Cold-blooded attraction
Pet snake gives students another reason to visit the library
While the snake can currently fit in the palm of librarian Chelsea Hamilton’s hand, corn snakes can grown up to about 5 feet long. On a steady diet of mice and other small rodents, Snapey Snake will reach full size in about 7 years.
Librarian Chelsea Hamilton holds Snapey Snake, who can usually be found in his terrarium. According to Reptiles Magazine, corn snakes are great pet snakes, who usually hold a calm composure, and typically have a good temperment around people.
A new and unusual addition campus, a five month old corn snake named Snapey Snake is now in the library. Students can now check out books, along with the new reptilian pet during Friday feeding sessions in advisory.
In the wild, snakes can often be found behind logs and under rocks. To replicate that, snake owners can put a variety of hiding places into their snake tank, including small sticks and little rocks for snakes to curl up under.
There is a huge variety of snake species, all with different coloration and mannerisms, but all snakes have detachable jaws, and no eyelids. Having a jaw this flexible lets snakes eat prey as big as their own head.
Snapey Snake sticks out his tongue, to get a feel for the environment around him. Making them an incredible predator, snakes use their tongue to pick up odor particles in the air, and track down prey in the area.
It’s not meant to be a Halloween scare, but this year, the library introduced a more unusual, and slightly controversial animal to campus: a slithery serpentine.
His name: Snapey Snake.
People are now more likely to see the other interesting things in here besides the snake, and it gets more people into the library,
— library aide Mycah Robins
“I have always wanted a class pet, or a library pet, but they’re all very high maintenance, and I’m not a very high maintenance person,” Hamilton said. “I started to think about a pet that is very low maintenance, so I thought of a snake. Over the summer, I asked admin if I could have it, and they didn’t say no, so I went out and I bought one.”
51 percent of Americans have a fear of snakes with freshman Emma Zubov in the majority.
“I don’t like it,” she said. “I don’t like snakes. They’re really not my favorite animal.”
Some staff members are weary of the snake as well, but assistant principal Phil Brown thinks that it’s a good opportunity for students, even if he isn’t a big fan.
“It is great for students to explore, and experience, but it would not be my personal choice to deal with it, Brown said. “I think it gives kids that added benefit of seeing things that aren’t normally in school, but they really aren’t my favorite creature to have to deal with. I’m not a big fan, but I hope that Ms.Hamilton likes it, and the students do to.”
The three month old corn snake wasn’t Hamilton’s first choice for a library pet, but she’s warmed up to this cold-blooded reptile.
“For a while I wanted a rabbit, but I’m allergic to rabbits, so that didn’t work out. The best ideal pets, for me, would be a library cat, but we could just have a cat in there either,” Hamilton said. “Even though those other animals would be cool, I love having the snake. He eats once a week, he eats frozen mice. I change his water every few days, and I change the stuff in the bottom of his cage every few months, so he’s just is super chill.”
I think it gives kids that added benefit of seeing things that aren’t normally in school,
— assistant principal Phil Brown
Checking out Snakey Snape during his Friday feeding sessions is becoming a thing, bringing people into the library than ever.
“A lot more people will come in here now,” library aide Mycah Robins said. “They’re like ‘Oh my god there’s a snake in here.’ People are now more likely to see the other interesting things in here besides the snake, and it gets more people into the library.”
Maddie Aronson is a senior, and joined Wingspan her junior year. She loves attention, oreos, and fun earrings, and is looking forward to a career in environmental...
