Tag: snake

Shadow

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It’s a snake. She’s black too, but the kind of black the night sky is. She’s dark. She’s vivid. She’s powerful.

She’s real. She can never leave you, and sometimes, you want her to leave you. She can be your strength, and she can be your weakness.

She speaks your mind when you lose it, she’s there when your sibling’s a bother, she’s there when you don’t understand something.

She fights. She will fight hard, and when you think she’s done fighting, she will fight even more.

Her enemy is Conscience. Conscience makes her mad, and Conscience makes her strong. She fights Conscience with all she has.

The longer she fights, the less control she possesses. She looses herself in an effort to protect, she grows stronger and out of control.

Fangs, venom, whipping tail, flared hood, she fights Conscience and eventually she fights you. Your body turns from heavy to angry.

She is Anger. Anger must be held back. She must be held back. Nothing can hold back Anger.

She rises, hissing, spitting, glowing, menacing, fighting Conscience and fighting you. She’ll fight you and everyone and everything around you.

DESTROY

Her Anger will infect you.

ATTACK

You will be a danger to be around.

KILL

You can’t fight fire with fire. You must drown it with water.

Imagine never finding water.

For Sake of the Snake (part 2)

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After that snake incident, I soon began watching Austin Steven’s Adventures on Animal Planet. He specialized in reptiles, which was the main reason I watched his shows. My interest in snakes was growing, and I began to ask my parents for my own pet. I wasn’t allowed a snake at first, so I got a bearded dragon instead, whom I named Tanny. A few weeks later I went back and was allowed to get a black and white banded Californian Kingsnake, and I very creatively named her Shadow Mist. Shadow for short.

I was kinda nervous about Shadow at first. I didn’t want to get bit and I always used gloves when handling her. After a month or so I just thought “screw this” and I gave up on being cautious. She only struck at me a few times and I had never gotten bit by her. She was a beautiful little snake, and had a little white star on her forehead.

After school I would head straight for her enclosure and drape her around my neck before writing in my journal. She would just lay there motionless as I wrote, absorbing the little heat I could put out and watching the movements of my pencil.

Tanny died a few months later, but I still had Shadow.

About a year and a half later I had to leave for OVS, and leaving her behind was upsetting for me. Did my parents know how to take care of her? What if my cat got her? What if she got lost? She got lost often due to a faulty enclosure but I would always find her in odd spots. Once I didn’t even realize she was lost until I spotted her on my doorknob. Scared me to death, that little stunt did.

Anyways, during my first Christmas break I finally went back to China to visit. Our cat and dog were ecstatic to see me, but somehow, it was like Shadow knew I had come back to visit. Her body was pressed up against the glass of the enclosure, and she lifted her body up vertically and did the weird dance that many cobras do while flaring their hoods. I took her out immediately and she never struck.

About a year later I asked about her and my mom said that she had escaped and they couldn’t find her. “When?” I asked. “Oh, six months ago.”

I MEAN WHAT. If a little girl’s pet gets lost or died, maybe you could say something like “he ran away,” or “doggy went up to heaven,” but I was freaking 15! You can’t just… Not tell me when something that important to me disappears!

I haven’t gone back to China since Freshman Christmas. Now I’m a Junior, and this Christmas my brother and I are going back to China for a little bit. I like to think that Shadow’s still in the house somewhere, watching the family from the cracks in the ceiling and eating any stray mice that come along. Maybe sometime in college I’ll get another snake.

My dream job is what Austin Steven’s doing. If I get bit? I’ll suffer, but I’ll have to trust modern medicine, I guess.

Now thinking about it, I feel like my favorite animal is the snake after all.

For Sake of the Snake (part 1)

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It was 9:30 at night, maybe 10:00. I was reading intensely, as I usually do, but was quickly brought out of my concentration by the muffled noises coming from our first floor. I quietly snuck out of my room and sat on the top of the staircase, peering between the hollow metal bars of the railing and wondering why my mom and nanny were fretting in front of our window.

I continued to sneak down, careful to avoid creaky steps, and crawled atop the dog-haired couch to see what was behind the window. The window was the size of the wall, allowing us to see much of what goes on outside, but for the moment, all our interest was focused on a shadowy figure at the rightmost corner of the window.

It was around wintertime, sometime between November and February (wide range, I know), so the heaters of our house were on and the windows were like sheets of ice. There, huddled sadly in the corner, was a large, black snake.

I think that was the first real snake I ever saw in my life.

In my hours within Animal Planet I had watched many shows on snakes, as well as picture books and book mentions. I had always been fascinated by them, so that night, my 10-year-old self was in a shock from seeing that creature.

My nanny grew up on a farm, where snakes are her bane. My mom didn’t like that snake sitting there and “endangering” our family and dogs, so they were wondering the best way to shoo it away. My nanny took a boot and whacked the window with it, which caused the snake to hiss and strike on the window.

I woke up the next morning wondering if it was a dream. To this day I’m still wondering, but either way it doesn’t matter. And now, with my incredible knowledge of snakes, I conclude that the window snake was a black rat snake.

The Reptile Room

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The Reptile Room was warm. Very warm, and filled with slithering reptiles and crawly lizards.

“You have to stay quiet,” hushes the counselors, “you have to stay five feet away from each other while holding a reptile, and make sure you sit down onto the ground so you don’t drop them. Make sure they stay away from your neck, too.”

On a hot day the Reptile Room could be dreaded due to its warmth. On the rare cold day campers would gratefully huddle in the warmth and perhaps peek at a snake or lizard.

During the first week of camp I “adopted” the Speckled Kingsnake. Her name was Carly, and she was sort of vicious. For the first few days she was fine. For some reason, a few days in, she would begin to squirm in my hands and try to bite me, but would actually bite herself instead.

I was scared for her, I really was. I see pictures on the internet of snakes eating themselves and it genuinely scared me. I quickly put Carly back in her enclosure and worry. I would stand there and watch her watch me and just worry. She was a wild-caught, which may be the root of her frightening quirks.

That’s when I began to take Legolas out, and despite what everyone said about him, he was tame. After my trauma with Carly I would sit on the dirty ground with Legolas puffing in my hands and watch the other campers interact with their reptiles.

Most of the campers sit with their friends and choose compatible snakes. Other people, like me, choose solitary snakes and have to sit alone.

During the last week of camp I adopted a Prairie Kingsnake, named Molly. She was tamer than Carly but was still slightly twitchy. I would clean her enclosure, replace her water, then take her out and hold her for about 10 minutes before switching to either Legolas or a Leopard Gecko.

My best friend had become infatuated with Leopard Geckos, affectionally calling them Geckard Lepos, and would take out two at a time and let them sit on his chest. The room was warm and I always felt a slight worry that he would fall asleep and roll over the Geckos. He never did though.

Right next to the Reptile Room was the Small Animal Room. Whose great idea was that? And right next to the Small Animal Room was the Cat Room. Whose great idea was that?

Legless Legolas

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There are snakes, and there are legless lizards.

Legless lizards are not snakes, they are legless lizards.

Legless lizards have eyelids while snakes do not. Snakes can unlock their jaw while legless lizards can not.

Snakes can use their belly scales to move around while legless lizards can only move with a side-to-side motion while also pushing up against something.

Russian Glass Lizard

Legolas was said to be one of the most vicious animals in our Reptile Room. The stories told was that the second you opened up his enclosure he would shoot out and bite your face.

I was not told of this little issue when I asked to take Legolas out, and neither did the current counselor in the room. I picked Legolas up with no problem at all and sat down onto the ground. Legolas simply laid there in my arms flicking his eyes back and forth to look at the many other reptiles occupying the room. His body was also much more leathery and stiff than a snake’s, as legless lizards’ bodies are much more muscled and has less movement dexterity.

The next day I asked to hold Legolas, but as this counselor had heard of his little antics I was not granted permission until I convinced her that I have held him before with no problems at all.

Legolas was a Russian Glass Lizard and had a very distinct slit starting from the neck and leading to the tail. When they get agitated they inhale deeply and puff up their scaly little bodies to scare away any potential enemies.

The counselor next to me seemed to be an enemy to Legolas so he puffed up and made a peculiar wheezing noise. I quickly scooted away from her and he relaxed instantly, laying quietly on my lap and continuing to eye the other animals in the room.

Legolas

Something about Legolas’s stiff body and behavior and such judgeful eyes made him one of my favorite creatures in that Reptile Room, also because not many other campers would like to handle such a ferocious creature.

A snake bites a tiger

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4g4g

The nation that rides the East and the West is a serpent to all.

It is large, powerful, and not easily defeated.

Not even the western tiger can hope to quell its fang.

Kindness, grace, or even hope for the future does not calm the serpent’s fury.

It must bite and poison all of mankind to be satisfied.

No law is strong enough, no punishment is harsh enough.

The western tiger claws at its elongated body, the serpent squeezes tighter.

The western tiger loses breath, and begins to fall.

The tiger pleads for compromise, the serpent’s squeezing stops.

They return to their lands and the cycle begins again.

A Blackened Journey

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fefr

A man covered in soot walks into the desert.

He goes there, not to stain the desert with his blackness.

But to make peace between a fox and a snake.

A leader angry and dejected receives the blackened man.

Do the talks go well?

Yes the man and a leader walk arm and arm.

Their cooperation brings a sense of security to the desert.

Not all are happy however.

The snake bites repeatedly stabbing the man with his fang.

The leader and the blackened man do not care.

They part ways but remember each other.

Both will never forget what they promised.

The Snake’s Defiance

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veve

The snake slithers quietly rattling a warning to all.

The snake does not care about the other animals but wishes to instill fear.

For a while the other animals do not heed the snakes  warning.

It is not until the snake strikes, impaling a rabbit with its fang do the animals heed its warning.

The snake is not finished, its venom is a poison that spreads through the hearts of other creatures.

The animals decide something must be done.

They exclude the snake from the jungle forcing it to find its own food and comfort.

Many of the snakes’ eggs die, the snake vows to never forget this injustice.

One day the snakes descendent will bite and engulf the hope of others.