Personal funny reptile moments

I've done a lot of wildlife education work, and helping people overcome a fear of snakes was always one of my favorite parts of presentations.

In undergrad school I was doing a presentation about the insects, arachnids, and reptiles in our collection. One of my favorites was a beautiful California King who, between his appearance and his temperament, was a fantastic ambassador. My audience that day was a group of nine-year-olds, many of whom were very nervous about snakes - maybe partly because their teacher was obviously terrified and had retreated to the furthest possible point in the room.

I turned on as much charm as possible, and brought out my trusted ambassador to seal the deal and convince everyone that snakes are nothing to be scared of. Just as I got the King into my hands, our huge and definitely unfriendly Bird-eating Tarantula flung herself against the glass of her enclosure for some reason, and the loud 'smack' plus the sight of that big spider caused an uproar. The uproar - kids jumping around and screaming - startled the Kingsnake, who whipped around and bit me on my hand. He apparently hit a capillary, so blood started just streaming down my arm.

It was a freaking circus. I don't think I converted any snake- or spider-phobic kids that day!

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Originally Posted by Caitlin

I've done a lot of wildlife education work, and helping people overcome a fear of snakes was always one of my favorite parts of presentations.

In undergrad school I was doing a presentation about the insects, arachnids, and reptiles in our collection. One of my favorites was a beautiful California King who, between his appearance and his temperament, was a fantastic ambassador. My audience that day was a group of nine-year-olds, many of whom were very nervous about snakes - maybe partly because their teacher was obviously terrified and had retreated to the furthest possible point in the room.

I turned on as much charm as possible, and brought out my trusted ambassador to seal the deal and convince everyone that snakes are nothing to be scared of. Just as I got the King into my hands, our huge and definitely unfriendly Bird-eating Tarantula flung herself against the glass of her enclosure for some reason, and the loud 'smack' plus the sight of that big spider caused an uproar. The uproar - kids jumping around and screaming - startled the Kingsnake, who whipped around and bit me on my hand. He apparently hit a capillary, so blood started just streaming down my arm.

It was a freaking circus. I don't think I converted any snake- or spider-phobic kids that day!

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Oh, that was awfully bad luck! Funny mostly in hindsight, I daresay? I'm glad I had better luck when making "converts". One time I was asked to do a snake presentation for a kid's summer "camp"- & the man in charge who set it up told me his son was in the group, but not to be insulted if he was the first to run from the room- he said his son took after him (disliking snakes) but he still felt they should learn about them. So it turned out his son was in the front row, & as I started talking & handling snakes, he was first out of his chair alright, but it was only because he was fascinated & wanted to touch the snakes! :rofl: Sorry dad...

Had another funny moment last week. It was feeding day and I had a mouse ready to present in front of my BP's usual haunt. But he didn't appear for longer than he'd usually take to notice dinner was served. Started to look around and saw his head had just popped out of the humid hide, which meant he had just started a shed cycle as that's about the only time he uses it. Nonetheless he was hungry so he grabbed the mouse and, kind of just ate it while hanging halfway out the hide (it's a plastic tupperware with a hole cut out in the lid).

He clearly didn't want to leave the moisture but his stomach made him compromise. :rofl:

My Aussie spotted python often makes me laugh when I feed her- her feeding response is SO strong & she wraps her f/t mice really tight, then can't bear to let go enough to get her mouth around any part of them! :rofl: She's a really good feeder but it can take her a while, silly snek- and I'm glad she's never mistaken me for prey. She has heat-sensing pits as BPs do, but never seems to care about the temperature of her prey either, so I make no effort to warm them up. I'm glad she's only the size of a corn snake, she'd be scary-fierce otherwise. :snake2:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

My Aussie spotted python often makes me laugh when I feed her- her feeding response is SO strong & she wraps her f/t mice really tight, then can't bear to let go enough to get her mouth around any part of them! :rofl: She's a really good feeder but it can take her a while, silly snek- and I'm glad she's never mistaken me for prey. She has heat-sensing pits as BPs do, but never seems to care about the temperature of her prey either, so I make no effort to warm them up. I'm glad she's only the size of a corn snake, she'd be scary-fierce otherwise. :snake2:

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I'm convinced my BP has Stormtrooper aim. Maybe it's because I always have it dim for feeding time and there tends to be fake foliage in the way but I swear it takes him several strikes hitting nothing but air before he actually lands a hit on the rodent mere inches in front of his face due to sheer eagerness.

It's like watching a cat suddenly go nuts over a laser pointer. Normally all dignified and discreet in their movements, but put the one thing they love in front of them and it's like they turn into a kid in a candy store. :rofl:

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Originally Posted by Snagrio

I'm convinced my BP has Stormtrooper aim. Maybe it's because I always have it dim for feeding time and there tends to be fake foliage in the way but I swear it takes him several strikes hitting nothing but air before he actually lands a hit on the rodent mere inches in front of his face due to sheer eagerness.

It's like watching a cat suddenly go nuts over a laser pointer. Normally all dignified and discreet in their movements, but put the one thing they love in front of them and it's like they turn into a kid in a candy store. :rofl:

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All I can say is, it's a good thing some of our snakes have "room service"! They do some awfully goofy things- someone should make a movie of snake "out-takes"? :D

Oh, I know...I almost forgot about this time: it was years ago and I was looking in on one of my adult king snakes (an albino cal-king) & not only had she fully shed her skin, but then she re-entered the shed backwards, through the "mouth" and GOT STUCK once she got most of the way in! WHAT!? :rofl: Because of course the tail end gets narrower. I watched for a bit, but she couldn't tear her way out & I was afraid she might have trouble breathing, so I helped her out of it, but...:rolleye2: I dunno what she was even thinking? I mean that's true "talent", lol.

The funniest thing I have had happen, was with one of my Woma pythons.

Woma's can be fiesty, and I have one male in particlar that believe's it's his mission in life to attack me, any chance he gets.

I keep them in stacked PVC, and this particular time I was cleaning one of his ladies' cage just below him.

He slowly crept towards the front, and when he thought I wasn't looking he smacked the glass (well, acrylic) as hard as he could, mouth open super wide. And sat there.

He stayed with his mouth open, facing me, pushed up against the front, without moving...for about another 5 minutes, while I cleander the cage below. I guess he thought he would eventually get through it...via osmosis or something....but it was funny to see how long he just sat there.

If you need a snake with tons of personality, I recommend the Woma python :)

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Originally Posted by Husbandry.Pro

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He slowly crept towards the front, and when he thought I wasn't looking he smacked the glass (well, acrylic) as hard as he could, mouth open super wide. And sat there.

He stayed with his mouth open, facing me, pushed up against the front, without moving...for about another 5 minutes, while I cleander the cage below. I guess he thought he would eventually get through it...via osmosis or something....but it was funny to see how long he just sat there.

If you need a snake with tons of personality, I recommend the Woma python :)

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Oh, that is funny! :rofl: My enthusiastic spotted python did something similar once recently when I was feeding her (after she missed the prey & saw MY motion thru the glass instead), but she gave up quicker than your woma did, so you definitely win the prize on this one! :D :gj:

Oh, Bogertrophis I had just remembered a story from when I had a vacation in Florida years ago. My mother and I were taking a walk through a palmetto forest trail and there was a big sign on the path with some information on the wildlife that lived there. Included on it was stuff about pygmy rattlesnakes.

And quite literally right below the sign was a pygmy rattler as if the little one was presenting itself. :rofl:

The giggles aside though it was neat to see a rattlesnake in the wild up close. Here in Ohio rattlers are very rare.