Yes you read that right – a python. A python named Decaf; I’m not certain of the details of his name as he came equipped with it.

Decaf, when I first acquired him, was very shy. He did the typical ball python routine and curled up doing his soccer ball imitation. He was really very good at it too. Rolled up tight, I couldn’t find his head or tail, and found myself having to be content with just holding this shy, rolled up ball of snake on my lap. But curiosity eventually got to him and he began to uncurl. At first it was slow going. He would pop his head out of his self-created ball and look around. I didn’t do anything but watch, letting him learn that it was safe and he could take his time. It didn’t take long. A snake that had been imported from an African jungle* was soon deciding that exploring was much more interesting than living in a self made ball.

Soon Decaf renounced his soccer ball days forever. In fact, he wouldn’t no matter what was going on. Kids running up near him, the dog barking in his face – nothing fazed him. He much preferred stretching out his 48 inches and exploring. That is how he found my coffee cup. I have a very large coffee cup. It is more like a soup bowl! It can hold a lot of coffee. It can also hold part of an inquisitive snake.

Decaf was on my shoulders, a favorite hang out place for him, while I was working on the computer. He loves the computer to begin with. I am not sure if it is the sounds or the lights or if he just has fallen in love with the keyboard, but he always will work his way down my arm and start in on the keys as I type. (This contributes to a lot of typos!) He noses around the keyboard and of course I repeatedly pick him back up on my shoulder. This is just a routine for us.

But one day, he discovered the coffee cup. After he had investigated the keyboard thoroughly and I repeatedly removed him from the keys, he decided to explore in other areas of the desk. That is when he found the cup. It was about half full then and of course it was warm. Back to the cold blooded idea – it was warm therefore his contact with it would make him warm. He became quite intent on meeting this cup up close and personal.

Now obviously 48 inches of snake is not going to fit inside the cup (which was occupied by the real deal meaning a hot cup of coffee, at the time anyway) but it was a great thing to curl up around. Only once did he stick his nose into it. He promptly decided coffee was not for him, but coffee cups, at least warm ones, were. He continues to curl up as much of the upper part of his body as he can around my cup, leaving his back half around my arm.

The only real downside is that I have to be very careful to not jump up from the computer with the snake attached on one end to the cup and on the other end to my arm. Coffee, cups, keyboards and snakes all flying in different directions is not my idea of a good time.

I do notice though, when I am working, with Decaf nosing about on the keyboard and looking for the coffee cup, that his intelligence and humor is more evident that I realized was possible in a reptile. I had originally bought Decaf on a whim, which isn’t something I recommend with pet ownership. He cost me over $250 in vet bills when he was ill and I really had no idea what owning a python would be like. Now I see that he has a great deal of personality that he is willing to share with me. It is unfortunate that pythons have “bad press.”

In the future, I’ll begin talking about snake ownership: What is involved, the issues and safety measures, how to care for them and more, so that your experience, should you decide to become a snake owner, will be a positive one. Both Boas and Pythons have many different subspecies and therefore many different considerations. I hope that you will find the information helpful as you either choose or care for the Boa or Python, or perhaps some other breed of snake, that will be part of your life.

_{*Currently it is not legal to import wildlife from outside of the country. This is a story I wrote when it was legal to import such creatures. If you are in the market for a snake, verify it is domestic bred.}