After taking my kids to school this morning I was sitting on the couch. I glanced over and saw one of my special radixes(upstairs TLC enclosure) coming out of her hide. She looked around as if she was taking in her surroundings. As she made her way to the water dish for a morning drink I was captivated by her movement. Now, I've seen hundreds if not thousands of snake move before but today was different. For the first time I saw how fluid she was, how seek her movement was. Every muscle working in harmony, propelling this legless creature. Once at the water dish she lowered her mouth into the water and began to drink. I watched as the muscles pulled the water in. After her drink she looked up. By that time I had moved right up on the enclosure. She looked at me, not startled at all but more with an acknowledging look. She moved over to my face and we just stared at each other. I of course was doing a lot of talking to her. She was also talking. That "feed me" look. I keep a readily available supply of worms up stairs for occasion such as this. As I stood up I continued to watch her. She didn't flinch or bolt. She turned her head to follow me. She watch my face until I reached for the worm container. As my hand moved away from my body she watched it only. Then I saw something amazing. She stopped looking at my hand and instead looked at the worm container. As I grabbed the container she followed it until I reached in to get a worm. Then all attention was on my hand. As I lower the worm down to her she stretched up to meet me. She took the worm and in that ever efficient motion swallowed it down. After another small worm she made her way back to her hide.
I am a blessed man to have this opportunity. That brief interaction was a chance for me to connect to this wonderful animal.
My shoulder injury has been a god sent. This time I've had has allowed me to really see things through their eyes. To watch and be part of their interactions with me. To watch their interactions with each other. To see their language in action. To have a snake come over to me and allow me to rub and scratch their back. To see them bristle the same way my own children do when I rub their backs. This isn't the mindless interaction of an animal that just happened to move close enough for me to do this. But an animal that purposely came out to me and went under my hand and stopped. They don't bolt when I touch them or appear panicked in any way.
Do they like it? I think they do. Do they seek out that interaction? I think they do.
They also have good days and bad days. There are days I want to interact with them and they are not in the mood.
This Thamnophis thing we do is something special. I only hope I do my snakes justice for the freedom they have given up. I think we all need to slowdown and really watch and feel our snakes. They have so much to offer us. Many times we miss it because we are rushed to get things done. Our schedules become so full we miss these beautiful opportunities to see all the beauty these snake possess.
I think we all need to get in touch with our snake side

Thanks for reading the ramblings of a totally addicted garter snake person.