Mascot Nominee

My nomination goes to the Red Tail Boa Boa constrictor!

Many of you may have looked at this picture and thought "Hmm, I've seen that before." Well, you have! One of my fellow classmates has also nominated the Red Tail Boa on this blog. I also wrote my first ever blog entry on the natural histories of the Ball Tail Python and the Red Tail Boa because I had difficulty distinguishing the differences between the two species. But here I am writing about Boa constrictor again! This time to nominate this beautiful creature as our class herp mascot.

The reason for this nomination is that many of us in this class had found holding herps or even touching them to be scary, frightening or simply down right gross. Me being one of those skeptics. Then we were all introduced to Rosie at the Aquarium on a field trip. I know I was scared to hold such a huge constrictor and even got a bit nervous when I saw her wrapping around the chest of someone who was brave enough to carry her on his shoulders. I thought I was about to witness someone get choked to death by this snake! But then my fellow classmates kindly encouraged everyone who hadn't held her yet by saying: "If Britney Spears can do it, so can you." So naturally, I went for it. It was such an awesome experience. She was heavy but wow, she was so gorgeous. I have to admit I was quite smitten by this snake. So were several others. After those of us who held Rosie, we went for grabbing the juvenile alligators and holding them (something I thought I would never do!). After that we all wanted to hold or pet all the herps that were before us (not the poisonous ones of course). Meeting this Red Tail Boa sort of changed a lot of our lives. Many of us got over fears and anxiousness of slimy, slithering, creepy-crawly's and for that, I nominate the Red Tail Boa as our class mascot.

If you feel meeting Rosie changed your perspective on herps too, feel free to continue nominating the Red Tail Boa. The more nominations, the easier it will be for this amazing herp to be our class mascot. Also post your picture of your experience with her!

TEAM RED TAIL BOA