ORANGE CENTRAL WESTERN DAILY (Orange, Australia) 07 July 08 Snakes the latest accesssoriesss (Tracey Prisk)
Brad Wilkie has wanted to own a pet snake “ever since he was a young fella” and now he and his partner Amme Jones share their home with two pythons and a bearded dragon, making them just one of a growing number of households choosing to keep reptiles as pets.
Despite the growing trend, both Ms Jones and Mr Wilkie admit that their fondness for reptiles has cost them more than a few friends.
“Lots of people who find out about the snakes think its disgusting and call us freaks,” said Ms Jones.
“Yeah friends don’t come round so often,” agreed Mr Wilkie.
“We don’t care. They’re awesome pets, and they’re really low maintenance,” said Ms Jones.
In fact Ms Jones is so taken by her pet snake that she even lets him cuddle up in bed with her and enjoy the warmth of her electric blanket.
Ms Jones and Mr Wilkie say their parents are slowly coming round to the idea with both of their fathers even going so far as to hold the snakes themselves.
According to Mr Wilkie buying the reptiles proved an expensive exercise with both Darwin carpet snake Tonka and blond spotted python Rouge costing between $300-$400 each.
When fully-grown Tonka will be 1.8 meters long while Rough will eventually hit the 1 meter mark.
Orange Petbarn’s manager Peter Rossetto said he believes that as many five per cent of Orange residents keep reptiles as pets, and that number is ion the rise.
“They’re very easy to look after and people who have them really love to show them off,” said Mr Rossetto.
“Over time you really grow to like them; they’re pretty cool.”
Petbarn stocks a range of food and products pitched at the reptile-owner market including boxes of live crickets, woodies (cockroach like bugs) and frozen rats and mice.
Most of the reptiles also require UV light to keep their body temperatures balanced.
Ownership of the animals requires a licence which can be obtained via the National Parks and Wildlife Services.
Snakes the latest accesssoriesss