Naming our beloved pets can be tricky business. Basing it off their appearance, therefore, can often be a great place to start.
I’m sure you’re all familiar with cats and dogs called the likes of Fluffy, Sooty, Patch and Dotty, all based on their furry markings. But, none quite compare to this little corn snake who was affectionately named after his, erm, interesting appearance.
The reptile, who belongs to Craig Park and his family, instantly became known as ‘Dickhead’, when his humans discovered that the scales on head rather resembled a cock and balls.
It has quite a ring to it, doesn’t it?
Craig, from South Carolina in the US, told UNILAD:
My dad picked up ‘Dickhead’ this past weekend at a reptile expo near home as a new addition to the family!
I don’t even think my father noticed the suggestive marking on the snake’s head until after my mom pointed it out.
Fortunately, Dickhead should feel right at home in his new family, who are all avid snake lovers and have kept corn snakes, milk snakes, king snakes, rat snakes and even a 32-year-old ball python, to name just a few.
‘I love snakes so much personally that I have one tattooed on my back, [and have] introduced them to my two daughters,’ Craig explained. ‘I even have a gaming content page on Facebook called XtremeSnake Gaming where I will occasionally live stream games with one of them hanging out around my neck.’
Craig and his dad used to breed corn snakes for their different morphs and colour patterns when he was in high school.
As Craig said:
I have my dad to thank for my love of animals, especially reptiles. In conjunction with snakes, we’ve also owned iguanas, bearded dragons, turtles, cats, dogs, birds, rabbits, pet rats, fresh water fish, and salt water fish!
Despite what his name might suggest, Craig said Dickhead is ‘very active, but ironically seems very sweet’.
‘He gets along with the other snakes pretty well as well, which is good considering we got him to be the male breeder for a couple of our females,’ he explained.
So, there you have it. Don’t judge a snake by their markings – even if they are named Dickhead and have the outline of a cock and balls on their forehead.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.