Raising a kid with snakes.

[pkore1015]

I am pregnant and my best friend has told me that I am "reckless and irresponsible" for raising a baby while owning ball pythons.
Do you run into this problem often and how do you handle it?

[Neal]

I am pregnant and my best friend has told me that I am "reckless and irresponsible" for raising a baby while owning ball pythons.
Do you run into this problem often and how do you handle it?

I'm sure people have run into this, and if I recall correctly somebody recently had something similar to this.

Honestly what I would do if it were my best friend I would try to educate them and talk some sense into them. If this failed then I'd simply do sign language(if you know what I mean) and tell them to get some common sense.

It's just people are scared of what they're unsure of, or what they don't know. Then to top it off the media doesn't help with this situation.

[kameo37]

We get these comments a lot. I enjoy making them feel silly by telling them what their prey size ACTUALLY is. Then I usually get the retort: well, I saw a video of a snake eating a whole wildebeest.
Or something like that. To which I respond, was it a ball python? They never know. Never.

[Neal]

We get these comments a lot. I enjoy making them feel silly by telling them what their prey size ACTUALLY is. Then I usually get the retort: well, I saw a video of a snake eating a whole wildebeest.
Or something like that. To which I respond, was it a ball python? They never know. Never.

Not to be rude or anything but that's how things get spread and puts more people off. While people can be ignorant and biased, it's because rumors like this get spread then taught to their kids and so on. It's a repeating cycle. Yes make them feel silly by all means, but the wildebeast thing shouldn't be said. They already have tons of fake pictures of gigantic snakes and snakes eating humans, don't contribute to the cause anymore than the media does.

[galequin]

OP I have the saaamee convo with my gf quite often, especially when I tell her how old BPs can live. When my gf and I discuss the future she tells me "no snakes when we have kids" and cites the recent incident in Canada as a basis for her concern. I've finally informed her well enough to understand that under no circumstance would the snake be near the infant(s) for the snake's safety, and go on to explain how unrealistic it is for a snake that feeds on rodents to want anything to do with a human baby who prob weighs more than it.

We get these comments a lot. I enjoy making them feel silly by telling them what their prey size ACTUALLY is. Then I usually get the retort: well, I saw a video of a snake eating a whole wildebeest.
Or something like that. To which I respond, was it a ball python? They never know. Never.

Neal I see what your saying but I don't think that was what the intention of this post was... I think by addressing the issue in this way the idea is to make the person feel silly for being so misinformed to begin with I'm sure that's what the "was it a BP" question is all about

[Neal]

OP I have the saaamee convo with my gf quite often, especially when I tell her how old BPs can live. When my gf and I discuss the future she tells me "no snakes when we have kids" and cites the recent incident in Canada as a basis for her concern. I've finally informed her well enough to understand that under no circumstance would the snake be near the infant(s) for the snake's safety, and go on to explain how unrealistic it is for a snake that feeds on rodents to want anything to do with a human baby who prob weighs more than it.



Neal I see what your saying but I don't think that was what the intention of this post was... I think by addressing the issue in this way the idea is to make the person feel silly for being so misinformed to begin with I'm sure that's what the "was it a BP" question is all about

Yes, you know that, I know that and the other person knows that. The fact is the person you're telling that to doesn't know that and what if it isn't realized as a joke. Why even play around and joke like that? Some things you honestly don't joke about, i.e. you don't walk in a bank and joke around that you have a gun.

I just don't want to see another rumor started and spread. One awesome point is that because of one person came up with the idea that had pitbulls had locking jaws, it spread like wildfire. Now go ask random people about pitbulls jaws and they will tell you that they lock them. This is actually incorrect. The truth is that pitbull has one of the most powerful bites. That's the reason people think they "lock" their jaw.

[OctagonGecko729]

No property is dangerous if kept safely and with proper protocols.

When we decide to have a kid, you can guarantee that my Retic cage will get a more extensive security revamp as soon as the Retic gets over 5ft.

Even all my BPs have locks on their tubs.

You can try to bring reason to your best friend but know that bringing reason to the unreasonable is, unreasonable. You can point out the statistics that have been outlined on this forum many a time.

Here is a link to show how rediculous it is to be paranoid about your snakes. http://usherp.org/tag/reptile-deaths/

Deaths:
Motor vehicle incidents 1 in 98

Captive reptile incident (all kinds, including salmonella) 1 in 4,040,294

[kameo37]

Neal, I think you misunderstood. I was saying that the OTHER person brings up the snake eating a wildebeest. I'm definitely not spreading that misinformation around. I ask them if they think a ball python was the one eating a wildebeest to prove a point. It obviously wasn't. Therefore, my family is safe because the crazy video that person saw on you tube has nothing to do with the snakes I'm keeping in my home.
Even if it did, it's much more about responsible keepers, than anything. Which we also discuss.

The making them feel silly part is all in my head. I just *hope* they feel silly about saying stuff like that after we chat about it. There's no joking or sarcasm actually going on.

Believe me, I had never even heard of that kind of stuff until 2 different people brought it up while I'm showing them my super sweet bp. I would never perpetuate any negative stereotypes about reptiles! I certainly would never joke about it with people who, so clearly, didn't know any better.

Sorry if my original response came across that way...I did write it during my insomnia at 4 am.

[TheSnakeGuy]

Whenever someone tries to tell me about "that person they heard about one time who was killed by a captive snake" I ask them about the other news headline that wasn't printed. It said, "THE OTHER 99.99999999% OF SNAKE OWNERS SURVIVED THE NIGHT," but you didn't hear about them did you? You only know what you're told. Go and learn something for yourself.

BTW: I love the link about all the more deadly stuff than snakes. If I could I would keep laminated copies of that in my pockets to hand out daily to the ignorant masses.

[bcr229]

If anything the biggest threat to your baby would be from diseases carried on the feeders or in the snake's feces, not from the snakes themselves. As long as you clean up and use hand sanitizer after feeding or cleaning tanks, it's not an issue.

As for the friend, I would simply let her know politely that we'll have to agree to disagree and if she can't... there's the door.