Slither to Freedom

My topic is about something I don’t think a lot of people really care about. At first, I didn’t really care either. Actually, I just didn’t know anything about snakes and what they went through. A couple of months ago I really wanted to own a snake. I was super close to getting one. My dad and mom didn’t think it was a good idea but I still wanted one. I did a little research and everything seemed fine. Snakes are very cheap too, so I thought it was perfect for me. Then my mom started sending me articles about the things snakes go through and why it wasn’t good to have them as pets. I chose not to get one because I didn’t want to deal with my parents, not because I had realized it wasn’t good to own snakes. When the Y&TW project was introduced, the first topic that I came up with was this one. Why people should stop getting pet snakes. I thought it was going to be the easiest since I already had a couple of sources, and it was something I thought not many people would pick. However, I wasn’t personally very passionate about it. After a while of doing research for this project, I actually started caring more and really understanding some of the horrible things that pet snakes go through that not a lot of people actually know about.

Snakes are captured from their natural habitat to be transported to different continents, this process is sometimes very cruel and they are treated with very little care. Many die in the transportation process. Once they are sold to people that most of the time don’t have all the information needed to be able to provide their pet snakes with all of their needs, they are put into their new environment that is nothing compared to the experience they have in the wild. Tanks can’t provide snakes the necessary space they need to stretch, hunt and roam freely.

Example of the small enclosures snakes are kept in.

A lot of snakes sometimes try to escape their habitat which can be bad for them and the environment in multiple ways. They can experience trauma due to failed escape attempts and they can get hurt trying to escape. If they do successfully escape, they can cause the killing of native wildlife.

Breeders selective breed snakes in order to make different scale patterns, skin colors, and fur. This has various negative effects on snake’s physical and mental health. People that want to get snakes most of the time want them because their appearance is interesting or they just look cool. They don’t really pay attention to their needs. They view them as a “new hobby” or a “new collection” but not as a wild animal that isn’t meant to be domesticated.

Picture from a pet store.

It’s so normalized to have snake pets. You can just walk into a pet store and there are snakes sold there as if they were hamsters or dogs. My dad used to have snakes when he was little, and I have a couple of friends who have had or still have snakes. I think if people were more informed about everything a snake can go through from the moment they’re captured to when they’re bought, not as many people would buy them. They’re not an easy pet to have. They have complicated needs that most people just can’t provide for. I want more people to know about this because it’s really sad to know that this snake industry is so common after knowing the things snake pets go through.

Annotated bibliography