Should You Ever Go Across the Sea to Ireland, Bring a Mongoose

“During the Celtic Tiger boom, snakes became a popular pet among the Irish nouveaux riches, status symbols in a country famous for its lack of indigenous serpents. But after the bubble burst, many snake owners could no longer afford the cost of food, heating and shelter, or they left the country for work elsewhere. Some left their snakes behind or turned them loose in the countryside, leading to some startling encounters.”
 — Why get a pet with thousands of years of mutually-beneficial domestication behind it when you could feed rubbery dead mice to something expensive that is utterly indifferent to you (at best) and feels like the outside of an opened bottle of lube?