Hee. That was strange_fire's exact response too, over AIM. And yes, my father has a snake, and I visit him (the snake, that is) ocassionally. He (the snake, that is) is a seven-and-a-half foot long, thirty-something year old trinket snake (a kind of rat snake from India), and his name is Mr. Snake. Used to be Figment, but he outgrew it. We even have a vet's hospital card for him.

My father got him from an old friend of the family who lent him to us to snakesit while he was travelling in Europe, and quietly never took him back. That was back when my brothers were about the right age for snakes, in his opinion. This is the same friend who used to order boa constrictors by mail when he was young.