Tiamat was given to me as a gift in replacement after my pet tarantula, Lilith, carked it one very, very hot summer evening. I didn't know she was coming, nor did I have any input in the matter. She just arrived one morning in a box stamped "LIVE CARGO", and when I carefully opened it she was curled up among some wads of paper, a little cold but no worse for the wear. She poked her little nose up at me, flicked her tongue, and was instantly the cutest baby snake I had ever seen.
After parting ways with the man who gave her to me, I brought her, another rosy boa called Copper (who didn't survive the drive... I hope he enjoys Montana where he is buried), my two cats and two cockatiels. I found a home for the cockatiels, but Tia proved harder to get a home for.
She has spent time in the house of a friend, who despite hating snakes was willing to take her because my Mom isn't terribly informed about them and didn't want them in the house. My friend trumps my Mom in this regard. Considering I felt forced to take her because of the threats to simply release her in the back yard (where she would have frozen to death or been eaten) I often felt mixed feelings about having her. Having a parent who decided to make my life more difficult by barring her from the home when I wasn't even on my feet yet after what was the most traumatic period in my life compounded all of this.
So I loved the snake. I thought she was beautiful and graceful. But I hated the person who had dropped her in to my life without warning, then refused to take responsibility for her after kicking me out of his life. And when I looked at her I saw both things, which wasn't fair to her.
It is interesting to me that it took me this long to finally get someone to take her. In a time when I am coming to terms with Seattle and all the various junk that occurred, now was the only time I could part with her and feel okay about it. After countless newspaper ads and 4 moves, she has found a home with someone who can watch her and take better care of her than I can.
He was a nice guy. He reached in and picked her up with no gloves on, and she stayed calm in his hands. He inspected her, asked what coloration she was and where I'd gotten her from, how old she was... standard info. He gave me his resume'...a breeder of boas and various snakes, he intended to find her a mate shortly and give her food 3 times a week like he did with his other snakes. She would get a boyfriend and experience having offspring, something I thought was more healthy for her in the long run since her parents were taken out of the desert. She wasn't built to be a pet for amusement, and her systems still wanted her to do what they would have in the wild. I'd watched her crawl around her case many a February trying to obey that call to find a mate. Now she'll have one, and it is uncannily perfect timing to boot.
I liked the guy even though he was a total stranger. He offered to send me photos of her when he got her set up, photos of her boyfriend, and of her first clutch. I was grateful. By the time he pulled out of the driveway I was so happy with how he was going to take care of her that I didn't even cry. (Crying was last night.)
Good luck, Tia... thanks for walking this far with me. Releasing you has let me release other things in my life. We're both going to have an awesome life.
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