NATURE'S CHILDREN: The python

Ivy had come to spend the night. We did all the usual things that grandmas do with three year olds. We colored and glued and read books. We played with play-doh and stuck stickers in a book. Then we decided to take a walk in the backyard. We pretended that we were in the jungle. We walked along quietly to sneak up on wild animals. An ant became an elephant. A squirrel was a tiger. A frog sitting by the goldfish pond morphed into a Nile cocodile, and the goldfish were piranahs, the fruit eating kind. Then we walked behind the rock wall into an area that is a bit overgrown and somewhat neglected. I held Ivy's hand as we tiptoed along. And there in front of us, stretched out to his full 4 foot length, was Slim, our resident blacksnake. My first reaction was to snatch Ivy up and get back to the house, but something told me to just stop and let Ivy experience that snake. We watched as Slim became aware of us and crawled away slowly. We followed him for a bit, our hands mimicking the curving path he took through the leaves. Then I suggested we let Slim go on his way. We continued our walk....in the opposite direction.

Fast forward, and that little three year-old was turning six. The party was loud and crazy until the reptile guy arrived. The children got quiet and gathered around to watch the progression of reptiles that emerged from cages and aquariums. Then, the peice de resistance, a 10 foot albino reticulated python. (At this point, we lost a couple of moms who abadoned their childen and ran outside.) The reptile guy asked if Ivy wanted to hold the snake. Ivy nodded enthusiastically and the reptile guy draped the snake around my grandchild's neck! Ivy grinned and the other children oohed and ahhed.

Ivy is 20 now, a sophomore at VCU, majoring in Biology, still enamored with all sorts of

creepy-crawlies. I can't take credit for this. But I do wonder if Ivy's acceptance of reptiles would be different today if I had screamed when we walked up on Slim.

Betsy Saunders

December 1, 2025