My daughter has been in my snake room from the time she first walked. I have pictures of her in diapers hanging out with me in the snake room. As far as what I tell her to say or what not to say? This is how I feel about it. I live way out in Eastern Long Island NY(10 minutes from the Hamptons)in a small neighborhood with about 75 houses piled on top of each other. Everyone knows everyones business. They all know I have the snakes. Was it the boaphile delivery with 30 four foot cages in my driveway that gave it away? Is it the monthly rodent delivery that gave it away? Or is it the one time my wife(or me for that matter) said something about the "snake room" to one of the neighbors that gave it away? It doesnt really matter because they all know I have them and not one of them has even been in my snake room. Before my daughter was born I kept two pairs of Eyelash vipers. Did I worry that my neighbors would drop the dime on me saying I have "dangerous snakes" in my house and the DEC would come in and find my illegal snakes? NO! Why? Because I went and researched it and obtained the proper permits. My point is this......no matter what we do for the most part.......we are outcasts! We love snakes and to most people thats not normal. If we keep it legal, it really doesnt matter what we keep. I would never tell my daughter to lie. As a matter of fact, I hear her bragging to her her little friends that she has snakes and Daddy has a snake room. She knows the rules, NO ONE goes into the snake room(its locked anyway) without daddy. Period. And the snakes never ever ever go outside! What scares me more than anything else in this ass backwards state is some un-trained DEC character getting the call that I have dangerous pythons in my house(nope I dont even own one), responding and not knowing a Boa from a Milksnake. THIS IS A VERY LIKELY SENARIO in the NY metro area anyway. This is why I keep a framed copy of the most recent NYS law on whats legal and whats not as well as copies of any of the permits I possess. They are hung on the wall in the room. If you're legal and smart, you wont have to tell the kids anything. And you will sleep better at night knowing that you didnt have to ask them to stretch the truth in any way. They learn quick so if daddy says its ok for me to lie about the snakes for a "good reason" maybe its ok for me to lie about school work or where I have been for the last two hours or blah blah blah, you get the idea. Thanks for listening to the long post. Mike Panichi



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honesty is my only policy

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