Educational Shows and Why some people shouldn't do them

[Jay_Bunny]

My sister works with kids and one of her clients wanted her to take her two children to the library for a reptile show they were having there. My sister called me up afterward and told me about the experience. According to my sister, the guy started the show off with a long slide show (which bored the crap out of the kids who were no older than 7 or 8) and when he finally got to the snakes, what he did pissed my sister off. He starts off with a corn snake and starts talking about it.....then he hands it to a child to hold. The kid then proceeds to drop it on the floor. Thankfully the child was seated and the snake didn't have far to fall. He then takes out a pillow case that has a snake already starting to come out of it. It starts striking at him through the bag and he laughs and tells this to the children. He claims it is a snake he hasn't had a lot of time to tame down due to the fact it is a wild caught snake (I don't remember what kind but I think it was some sort of black rat) that he just caught not too long ago. So already this snake is pissed off but he takes it out of the bag anyway (and did I mention this wild caught snake was being kept in a pillow case next to all of the captive snakes. Breaking QT much?) My sister says the snake practically flew out of the bag, mouth open, trying to bite him. The guy just laughs it off and starts talking about the snake. The entire time he has the snake out, it is striking at the kids in the front row, striking at him and eventually latches onto his arm. Oh and he also takes this aggressive snake around the room to show to the kids. At this time, over half the kids run screaming for the adults in the room. They don't settle down until he puts it away.

Well he puts this snake away and then takes out a king snake. He state to the children that this snake will probably try and bite due to the fact that king snakes are cannibals and it can smell the other snakes on him. Sure enough the snake is trying to bite him. After that he takes out a ball python. Now, this ball python is relaxed and not curled up into a ball. The guy begins explaining why they are called a ball python and to show them what a balled up ball python looks like, he FORCES the ball python into a ball, making it curl up by pushing it's head and body around. My sister said he actually pushed the ball pythons head through its curled up body to make it form a complete ball. I was horrified and so was she.

She told me that she actually called up every library in the county (he was to be going to the other libraries either that day or the next) and warned them this guy wasn't professional or responsible and that she did not want him in the library doing more shows.

This kind of thing makes me wish I did educational shows but in the end, other people's kids kind of annoy me and I have stage fright. Not sure if I'd ever do educational shows, but maybe one day.

Have you ever had any bad experiences with educational shows for reptiles? Do you do educational shows and if so, what does your typical show involve?

[J.Coils]

My sister works with kids and one of her clients wanted her to take her two children to the library for a reptile show they were having there. My sister called me up afterward and told me about the experience. According to my sister, the guy started the show off with a long slide show (which bored the crap out of the kids who were no older than 7 or 8) and when he finally got to the snakes, what he did pissed my sister off. He starts off with a corn snake and starts talking about it.....then he hands it to a child to hold. The kid then proceeds to drop it on the floor. Thankfully the child was seated and the snake didn't have far to fall. He then takes out a pillow case that has a snake already starting to come out of it. It starts striking at him through the bag and he laughs and tells this to the children. He claims it is a snake he hasn't had a lot of time to tame down due to the fact it is a wild caught snake (I don't remember what kind but I think it was some sort of black rat) that he just caught not too long ago. So already this snake is pissed off but he takes it out of the bag anyway (and did I mention this wild caught snake was being kept in a pillow case next to all of the captive snakes. Breaking QT much?) My sister says the snake practically flew out of the bag, mouth open, trying to bite him. The guy just laughs it off and starts talking about the snake. The entire time he has the snake out, it is striking at the kids in the front row, striking at him and eventually latches onto his arm. Oh and he also takes this aggressive snake around the room to show to the kids. At this time, over half the kids run screaming for the adults in the room. They don't settle down until he puts it away.

Well he puts this snake away and then takes out a king snake. He state to the children that this snake will probably try and bite due to the fact that king snakes are cannibals and it can smell the other snakes on him. Sure enough the snake is trying to bite him. After that he takes out a ball python. Now, this ball python is relaxed and not curled up into a ball. The guy begins explaining why they are called a ball python and to show them what a balled up ball python looks like, he FORCES the ball python into a ball, making it curl up by pushing it's head and body around. My sister said he actually pushed the ball pythons head through its curled up body to make it form a complete ball. I was horrified and so was she.

She told me that she actually called up every library in the county (he was to be going to the other libraries either that day or the next) and warned them this guy wasn't professional or responsible and that she did not want him in the library doing more shows.

This kind of thing makes me wish I did educational shows but in the end, other people's kids kind of annoy me and I have stage fright. Not sure if I'd ever do educational shows, but maybe one day.

Have you ever had any bad experiences with educational shows for reptiles? Do you do educational shows and if so, what does your typical show involve?

wow.. thats terrible. i dont think i could have contained myself if i was there. i wish i could do educational shows but like you..other people's children bug me but still i wish i had the patience

[Jay_Bunny]

Nice to see another Richmonder here!

[J.Coils]

Nice to see another Richmonder here!

oh yeah that's cool...

was this at a henrico library?

[Kinra]

That's horrible. People need to think about the example they are setting. If he wanted to show an aggressive snake there are much better ways to do it. Bringing it around to show the children is just stupid and a law suite waiting to happen. Those poor children are probably now afraid of snakes too.

I hope to some day have a variable enough collection that I can do education shows because it's great to teach kids about reptiles but you have to understand your audience. I wouldn't have been able to keep my mouth shut if I had seen this.

[MarkieJ]

I've done a few Educational Shows (birthday, Science Fair, and for a 1st Grade class), and I'm also a High School Chemistry and Biology Teacher, so my students get frequent shows throughout the year. All of my reptiles have been selectively chosen for their ease of care and temperament, as I keep many of them in my classroom.

Here's a list of reptiles that I have in my classroom/have used in a show: Bearded Dragons, Blue-Tongued Skink, Albino Ball Python, Normal Ball Python, and Russian Tortoise (captive bred). I give information on what country each animal is from, habitat, foods they eat, and captive care. Here's a couple pics from the San Diego Science Festival earlier this year.

Blue-Tongued Skink


Russian Tortoise


Note: the animals were painted with non-toxic face paint which was easily wiped off after the show. I also like feeding the animals in front of the audience (Super Worms for the lizards, frozen/thawed rats for the snakes, and veggies/fruits for the tortoise). No I have never had a problem with my ball pythons feeding during and after the show.

Mark

[kitedemon]

Some people should not own animals.

There are two groups that do shows near me and both are awesome fun and enough truth to be educational but not too much to be boring. They never allow people to hold an animal by them selves one of the presenters always hold the head. It is sad that there is not some sort of control over whom can and can't do public shows.

[Raptor]

I ended up doing a speech in speech class on why snakes make good pets. I was hoping to bring my cornsnake, but I didn't get a chance. I started out using adjectives that people use to describe snakes (slimy, dangerous, scary), then went into how many species of N/ American snakes there are and how most can be found in the pet trade. Then I basically went into how inexpensive snakes are. Stating that actually buying the snake and the enclosure was the most expensive part. Then I went into care, and then into how few people have been killed by constrictors vs dogs. Pointed out all the deaths were from owner stupidity and how you should always have a proper lid for your snake and not handle large snakes by yourself.

Went on about how the best place to get a snake is a breeder or reptile expo that most pet stores take poor care of there snakes. I made sure to stress that people should do their research before buying a snake. I think I ended up getting an A.