Kenyan Sand Boa
(Gongylophis colubrinus)

​This is KJ, a little snake with a big personality. It took a long time to find one, and they do vary in their level of handle-ability.  Luckily when I met him he seemed pretty relaxed and he has turned out to be fantastic with children.

As with so many of my animals, you have to be very gentle about scooping them out of their cage, as that is the moment when they could be nervous. Once out he is so calm, and loves wriggling slowly through little hands. He has eyes on top of his head so he can hide in the sand (giving him a cute 'froggy' look). He is slightly puzzled by hands and often pushes his little shovel nose to try and 'bury' himself, which is a bit ticklish and makes children giggle. 

He was initially going to be called Shanzu as a Kenyan friend of mine named him (it means 'sandy place'). This was scuppered my my daughter wanting to call him Keanjaho which means 'mountain of beans'.  This made her laugh so we renamed him (KJ for short).

Fascinating fact: KJ can 'dive' under the sand and his party trick is to do this in front of everyone, but he is so nosey he usually comes up again!