Snuggling with Snakes

A long hiss in my ear followed by the silence of inhalation followed by another seemingly endless exhale on my neck. As the breath is expelled my friend pauses before I feel the shift of his ribs, expanding to increase his air intake.

The first time his breath touched me it tickled. The hiss of releasing air sped my heart rate and all of a sudden I'm wondering if snakes hiss before they strike like cats do. For what feels like twenty seconds it's all I can think and all I can do to lie still and stay calm. It was on the second inhale when I felt his body adjust to increase intake, I realized this boa was far from strike mode. He was basking in my warmth, tucked between my legs, under the small of my back, wound over my warm pit, the snake was snuggling me.

May I be held in loving kindness.

On the third exhale I heard the message.

Just breathe. Slow down and breathe. Breath is all there is.

Fitting message from a constrictor.

Holding him in my arms felt awkward when I allowed my intellect to try to figure out how it would all go. Was he slimy? Would he slip? 70lbs is a LOT for my small frame. We had a tiff. He started to slip and I started to freak and we needed an intervention. Then I remembered his reactivity level was based on his foundation. In this case, I was his foundation. The second I wavered, the second my heart started pulsating, he knew. Of course he began to fall as I began to follow the rabbit down into the abyss of seeking to control that which is beyond me.

The second time we settled in as a unit instead of two separate beings. He anchored himself against my curves, rendering his 70lbs almost weightless. We posed together in silent camaraderie - it is arguable that he held me just as much as I held him.

He didn't move much. Once he was comfortable, he seemed to only move out of boredom. Sometimes he reacted to the placement of my hands but generally he was content. However, If snakes have personalities. This one is a dirty old man. At some point I felt him wrap his tail around my waist. Instead of visions of strangulation, I felt oddly relieved by the weight of his body and the strength of the muscles I could feel moving against my skin.

He liked my skin too. Once his tail was wrapped around my waist it wasn't long before I felt a little poke coming through. He slid his way under my bodysuit and sent his tail up across my abdomen. At least he was a gentleman. He could've gone south.

As his owner began to unwind him, I sensed his reluctance to go, gripping the soft warmth of my body, digging in to avoid being displaced. I felt a void immediately once his presence departed. As if I had lost an anchor myself.