Stripes strikes

Say that 5 times fast. But seriously - all joking aside - Mason's snake got out of his terrarium the other day and I almost died AGAIN. I know this pic is not of Stripes - I am too lazy to go get one - but this is the other addition to the reptile zoo my kids wanted. We have had Stripes (CA king snake) for 4 or 5 years now and he has managed to escape twice that I know of. I am NOT a fan of reptiles - ask anyone, but Stevan convinced me to let Mason have Stripes, now we also have 2 geckos and Tristen's escaped the other day so that would have been 3 - not to mention the 2 dogs we have!! So back to the story - I was in my bathroom the other day doing my hair I think when I walked out to the bedroom and noticed out of the corner of my eye a black and white striped thing slithering on the floor at the corner of our bed. So I ran out screaming - what would any good mother do? - and yelled Snake. Well Stevan yelled "Is it a snake or Stripes?" So then I had to check if it was Stripes by running into Mason's room to see if he was missing - yep it Stripes. So then Mason goes" Oh yeah - he got out earlier!" Hello - important info to tell us. When was that we ask? - Oh this morning! Shesh - talk about heart attack - well Stevan was just glad it wasn't another snake - so they picked up Stripes and put him back in the terrarium. I should have put my shoes on and stood on him!!! I am constantly in fear of running across something INSIDE the house. How wrong is that? I am super careful because Tristen's gecko escaped the other day and hasn't been seen since...Although I think I found him when I was cleaning out the garage last week...I came across a fat Gecko in the bike rack and screamed...more than once...I was trying to pick up the bike rack and let him escape but he wasn't figuring it out..then I didn't want to drop it on him and cut him in half - that would be more mess for me clean. Clayton and Jada were sitting safely in their strollers when I yelled the first time - they were no help - so lucky for me Dad was in town and in the house and he heard me scream and came out to see what the fuss was....he got the gecko out of the bike rack. So guess what Stevan's comment was - Why didn't I catch the gecko and put him in the terrarium for Tristen!!!!!! Once again - Whatever. So...with all that reptile fun - is it any wonder I said no to the tarantula we saw when we were hiking!!!! Look at that thing - I don't want to run into him when no one is home.