We never want to say goodbye to our pets for any reason.
We love our pets and treat them as members of our family. And yet, sometimes situations arise that make it necessary to find a better home for our pets than our own.
Many people view re-homing pets as a bad thing. They feel that bringing a pet into one’s home is a forever commitment and a vow to keep that pet forever. I understand this view.
I’ve had to re-home pets enough times that I have been through all the guilt, shame and sadness. I’ve emerged on the other side with the wisdom and confidence to say that sometimes re-homing a pet is the best decision for everyone – including the pets themselves.
Our personal view on this as a family is that when we bring pets into our home, we are committing to give them the best life we can AND, if life with us is ever not the best life for that pet, we are committing to find them the best life.
That’s what we’ve done in the past with a few of our beloved furry (and one feathered) family members, and that’s what we’ve done this week for Nagini, our amazing ball python.
We are sad to see Nagini go to a new home, but we know it’s best for her. We gave her an awesome life over the past few years and she has a long life ahead of her. We wanted to find her a home where she will get the attention and enrichment she deserves.
Families and lives change over time. Our primary driver for bringing Nagini home was Xage and their love of and interest in snakes. As Xage has grown up over the past few years, they have lost that interest in snakes.
There was an incident with our smaller, younger ball python about a year ago that could have contributed to this sudden loss of interest. Xage was “tagged” (accidentally struck at and bitten) by Daffodil while feeding her. It was neither the snake’s fault nor Xage’s, and they know that, but they never seemed comfortable with Daffodil after that.
Combined with our whole family’s dislike of feeding live rodents (something Daffodil the snake insisted on), it just wasn’t working out and so we found a great new home for Daffodil last year.
E and I both still love snakes and adore Nagini in particular, but with busy lives, jobs and other things going on, we often can’t give Nagini the attention or time outside of her enclosure that she deserves. That’s why we made the tough decision to re-home her.
We still have our smallest snake, Piglet the hognose, and he’s likely to stay with us for the foreseeable future. He’s a much smaller snake, he’s super easy to feed and he still gets held fairly often. Plus, he was the only one of our snakes that Xage paid for with their own money, so they feel especially attached to him.
I‘m happy to report that Nagini will be a celebrity of sorts in her new life. She’s going to live with the herpetologist who runs the Snakes Alive show at the Creation Museum just outside of Cincinnati.
If anyone is so inclined to visit the museum, you may see our sweet snake or even get to hold her as part of the educational program.
If that’s not a happy ending, I don’t know what is. We’re so glad Nagini will be in good hands with a professional who knows snakes and how to care for them. She’ll get plenty of enrichment in her new life. I so appreciate the friend who connected us with Rick and helped make this happen!
Have you ever had to re-home a pet? It’s never easy but with a little research and working through friends, you can usually find a caring, concerned person who is eager to take on a beloved animal.
As always, I’d love to hear your pet tales in the comments below or over on Facebook.
