the dead stuff behind me

All the plants are dead.  There I said it.  Well, I typed it.

But the first part of recovery is admitting you have a problem.

Here's the thing.  A few years ago, Meego got a pet King Snake.  He was a cool King Snake, and Meego named him Reese because he was the colors of chocolate and peanut butter.

Reese was fun to have around.  He liked to hug.  He liked to hug because he was a constrictor, not necessarily because he was cuddly and loving, but technically, he was at least quite cuddly.

He was also fun to have around for science's sake.  We fed him dead mice and would have to make the mice seem to be alive so Reese would instinctively "kill" and eat them.  As he grew, Reese would shed his skin, an event that was always cause for excitement.

We were able to acquire a good sized tank from a friend down the street.  The friend had also owned a snake and fed the snake actual live mice.  One mouse was quite the survivor, however, and ended up killing the pet snake - from the inside out, I understand!  That fact isn't necessarily pertinent to my story here, but thought I'd include it for the shock value.

We took over the tank for Reese, Meego lovingly landscaped it, and Reese happily did his snake stuff in his warm, roomy digs...

...until one day when he escaped from his feeding box.  We haven't seen him since.

See, we would feed him the pretend alive mice in a separate box from the tank since snakes will instinctively strike at anything moving nearby.  By feeding them in a container different from their "living room", they become conditioned to not strike when someone reaches into their living space for some cuddle time.

Wolfgang and Chaco had just recently moved back home during summer break from college.  There were boxes and college boy things scattered about.  When Meego went to put Reese back in his tank after a feeding, there was a telltale hole in the feeding box, and Reese was nowhere to be seen.  Ah, that fateful day.

We never found him.  I hope he escaped into the yard and has been sowing his oats with the neighbor snakes.

A couple of years ago, Meego and I decided to turn the big tank into a big terrarium. It was desert themed with sand and succulents. Despite having hardly ANY natural light, I'd hoped the sun lamp we had for Reese would suffice.

So much for hopes.

The tank is still there, a house of dead plants.  It sits behind me as I type.  It sits in the background when I tutor online, but thankfully, the video image is relatively small and the student's image somewhat covers the tank of death. No one has yet asked, "what is that tank of dead things behind you?"

But I know it's there.

I'm wondering if I should move it to where there would be better lighting, clean it out, and retry?  I've never had much of a green thumb, and will not bother trying to grow marijuana.

Suggestions are welcome... aside from growing pot.