks of anxiety. Travis and I learned from the vet how to give the meds. It seemed easy for them, but to us, with no snake handling experience, it was an experience we will never forget. 

We had to have one person grab her neck right under her head, and the other person had to grab the wiggly body, find the right area of the body, lift a scale and slid the needle underneath...

We were so thankful she started to get better and was able to show us her cute personality. Ok, Ok, I know what you're thinking, "Snakes don't have a personality." But she had the sweetest & softest demeanor.  

I would get her out and just let her cruz the bed everyday for a little bit. She always loved to come up to my nose and slither her little tongue, as if she was giving me kisses and hid in my hoodie

With the seasons changing, it was hard for us to keep her humidity in her tank at the correct level, so when it came to her shedding, she never could get all of her shed off and that when I would come in and help her out. It became a kind of bonding experience for me. I enjoyed helping her. 

Feeding time was a while different ball game that I was not ready for. I hated it. We did research because I did NOT want to feed the live route. So we tried the frozen route. Did you ever think snakes could be picky? Me either... Well, she decided she had to show us that snakes indeed could be picky and would not touch her food. Ugh...we had to get back to the dreaded live route. It gave me so much anxiety, I always had to have a glass of wine afterwards to calm my nerves. There was a couple times, the rats actually went after her and left wounds on her! She forever had a little indent on her head that was a scar from her first rat attack. But it just added to her uniqueness. 💓

We had her for a few years, but as our lives evolved, we found it difficult to take care of her the way she needed. I struggled with the idea but I knew we needed to rehome her. We connected with an individual we believed checked out and would be a good home for her. We took her to her new home and donated all her things with her. I had gotten so attached, it was literally as if I had a child taken away from me. I was devastated. S

She was a wonderful exception that had unexpectedly slithered into my heart and made a home there forever.

I am planning in the future to get a tattoo of my sweet Bella Boop, so she will always be with me. 💓