Silk the snake

My sister and family found this garter snake in NH. My niece (hands pictured, for the second time!) named her (it) "Silk." At first Silk tried to get away from her, but then became quite affectionate and spent the entire day with my niece, curled around her fingers and snuggled up in her sock or down her sleeve. My sister told her not to take it too personally, that the snake probably just liked her because she was warm. My niece wanted to take it home but in the end they let Silk go back into the woods. Similar to my experiences with Squeakers, who largely loves me for my internal combustion engine. Of course Squeakers also has an internal combustion engine, so I'm getting something out of it as well. As my best friend at work says, cats are just snakes with fur. But she just doesn't like the snake eyes which I don't mind. I say cats are snakes with fur and legs and internal combustion engines and also they purr, which is bizarrely comforting, considering that they might just be planning to have you for dinner.