Turns Out, Hats On Snakes Are A Thing And There’s A Community Celebrating It (40 Pics)

Bored Panda got in touch with the admin of the Facebook group, Elvya Dulcimer, and the moderator of the r/SnakesWithHats subreddit, DisasterLlama, who introduced herself as Emma, for an interview.

“The community was started around 2011-2012, and it all began with my snake Lola, who was very docile, wearing some hats. Soon, more and more people started to post pictures as well, and the page quickly grew large,” elaborated Elvya on the origins of the community.

The group soon surpassed 400,000 members, which was deleted by Facebook around 2015, but Elvya had a backup page and was rebuilding ever since, with over 155,000 members already.

“The Snakes with Hats community is now a safe space for both beginners, experienced keepers and reptile lovers in general. We’re currently working hard on a discord server that will launch soon,” said Elvya.

Soon after the Facebook community was created, in 2013, a community with the same niche goal also formed on Reddit. Since then, it has amassed a membership of over 43,500 people who share pictures of snakes sporting fashionable hats.

And it seems the snake appreciation community of Reddit doesn’t end there as there are also r/Snakes with over 125,000 members and r/Sneks with over 268,000 members.

We asked out interviewees why people would keep snakes as pets in the first place.

"I can’t speak for everyone, but I think people who get snakes as pets recognize that these noodles are no different than any other house pets, excepting perhaps that they don’t travel well on slippery surfaces,” explained Emma. “Plus they have great personalities, are adorable, and, as I said previously, can be easy to take care of depending on the type. They also make great long term companions."

And before you start Googling it, most snakes live roughly 20 to 30 years, with some other species of snakes, like the boas constrictors, living 35 or more years.

“I feel the reasons to keep a snake vary greatly from person to person. I’ve heard of people keeping them to conquer their phobias, or even to help extract snake venom in rare cases, but the vast majority keep them because they are so cute, docile and versatile. No matter what your preferences, finances or experience level are, there’s always a snake that’s perfect for you,” elaborated Elvya.