I had to rehome my beautiful girl.

I got Lillith (children's python) 6 years ago as a hatchling and when I bought her, she wrapped the guy selling her to me. Was a definite bit of foreshadowing.

I handled her almost daily as a hatchling and well into her 4th year of life. However, when puberty started, she misplaced her brain, and her appetite filled the void. At first it was a bite every few weeks, to a bite every time as I was getting her out of her tank, to biting me when she was out of the tank, to striking at me when I was next to the tank, to striking at the TV, to biting me the day after a meal to just being completely unhandleable. And every time she bit me, she wouldn't let go for at least 3 hours. The only time I could safely be near her was when I had fed her and she was incredibly interested in her meal. It got to this point about a year or so ago.

Lillith is my first snake. So I am definitely not an advanced snake owner at all. I just couldn't keep her. I asked around at my pet store and vet if they knew what I could do, but all of their suggestions included taking her out of the tank and by that time I was genuinely scared of her. I talked to someone who used to work with the RSPCA about rehoming her, and she said they'd probably destroy her due to her personality. Which is definitely not what I wanted, because I love her. On Wednesday, I was watching her wander around the tank and I just went "I need to do something about her now. This isn't fair."

I found a local snake trading website and rang someone near me and asked if they would take her. He said yep. He told me that he just lost two snakes with neurological conditions who were 22 years old. He wouldn't put her down and would ensure she'd have a good life. I was crying.

I brought her to the guy and he took her out of the pillow case and said "she's not a children's. She's a spotted. No wonder why you're having this problem. These snakes can be very bitey."

The problem with Antaresia species is that they all look extremely similar. Like Neanderthals and homosapiens. Spotted pythons are slightly longer and a bit girthier than a children's, with less, but bigger spots. Like the conda morph in hognoses. Somewhere in her lineage, someone mistook her ancestors for a children's python, and nobody thought to question it, because she looked like a children's python.

Anyway, this guy has kept all sorts of hot Australian species, and still has all of his limbs (and more importantly, his life). He told me it was actually really good I surrendered her, because he needed a bitey snake that he could use to train people on how to handle them. He also said that she was extremely good for breeding and he might end up giving her to an ethical breeder who keeps his snakes in tanks. Or every six months he'll have her in the shop, and the other six months the breeder will have her.

One of the best things he said was that there was nothing I could do to change her personality, and that whenever he gets people surrendering their bitey snakes, they tend to have some sort of illness or poor condition due to being, well, bitey. He told me that she was one of the best conditioned animals to ever be surrendered to him and I should be proud of my husbandry. That made me feel so much better.

I am allowed to visit her at the pet store and she'll have a much better life with people who have the training to look after her.

I'll miss my Little Miss Munchalicious, but as a friend pointed out, what do you expect for naming a snake after the mother of demons?

I got Lillith (children's python) 6 years ago as a hatchling and when I bought her, she wrapped the guy selling her to me. Was a definite bit of foreshadowing.

I handled her almost daily as a hatchling and well into her 4th year of life. However, when puberty started, she misplaced her brain, and her appetite filled the void. At first it was a bite every few weeks, to a bite every time as I was getting her out of her tank, to biting me when she was out of the tank, to striking at me when I was next to the tank, to striking at the TV, to biting me the day after a meal to just being completely unhandleable. And every time she bit me, she wouldn't let go for at least 3 hours. The only time I could safely be near her was when I had fed her and she was incredibly interested in her meal. It got to this point about a year or so ago.

Lillith is my first snake. So I am definitely not an advanced snake owner at all. I just couldn't keep her. I asked around at my pet store and vet if they knew what I could do, but all of their suggestions included taking her out of the tank and by that time I was genuinely scared of her. I talked to someone who used to work with the RSPCA about rehoming her, and she said they'd probably destroy her due to her personality. Which is definitely not what I wanted, because I love her. On Wednesday, I was watching her wander around the tank and I just went "I need to do something about her now. This isn't fair."

I found a local snake trading website and rang someone near me and asked if they would take her. He said yep. He told me that he just lost two snakes with neurological conditions who were 22 years old. He wouldn't put her down and would ensure she'd have a good life. I was crying.

I brought her to the guy and he took her out of the pillow case and said "she's not a children's. She's a spotted. No wonder why you're having this problem. These snakes can be very bitey."

The problem with Antaresia species is that they all look extremely similar. Like Neanderthals and homosapiens. Spotted pythons are slightly longer and a bit girthier than a children's, with less, but bigger spots. Like the conda morph in hognoses. Somewhere in her lineage, someone mistook her ancestors for a children's python, and nobody thought to question it, because she looked like a children's python.

Anyway, this guy has kept all sorts of hot Australian species, and still has all of his limbs (and more importantly, his life). He told me it was actually really good I surrendered her, because he needed a bitey snake that he could use to train people on how to handle them. He also said that she was extremely good for breeding and he might end up giving her to an ethical breeder who keeps his snakes in tanks. Or every six months he'll have her in the shop, and the other six months the breeder will have her.

One of the best things he said was that there was nothing I could do to change her personality, and that whenever he gets people surrendering their bitey snakes, they tend to have some sort of illness or poor condition due to being, well, bitey. He told me that she was one of the best conditioned animals to ever be surrendered to him and I should be proud of my husbandry. That made me feel so much better.

I am allowed to visit her at the pet store and she'll have a much better life with people who have the training to look after her.

I'll miss my Little Miss Munchalicious, but as a friend pointed out, what do you expect for naming a snake after the mother of demons?