- Title: Watch a nine-year- old Palestinian with his slithery friends
- Date: 29th August 2021
- Summary: JERUSALEM (AUGUST 25, 2021) (REUTERS) NINE-YEAR-OLD MOHAMMAD MANSOUR, HOLDING HIS SNAKE UP TO THE CAMERA SNAKE CATCHING A MOUSE TO EAT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN RAISING REPTILES, MOHAMMAD MANSOUR, SAYING: "I started this hobby when I was around 5 or 6 years old. I used to be told that snakes are dangerous, and if we touch them we will die. So I thought why am I listening to others, why not try and find out if what they are saying is true or false. So I bought my first snake, the same color as this one and same type of this one, but smaller. It was a baby snake." MANSOUR READING A BOOK ABOUT SNAKES PICTURES OF SNAKES IN BOOK MANSOUR IS READING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN RAISING REPTILES, MOHAMMAD MANSOUR, SAYING: "The first animal I ever raised was a snail and I used to do interviews on TV about it." MANSOUR TAKING OUT SNAKE FROM IT'S CAGE VARIOUS OF MANSOUR SHOWING THE SNAKE'S SHED SKIN TWO SNAKES ON MANSOUR'S BED (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOHAMMAD MANSOUR, 9 YEAR OLD, RAISES REPTILES, SAYING: "I want to develop this hobby until I have a room full of snakes in cages. For example a cage for a ball python, one for this Boa (snake), this is a cage of Daboia palaestinae. Each cage will have a snake, so as not to combine two snakes in one cage." VARIOUS OF MANSOUR SEARCHING FOR REPTILES NEAR HIS HOUSE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN RAISING REPTILES, MOHAMMAD MANSOUR, SAYING: "The snake that I read a lot about and have lots of information about and still want to learn more about it, is the ball python snake." VARIOUS OF MANSOUR PLAYING WITH HIS INDONESIAN LIZARD
- Embargoed: 12th September 2021 09:50
- Keywords: Child Home Jerusalem Lizards Reptiles Snakes
- Location: JERUSALEM
- City: JERUSALEM
- Country: Jerusalem
- Topics: Living/Lifestyle,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001ESC11ZP
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Nine-year-old Mohammad likes to spend his time in his bedroom with his favorite buddy - his Ball Python.
The golden snake is just one of the reptiles living in Mohammad's house in East Jerusalem.
Mohammad said that he enjoys their company, especially when he is off school, and had taken a liking to this hobby of collecting reptiles since he was five years old.
The 4th grader now wants to grow his collection and eventually have an entire room full of different reptiles, each in its own cages.
"I want to develop this hobby until I have a room full of snakes in cages. For example a cage for a ball python, one for this Boa (snake), this is a cage of Daboia palaestinae. Each cage will have a snake, so as not to combine two snakes in one cage," he added.
Most of Mohammad's information about the animals comes from books and he often hunts for new reptiles in the lands around his house to grow his collection.
Mohammad also posts videos on social media to raise awareness about reptiles.
(Production: Roleen Tafakji, Sinan Abu Mayzer) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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