This girl brings me so much joy

Warning - if you don't like snakes, this post is not for you!

I have been waiting to do a nude photoshoot with my ball python, Goldie, until I understood her needs a bit better. I adopted her in February and it has taken me since then to begin to come to terms with some of the requirements of her reptilian nervous system. She didn't eat for TWO MONTHS! This was so agonizing! I thought that I just didn't have what it took to be a snake Mom. At one point, I pretty much gave up and took her back to the person I got her from.... and the first thing he did was feed her a LIVE rat, and that's how I learned that I have adopted a bougie snake who will not eat the frozen, re-warmed rats that I had been offering her. I was also worried that part of the problem was that I was handling her too much. Too much cuddling? So we took a break, and I left her alone for a while. And n0w, I am so grateful that she is eating, so we can cuddle again!

I had one of the most intense, ecstatic and visceral experiences of my life feeding her a large live rat about a month ago. That can be the subject of another post - NOT for the faint of heart.

Goldie is shy. Every time I get her out of her enclosure, she beelines for the nearest dark crevice that she can crawl into. She heads for safety and comfort, just like we do. Her reptilian nervous system is completely unapologetic about what it needs and wants. She just does what she does. If she needs water, she soaks in her tub. If she doesn't want to eat, she doesn't want to eat. And then, when she's hungry, wow does she go for it.

Being in contact with her slow and unapologetic nervous system and her strong, elegant, muscular body has such a calming and grounding effect on me. So when I got home from this recent trip to Toronto, I couldn't wait to hang out with her for a while.

Four pics with nips below - for premium members.