Lizards, and Turtles, and Bugs, OH MY!

 

Oh, the things we won’t do for our children.

 

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Yep, that’s me holding a snake, y’all.

A real, live, moving snake.  A pied boa, to be exact.

And here is the picture Jonathan took when the snake started making it’s way up my arm.

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Not good.

Last Saturday, I took my boys to the Reptile Expo in Lexington.  We met my sweet sister-in-law and her two boys there.

Oh the joys of being a boy-mom.  Smile

I could of thought of a thousand others ways to spend my Saturday, buy my boys love this stuff, so what’s a mom supposed to do?

I take one for the team.

We mostly went because of this boy right here.

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(I think that is a giant leopard gecko he’s holding?}

Luke is a reptile-lovin’-fool.  He could talk about these creatures 24/7 {and usually does.}

He was in reptile heaven as we looked at turtles, geckos, skinks, newts, snakes, spiders, beetles and more. 

Eli wasn’t to keen on holding a snake, but finally decided to give it a try.

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After exploring the expo for a while, we washed our hands REAL good, and headed to the food court for lunch.

The boys love spending time with their cousins, Drew and Ryan.

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Okay, so here’s a cool picture I wanted to show to you. 

That snake I held….

Well, he’s a HUGE fan of Beneath My Heart!

Seriously, look!

He’s got a HEART tattoo!

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{I didn’t actually see the heart on the snake that day, but I did when I was editing my photos.  But how cool is that?}  Smile

 

So, what have you done lately

 

{that you never thought you would do}

 

for your kids?

 

 

 

I’d love to know! Winking smile

17 Comments

    1. Here’s food for thought….my son is 24 years old and we too had every reptile imaginable as he was growing up. Two years when he got his own apartment, HE LEFT HIS ROSY BOA WITH HIS PARENTS because he couldn’t have pets. When he comes home, HE FEEDS IT. Even if the mouse food is frozen, I don’t want to watch! And see, snakes don’t feel at all like you’d expect, do they?

  1. HA! Love it! That’s awesome Luke loves reptiles! Well I don’t have kids yet. But growing up, one of my best friend’s parents owned the reptile section of an exotic pet shop. I LOVED the Pythons! I’m ashamed to admit it fascinated me to see the the ‘meal lump’…. I couldn’t bare to watch them actually feed. Snakes are perfectly acceptable as long as they don’t surprise me from out of nowhere… Reminds me of another childhood story… one time a black snake climbed the trellis and assassinated the whole Wren family. My mother was so MAD!!!! Then it couldn’t get back out… Luckily my dad stepped in, and removed the house- (it was ceramic) put it in a bag- broke open the house. Sounds harsh- but my dad did not hurt the snake. He took the bag and released the snake across the road in a huge field. He was definitely one to appreciate snakes- (my mom too, she was just ticked about the Wrens) we had a large property and well… I don’t have to tell you how snakes are beneficial. :) Although one time he brought me to a snake that had a giant toad in it’s mouth… it’s just fascinating. Nowadays- I probably couldn’t stomach it.

  2. You shall reap great rewards; ones that I will never see because there is no way on God’s great green earth I would have held that snake. I literally hyperventilate in the presence of snakes. My kids think I’m hysterical. Kudos to you for giving your boys such great memories. :)

  3. I can handle alot of things…..spiders, scorpions, mice……but no thanks to snakes!!!! But that snakes markings are awesome.

  4. I was a freak about reptiles. I loved and still love them, I grew up with all boys as friends though. LOL
    I actually owned a Columbia Red Tail Python, a Tiger Reticulated Python and a Ball Python. Then I also owned a Chinese Water Dragon at one point before I stopped owning reptiles, got married and got 2 dogs. I was responsible as I got older and since I live in Florida, I returned them all to the pet store. I realized as I got older how damaging they can be here in Florida to the ecosystem. Luckily the pet store I bought them from always had a return, no questions asked policy. I have vowed to never buy another exotic reptile, some people are very irresponsible and just let them loose into the environment. Now, in Southern Florida, they have a python hunting trip every year to get rid of the ones that got loose during hurricanes or were released by irresponsible owners . They had captured 60 something snakes all together. I think they released 1 back into the everglades with 2 tracking devices. They hope to find more this way since it is mating season.

    1. I think this could be said of all pets :( We have a lot of problems where I live with feral cats and loose dogs. It is honestly the poopiest town I have ever lived in so gross, and the cats get under the houses and stuff. The animal righties have set up -unauthorized – feeding stations all over town which is a nice sentiment, but tends to attract other bigger wildlife – bears, raccoons etc. so it is a war of the sides for putting them up and tearing them down.

      Other areas have problems also with pets like rabbits or turtles.

      Thanks for being responsible :)

  5. I think it’s great that you were willing to take your boys and to even hold a snake! My husband and I went to the same show! Our little girl loves snakes. But that is probably because we have kept snakes longer than we have had her :)they are surprisingly easy pets.

  6. Oh my goodness! I think I could have touched it but not held it. My son’s birthday and my birthday are just one day apart. So….last year for my 50th and his 26th we went sky diving. So awesome but totally out of my comfort zone. We had a blast.

  7. I think that is so cool! I would like to hold a snake like that once. The heart tattoo is too cute! Ok, mine is going to sound lame to some, but not that long ago I swallowed a huge fear and went back up into the Arch for my kids. They waited a long time to do this because it scared me so bad as a child I have not done it since. It’s not being up there that bothers me, it’s the ride up in the little bubble car and the way it jiggles around as it’s ascending. We live in the St. Louis area so my kids have grown up seeing the Arch and they’ve been to it and the museum under, but this was their first ride up to the top. It wasn’t as bad as I remembered and we had a great time that day. I’ll do it again, but it will always make me nervous.

  8. Uhmmm … I’m weird :) I loved taking my son to those exhibits. No way we were ever going to have one of (insert any of them) in the house…EVAH…but a great chance to see them safely knowing we’d not see them in their natural habitat! Love the snake/giant octopus/shark movies….only things I can’t stomach are cockroaches and maggots. One thing I realized about doing these things? My son thought I was the coolest ever! It was worth it! :)

  9. I have a daughter who is crazy about reptiles and amphibians… but man, I don’t know about holding a snake!! They’re pretty much the only thing that freak me out!

    Kudos to you!

  10. umm…. no, I couldn’t! :) haha. I visit the pet store regularly with our lil’ ones but I avoid the reptile corner totally! As soon as I step foot close to it, I feel like they’ll crawl up my legs!!!!!! Good for you, though, Traci! I’m sure your boys were happy.
    P.S. I hate to bother you, but did you ever receive an email from me with a question about flooring? You don’t have to reply as we’ve gone ahead with it, but just wonder if I accidently sent a very personal email to a stranger! Or if you did get it…. :) thx!!

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