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Hey guys! As no doubt most of us have experience with several types of terrarium animals I have a weird request for you guys and that's to help me reassure my Mom she has nothing to worry about. You know, get some outside input. I have a ton of terrarium animals and although I don't see myself getting one particularly soon one creature that I've wanted for many, many, many, many, many years and that is a ball python. Thing is currently I live on the upper floor of my parents house and my Mom has been super nice and a great sport tolerating all of these different creatures I've brought in and she actually likes them a lot. Thing is though, even though she doesn't mind snakes (I already have a garter snake,) she's convinced that a ball python, if it escaped it's enclosure, would harm our family's little pug even though I know for a fact that it's not going to eat him or even injure him. Sure pugs are tiny but he's still 20 pounds. I keep telling her "Mom, you're thinking of a Burmese python or larger, just maybe even a very big carpet python though that's doubtful." I've told her that in terms of size ball pythons barely deserve to be called pythons. Though I've heard rumors of exceptional females reaching 6 feet the largest I can confirm are 5 footers and they average about 3 feet. Still she reasonably argues that it's not size that's the problem, it's power. While that's certainly a fair point and they do share the muscle of any constrictor I've told her that for one thing their prey is well under 20 pounds and I have my doubts even a big one could swallow something that big and also if Petey (our pug) were to get on the python's nerves or somehow cause him/her to feel threatened, constrictors don't squeeze out of self defense, only to hunt. He/she would simply harmlessly bite Petey, it would hurt and he would get the message to stay away. He wouldn't be in any danger whatsoever. I wouldn't even let him/her near Petey when I took him/her out and if it escaped (which is highly unlikely anyway with a decent enclosure) an animal that size would first of all be easy to track down and find and secondly I think it would itself be in more danger from my 70 pound German wire-haired pointer that the pug would be from it. I won't get one if it really will make her that uncomfortable and fearful for Petey regardless of what I say and I've even offered to try and get a smaller male but as a last ditch effort does anybody here have any input that will calm her nerves about the idea?
