Happy Fall Equinox!

Happy fall equinox!

Bonus: gorgeous Japanese anemone flower!

i mean would you just look at them.

This guy looked at me once and my soul was his.

This is beyond true! I’ve had pet snails and I could listen to them eating all day long. They make such soothing and cute munch munch noises

A lot of people claim snakes don't like being pet and will only, at best, learn to tolerate it. Not sure where they got that idea. Scoria will actually ask for pets!

She will pet herself with her chin to ask me to pet her, and either relax or continue to help me pet her when I do. (This is after I had been petting her, she's asking for more pets.) Once she's had enough pets, she'll often pet me! ...or wander off to explore, haha.

I suppose in her world I'm doing something nice for her that feels good, and she wants to do the same for me. < 3

If I were to guess about this behavior, since mentioning it to other hognose caretakers and it seems to be unique to Scoria, it's probably learned behavior branching off of a natural behavior. Snakes can learn by watching and mimicking behavior. I see her sister learn from her, and she probably learned to pet herself and me by mirroring me petting her. I also think it is similar to a natural behavior- when hoggies greet each other they twitch and then rub their bodies so over the other. My guess is they are rubbing the oil on their bellies on the other snake, and I am rubbing the oil from my fingers on her so we both get each other's scent.

That's just an educated guess partially based on a study where snakes could identify themselves by belly oil scent, and watching snakes greet each other. But it would be interesting to hear if anyone else has experienced something similar.

So, if I'm correct... My baby girl has accepted me as an honorary snake family member. Aww <3 It's family love!

This is literally how I make all my art

i love listening to MUSIC!!!!!! and imagining things happening