English Observation Final Draft (Portfolio)

My snake is a graceful, placid one, and she is used to many kinds of people. I got her when she is quite small, and I have always wanted a pet reptile. Reptiles are my favorite kind of animal and I admire their appearance. My snake is a corn snake is a variation called anerythristic. It is an opposite of an albino, which means instead of a lack of dark pigment, she has an excess. Normally a corn snake is a variety of different oranges, reds, yellows. They have a black and white underbelly in a checkerboard pattern. My snake is black, brown, and grey, with a checkerboard belly. There is no special attention concerning too much UV light like an albino would need. It is neat that such a different variation of the same animal doesn’t have anything hampering it.
She likes to lay under the glow of her lamp, her black and grey scales brightly reflecting the light, contrasting to her dull colored hide. She calmly rests on her checkerboard colored belly absorbing the warmth of the light. When she has absorbed enough she fluidly slides away from the heat. Almost like a miniature river of sand, she grinds down towards the floor of the terrarium, moving slowly yet gracefully. She then wedges herself into her cave, avoiding the heat and relaxing again.
When I approach the terrarium she turns her unblinking reptilian eyes toward me, soon turning her whole wedge-shaped head too. When I reach in, she simply looks up; ignoring what would be a sign of danger in the wild. Lifting her out of tank, her still growing weight is starting to become apparent. A few months ago she is as heavy as a tissue box. Now she is the weight of two apples, but when fully grown she would be as heavy as a grapefruit. Once in my hands she does not flee, she simply wraps around getting a good hold. Far from the killing squeeze she uses on her prey, more like a secure grip to keep from slipping off. Secure in her hold, she glides across my fingers toward the next hand.
I then sit to the floor, letting my snake slowly slide to the floor. When she reaches the ground she winds from side to side, gliding across the carpet at moderate speed. Almost like a living stream she flows across the ground, clearly not hampered by the lack of limbs. When she approaches the wall, she turns to the side and the rest of her body follows like a miniature train. After a while of her venturing around, she starts to cool down and loses some steam and starts to slow.
Soon she goes to sun in the light from a window a few times to resume her activities, and then it is time for her to go back. Picking her up with both hands then walking her back, she is reluctant to go back in. After some coaxing she coils up under her lamp, waiting for another time to go loose in the house. After warming up again, she waits on her branch, almost looking like a large lump of rock on a tree.
When night comes the lights go out, and she then goes into her cave. Heated slightly from underneath, it is still a bit cooler than her bright lamp. Slowly drifting off to sleep, her eyes can’t be closed and she seems eerily awake. When morning comes she repeats the cycle of warming and heating, waiting for me to take her out again.
When another person holds her it is the same, just another human to let her wander. Sliding around as if there is no difference in people, she fears nobody, and never has problems with any people.