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Brenda Phiri Lifestyle Writer
Pets are among top friends of humans and it is easy to see why. They are loyal, cuddly, and at times so cute. That is why people become devoted to their favoured pets.
Dogs and cats are the most common pets but from the time the first goat was penned in Egypt thousands of years ago, there have always been less usual choices like monkeys, frogs and spiders.
You might think that is creepy, that’s not as unusual as it gets.
A city in Zimbabwe is home to a young man with unconventional pets – snakes!
The Herald Lifestyle learnt of John Marshal (not his real name) and hunted him out. He would only talk to us on condition that we protected his identity.
It is certainly something you do not see every day but in his own words, it is unorthodox and unorthodox is his thing. If he was white, people would brand him as eccentric, but being black, the mutters are about witchcraft and other such hocus pocus, but Marshall laughs off such insinuations:
“A snake can be a pet just like a dog or cat. It is not something that should be killed the moment that it is seen, like what most people do,” he said in an interview.
John’s spacious family home in a farming set up is a little haven for three crawly reptiles. Mucho and Michovich are his beloved rock pythons who share this Eden with a boa constrictor, Yore.
“I am not out to please anyone and people’s views do not matter to me,” he said about the stereotypes surrounding his lifestyle.
John has been fascinated by snakes from a tender age since he grew up in a family that used to keep them. A few of his friends have also taken up the hobby by taking on snake eggs to hatch their own creepy buddies.
John was rather sad when we met him. Only last week, he cremated one of his snakes, a cobra that had died from attacks by a wild cat. It is one of the few venomous snakes he has owned over the years.
“Not all of my snakes are venomous but I would remove the venom at least once a fortnight from the other snake. By that time, it would have generated enough venom to kill 12 people. I had to burn it when it died because of that,” he said.
It could be a relief that the remaining snakes are not venomous as he lets them roam around freely around the yard and in all rooms in the house.
“Snakes are shy and like to live freely. I just let them be and not put them in cages. Just like flies you can never really tell where they will be all the time. But most of the time, especially during the day, they slither in and out of the house through holes at the bottom of the doors. No one at my house has a problem with them,” he said.
Speaking on the snakes’ diet, John said they were not scavengers but hunted down rodents and other small animals from around.
“Since this side of town is rocky, the snakes hunt down rats from dump sites, squirrels and monkeys that are scattered around here,” he said.
Unlike other pets that are taken to the vet when they get injured, the snakes rely on Mother Nature as well as their biological make up.
“There is no vet or doctor that I can take the snakes to when they are injured but it is in the snakes’ nature to heal themselves. Shedding their skin helps wounds,” he said.
Perhaps this is why alternate healers always believe in snake oil!
While John maintains snakes are ordinary pets he does admit that they can be dangerous at times. Just like any other domesticated animal, he says they attack when provoked.
“Every animal retaliates when you intimidate it and snakes are no exception. I have scars from snake bites on my body but it is not that bad if the snakes are not poisonous,” he said.
He added that they have no special tricks but occasionally crawl around a person’s legs.
“At times they try to climb up my legs, especially when I am wearing slippery trousers,” he said.
It is a good thing that he does not have close neighbours as few would appreciate his lifestyle. Not many people visit the house in the first place and he has no problems with that!
“No one visits my house and it is good that way because visitors go about saying the wrong things. I am not an approval junky and have no intentions of living my life for other people. Words are too shallow to fully describe the experience of having snakes as pets and many people are missing out on it,” he said.
Marshall also has dogs which seem to exist in some form of peace with their slithery roommates.
So the next time you get caught up in a debate on which pet is better, don’t be surprised to hear someone saying they are a snake or crocodile person.
Online Reporter