# Snakes - do the make sense as a pet? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 8, 2012, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-do-the-make-sense-as-a-pet/627584 "2012-07-08T04:35:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-do-the-make-sense-as-a-pet/627584/21 "2012-07-09T19:20:11Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I am convinced it is _impossible_ for one adult human being to truly give a parrot all the attention it needs and craves. I’m not entirely sure it’s possible for _two_ human beings to do that. Not disagreeing really with your point, but I have actually met one person who I’m pretty sure was managing it- met a guy with a cockatoo that he carried on his shoulder basically constantly during daylight hours. It was in Australia, he was a tour guide, and it was a native, fully flighted bird, so he could bring it to work. It wouldn’t go more than 20 feet away by choice, though he could get it to go sit up a tree for half an hour and amuse itself by squalking at the local birds, if he was really busy. Virtually no one else could pet it if he wasn’t there, but I think he said it liked his young neice, so she was back up if the bird outlived him. After seeing that, I really realised how much attention they need… It’d be like having a toddler that never grows up. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-do-the-make-sense-as-a-pet/627584/22 "2012-07-10T00:39:04Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Snakes are not pets-they are possessions, pure and simple. I have never seen a snake behave > edited to finish sentence: with any sort of affection towards it’s owner. I don’t want to highjack the thread, so I’ll simply state that this might not be a strict part of the definition of the term. I kept a “pet” crab in a nifty little terrarium/aquarium, and, while he never showed the least hint of affection, but I still consider it more than just a “possession.” Not really a debate, just showing the flag of polite disagreement. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-do-the-make-sense-as-a-pet/627584/23 "2012-07-10T01:20:29Z")
My kids each have one corn snake, and we enjoy them. They don’t take much room, we’ve bred them once, and their friends are interested. The guys at the local reptile store do say that they need some activity to maintain muscle tone. Holding a snake is a little more interactive than having a cat in your lap. I think Ball Pythons are a little less active, and therefore more boring, but to each his own… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snakes-do-the-make-sense-as-a-pet/627584.md?page=1)