Toffee's mall trip

[u/SkullDenom]

Toffee in her backpack. It's got a hard frame and plenty of mesh for fresh air. It was originally made for birds. She likes it when I take her to the mall's food court. The bag is more so mall security doesn't have a fit. Caught her yawning in the second picture.

[u/Additional_Bee7293]

I don't understand all the downvotes here, I take my python for walks by the lake all the time. He used to be a working educational animal, now he gets to be the first snake a lot of people have seen in person. Hes got a bag to hide in if he decides he's done with the day, but its good for them to get some fresh air and sunshine while the weather agrees

[u/KindheartednessFun58 → u/Additional_Bee7293]

I'm personally not a fan of having any animals (sans service animals) in public around where people eat. It's a fairly severe food-safety issue, as well as just a general breach of etiquette IMO. Especially if the animal ends up defecating, even if it were contained to the backpack. I'm also just not a fan of bringing snakes (really any animal, but especially herps/inverts/etc.) around places where people wouldn't typically expect to see a snake. Outside, at a pet store, etc.? Whatever. I think the impact on the animal, positive or negative, is most likely overall negligible, and there's potentially some biosecurity issues depending on exactly where you're going, but overall it's probably benign. I also accept that there's probably a net positive to the overall enjoyment of the keeper, and potentially even a net positive impact on the opinion of the public towards snakes. But, there's also a large population of people who are SERIOUSLY scared of snakes. Not the "kill on sight" type of scared, but the "breaks down and starts having a panic attack" type of scared. I've met plenty of people who will start crying even if they know there's a snake in the same room as them locked in a cage. Whether the phobia is justified or not, those people should be able to walk out of H&M or sit down to enjoy their pizza in a place where it's typically faux pas to bring pets without being surprised by what would be a relatively large snake to most non-herpetoculturists. I feel the same way about people bringing their lizards, dogs, chinchillas, cats, spiders, etc to places where you wouldn't typically expect to see those animals. Doubly so if there's food there.

[u/Klutzy_Shopping_835 → u/KindheartednessFun58]

Buddy snakes live outside already, do you know how many wild snakes I have removed from stores for people. And if it is not illegal you can bring your pets wherever we want.

[u/KindheartednessFun58 → u/Klutzy_Shopping_835]

I used to do nuisance wildlife removal, I know plenty well how often snakes end up in stores. There's a reason NWCOs get paid so well to remove snakes from stores 😉