I'm new, and i have to do a speech...

Hi. I'm new, and I dohave a snake, but I need info for a speech I am supposed to do for school. What pertinent info should i put in? I'm 15, and my mom has all the critters. natch

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Originally Posted by Miera ElfPrincess

Hi. I'm new, and I dohave a snake, but I need info for a speech I am supposed to do for school. What pertinent info should i put in? I'm 15, and my mom has all the critters. natch

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What exactly is your speech about?

That's Kinda what I'm trying to figure out...what, exactly, about snakes should I put in? Myth, scientific facts, anatomy, current fears and why they're wrong, that sort of thing. How can I put snakes into a favoriable light while informing/teaching about them? M.EP

How about something along the lines of Facts vs Myths :weirdface I haven't had to do a speech or paper on anything in years :rolleyes:....

Thanks, that might work. Like take stuff from the Bible about the serpent, then do other myths and where fears have come from, and refute them with truth and facts? Thanks! natch M.EP

Good luck on your paper!! I love it when someone puts forth the effort to educate people on animals. If you don't mind, maybe you could post your paper when it's done so we could all enjoy it!:D At least let us know how it went!

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Originally Posted by Miera ElfPrincess

Thanks, that might work. Like take stuff from the Bible about the serpent, then do other myths and where fears have come from, and refute them with truth and facts? Thanks! natch M.EP

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i wouldnt go into bible talk, esp for a speech about snakes. dont get me wrong i believe in god, but id rather not hear about him in public, and i know alot of other people that look at it like that.

a good speech will last about 30 mins, because most people cant sit longer then that without getting bored or wanting to pay attention to something else. like some animals we have short attention spans also. speak loud & clear. id print some larger pictures out with facts, habitats, feeding, mating and such alongside the picture. keep 2-3 sentences per picture, the longer appealing pictures you can keep on display longer and go more into the snakes history and such. if you use any kind of graphs, keep that to a minimum. go over pros and cons, the dos and donts, you just pretty much have to research, theres no set speach you can do, it all varies on waht species of snakes you want to do the speach on. most of that came from an article i read btw. i had to do a speach on scorpions thats why i put my 2¢ in.

Ok, thanks. I just mentioned the Bible for a possible source of fear, (the serpent and all that), and I'm gonna have [I]my[I] snake on my hand for a visual, so people can pet him if the want to, and I can show the scoots and stuff.

1. Kishnah (amel. corn)

I think you can bring up the many misconceptions about snakes. They are not all dangerous, poisonous and mean. How they are a necessary part of the food chain.

How they make great pets, no allergies, easy to care for. How popular they are today.

Then myths and legends about them.

Good Luck

Hi princess,

My 7-year-old son just had a "show and tell" in his class last week. It was awesome. He has a reptile obsession since he was 2. He even reads the reptile encyclopedias, so he is very knowledgeable when it comes to snakes. I'll tell you what he did, so maybe you can use some of the concepts in your own presentation.

We were given 45 minutes for the presentation. My son designed the presentation and my husband and I helped him get it organized. My husband and I plus our 5-year-old "assisted" in the presentation as well.

The set-up:
We had our 20-gallon long tank with our baby spider ball python in the middle of the table. We had the complete set-up with the UTH's, lamps, etc. We had a 3-fold poster board in the back. Each column showcased a snake that is good as pets - one column for cornsnake, one for king and milk snakes, the 3rd for ball python. It had pictures showing different vibrant colors with bullet information - how long it lives, how big they get, what region they came from, etc.

The presentation was divided into 3 parts:

1.) Why snakes make good pets
My son compared our ball pythons to our other pets (dog, parrot, hamsters, and fish) and explained how the bp is easier to care for - doesn't pee on the planter, doesn't chew furniture, doesn't bark when left alone, doesn't stink, easy to clean, can be left for a week while visiting grandma, and the big whopper that made all the 7-year-olds go whoaa... - doesn't bite - at which point my husband who was hiding behind the posters stood up with our 3-foot-long bp crawling in his arm licking the air!

2.) How to care for a pet snake
This is when my son explained the snakes in the posters and their characteristics. Explained the difference between constrictors and venomous snakes. Explained wc versus cb. Even went into why it is much more difficult to care for the giants (burmese and retics) and that you need a permit to own one (in Florida) and how you can't own a venomous snake without going through a certification process. He then explained the size of enclosure, temperatures, humidity, hides, etc. Also explained that the corns and kings are easier to care for than bp because of the humidity requirement (I didn't know this...). Even went into how you should keep one snake to a viv especially kings who will eat other snakes. Also very briefly explained how there are different coloration of each type which is referred to as a morph (we had a spider and pastel for them to see the difference).

3.) Q&A
This is where all 22 students lined up to get a close look at the vivarium, petted the bp my husband was holding, and my sons (yep, even the 5-year-old) answered questions. Most of the questions were, "does he bite?" or "does he eat people?", and my 5-year-old answers, "you won't fit in his belly, silly!". Several of the kids told stories about a water mocassin killing somebody and my son explained how you shouldn't pick up a snake you don't know because there are venomous snakes out there... (and this is a smart answer he gave)... he said, just like you just can't walk up to a bulldog and pet him, without asking permission first...

I thought it went really well. I was a snakophobic 2 months ago so hearing my son talk about pet snakes was a huge deal for me. It was a great positive presentation that I'm sure counteracted any fear the kids may have without going into what causes irrational fear in the first place. ALL of the kids wanted to touch the snake and only two commented that it wasn't slimy... I am sure all the kids came out of the presentation fearless of ball pythons. The teacher asked them to write a report on what they learned the next day and a good number of them said they loved the snake and want to have one as a pet!

P.S. Last year, some kid in one of the high schools here had a snake presentation complete with a rat getting fed off. It caused a big ruckus with the parents ending up with the teacher getting suspended. Yes, we know feeding is an integral part of snake ownership, but it is best left out of the presentation, because there are always those people who would rather see a dead snake than a dead rodent.

That makes sense. I'll try to post my outline and as much as the speech as I can remember...I'm not allowed to write down as an "essay", because then i'd just read off of the paper with my head down, and it's for public speaking basically :$ Sooo...I can tell y'all if I got a good grade, but not much else. natch M.EP

Just a few suggestions...

I wrote an essay a couple years ago about the misconceptions of snakes and the influence of media.

1. Jungle Book: Kaa
2. Anaconda
3. Python, Python Vs. Boa
4. Media coverage on the release of larger boids.

Then write about the great things about them...

I [I]just[I] finished typing this for school! (Hope it stays neat:confused:)


Snakes: Fears and Misunderstandings
I. Introduction
A. People are scared of snakes
1. Not always with a good reason; sometimes, but not always
B. Basically, people are afraid of something they don't understand
C. There are all sorts of fears...:
1. Arachnophobia-spiders, claustrophobia-dark/small spaces, ophidio-/ophiophobia-a fear of snakes

II. Common myths, fears/misconceptions
A. Hoop snakes:
1. Bite tails and roll away like wagon wheels downhill to escape (one version is to chase)
B. Snakes will chase you:
1. A snake will chase and attack you
C. Buddy system
1. Snakes travel in pairs; if one is killed, the other'll seek revenge
D. All snakes can kill you (around the neck)
1. Any snake can kill you
a. All are poisonous
b. Kill around neck

III. Refuting them with facts
A. Hoop snakes
1. Not anatomically able, no reliable accounts
2. Probably from hoop snakes-they lay in hoops, but slither away when frightened like any other snake
B. Chasing snakes
1. Snakes don't actually chase people; they're more scared of you, and will most likely try to slither away
a. A few species will, but not many; maybe 2 or 3 (These are venomous)
b. They'd be only a problem for people on foot: their high speed is maybe 8 MPH.
> An average person can run 10 MPH
C. Buddy system
1. Snakes don't actually travel in pairs; two of the same species were probably seen in the same area
a. They'd probably just eat each other
D. Killer snakes
1. Not all snakes can kill a human
a. Only 10% of all the snakes world-wide are venomous (not poisonous)
b. Do you think a snake maybe 1 ft. long has enough muscle to strangle you? No

IV. How people develop these fears
A. Tradition: folklores and superstitions
B. Religion: the Bible represents Satan as a snake (the Serpent)
1. Catholics too; the snake means evil and death
C. They're learned: parents'll be frightened and teach that fear to their children
1. There was a test where a mother was to call her baby over transparent steps to her.






V. Good things about snakes/ a touch of reality
A. They make very good pets
1. Easy to clean
2. Not noisy
3. Don't trigger allergies
B. Reality: you can't domesticate one, so they're still technically "wild animals"
1. Never just grab any old random snake you don't recognize
2. There are some species of venomous snakes, but not many (only about 10%, and 4 in the US)
C. Snakes also have very good uses/not always seen as evil
1. Some religions revere snakes:
a. Aborigines-associated a giant rainbow serpent with the creation of life
b. Quetzalcoatl-the "plumed serpent" who was the "Master of Life" the Aztecs worshipped
c. Some African cultures worship rock pythons and consider the killing of one a terrible crime
2. They've been associated with medicine and rebirth
a. Our medical symbol, two snakes wrapped around a staff, a 'caduceus', comes from Hermes
b. In Greek myth, Aesculapius saw one snake revive snother using herbs, and found medicine
c. In India, cobras are reincarnations of important people, of Nagas
3. Part of the foodchain, helpfull; they eat mice and other pesky rodents that get into your food storage

VI. Conclusion
A. All sorts of myths; some may be true, but many are not
B. You might still be sfraid of them, but it's ok...
C. ...Just remember, snakes aren't evil
1. "Snakes are simply animals and are not capable of being good or evil"
D. The way snakes act in movies isn't how they naturally act/react
1. They will generally try to flee rather than fight-they don't want anything to do with you
2. They ARE NOT all 40 feet and hungry
3. They don't eat humans at all!!! They'd rather have something that would actually fit in their gut



Bibliography:
http://www.umass.edu/nrec/snake_pit/pages/myth.html
http://www.oplin.org/snake/myths%20t...thstruths.html
me

And thanks to the anonymous users on bp.net for helping me with information
(That's where the quote came from)




Nope! Oh well!:oops: You get the idea:snake: natch M.EP

This is only the first draft, and I DID NOT expect the link to show up [I][B]AT ALL[B]!!!