Is it legal to walk around outside with your snake?

[DVirginiana]

Yes, I bet your BP is the only one in the whole world that actually has the emotional capacity to enjoy socialization with humans and shows stress entirely differently than the rest of her species.

[Vanouri]

Yes, I bet your BP is the only one in the whole world that actually has the emotional capacity to enjoy socialization with humans and shows stress entirely differently than the rest of her species.

I'm not saying she's the only one You just seem pretty narrow minded in that all ball pythons and snakes in general are the same, when they are not. Each snake will have its little quirks.

[DVirginiana]

Yeah, but you're saying that your animal apparently displays stress in a way entirely unique to her species. I am not narrow-minded; the snakes are. There's really not a whole lot of behavioral variation there. Sure, you will have some more tolerant of handling than others, some more aggressive than others; the situations in which they express stress, aggression, or fear may be slightly different, but the actual expression of those things is going to look very similar regardless of the animal.

It's not going to kill your snake to take it outside or whatever, so I don't really care, but all the things you listed as reasons she likes it are signs of stress which, as I said, looks pretty much the same from snake to snake. If I told you my dog growls and snaps when he's happy and wants to be petted, you'd probably rely on your own understanding of dog behavior and decide I'm wrong and you don't want to pet him while he's growling and snapping at you.

[dr del]

Now now, play nice people.

[M.P.C]

Awful lot of people standing on soapboxes in this thread.

[Skiploder]

I'm not saying she's the only one You just seem pretty narrow minded in that all ball pythons and snakes in general are the same, when they are not. Each snake will have its little quirks.

What DVirginiana and others are trying to tell you is that ball pythons - as a species - have a set of behavioral patterns that indicate whether they are in comfort or in distress.

Many of these behavioral patterns are contradictory to what we normally perceive as comfort or distress...mainly because signs of comfort include staying hidden and signs of distress manifest as heightened awareness in their surroundings (among many others).

While each snake does indeed have it's own little quirks, ball pythons are programmed to seek cover and security during the day and feed, mate, etc. during the night.

Deviations from these ingrained and instinctual patterns result in distress. The signs of distress in snakes has been studied and documented.

So instead of arguing back and forth, are you aware of the signs of comfort and distress in snakes? If you are, can you confirm that your animal is indeed showing signs of comfort?

If not, would you be willing to learn about the signs of comfort and distress and re-evaluate your position on this?

[Vanouri]

So instead of arguing back and forth, are you aware of the signs of comfort and distress in snakes? If you are, can you confirm that your animal is indeed showing signs of comfort?

If not, would you be willing to learn about the signs of comfort and distress and re-evaluate your position on this?

I cannot show you over the internet just how my snake acts. I feel she is comfortable and go on that. I've read up on signs of stress and can see them in my other snakes who are not big fans of handling. They are not present in the one I take for walks. The only thing I could see as someone interpreting as stress is her activity level, perhaps saying she is too active and seeking shelter. However after having her for a year, I know this is her normal activity level outside the tank. She acts perfectly normal and looks healthy despite my taking her for walks.
Unless a certified vet corrects me, I will continue with my practices. Thank you for being understanding and not pushing your ways on us!

[Daigga]

There's one last thing I would like to say on this topic.

If I have guests at my home, in my own private living space, I don't take my snakes out to show them.

Most people that visit me are aware of my menagerie upstairs, and if they'd like they are more than welcome to see my collection and setup. However, I am not going to remove a snake from it's environment and bring it downstairs (where the temperature is usually about 10 degrees cooler) just to show it off. I remember being a kid at a friends house watching TV, and their older brother just straight up came into the room and sat down with a snake; no comments, no questions, just came in with a snake. People like this are only looking to get a reaction, which is not why I have snakes.

I believe in respecting people as well as keeping my snakes as healthy as possible. Both of these things point to me not wanting to put my snakes in a situation that makes either them or another person uncomfortable. There are zero benefits to taking your snake out in public and there could be so many harmful effects, I don't understand why any responsible keeper would risk it. A snake is not a dog and should not be treated as such.

[DVirginiana]

This really isn't a huge issue so I can agree to disagree with your handling practices; people do a thousand things to their pets that aren't 100% in the best interest of the animal and serve primarily to benefit us. I put clothes on my dog (a 70 lb shepherd/chow mix if you wanted a visual) sometimes, and I'm absolutely sure he doesn't benefit from it. I know my tarantulas hate it when I open their enclosures to look at them. I still do those things sometimes because they benefit me (and because the spiders sit in the same spot so long it's good to know they haven't died). When it comes down to it, no taking your BP outside probably won't do serious harm to a calmer snake, even though I disagree with doing it.

I can get intense when I'm talking about behavior and neurology because it's something I'm very interested in and have taken a lot of coursework on, so I just wanted to be clear that I'm mainly debating whether something is a sign of stress in a BP and how variable their ways of expressing stress are, rather than whether or not someone is a terrible person for taking their snake outside.

[Jhill001]

I'm offering up an opinion on the subject. This might get a bit long winded.

In regards to taking a snake/other reptile out to the grocery store or other random stores. What the heck are you thinking? The grocery store has temps that swing wildly from area to area that's not good for any animal. I don't even like it. And most other stores temps sit around 65 degrees in the summer due to air conditioning. That's not good for them. Those are hibernation temps for some species.

In regards to taking a snake/other reptile to a pet store/reptile show. What the heck are you thinking!?!?!?! Seriously?!!! I don't care what your opinion is about whatever random pet store is in your town there are a bunch of wild caught reptiles in that store and you risk infecting your pet with their diseases/parasites. I hope you don't bother quarantining your snakes/reptiles because its basically a waste of time if you are taking your snakes to pet shows/stores.

In regards to taking a snake outside. This one I don't really care assuming the temperature and humidity conditions are favorable. If you want to get a photo of your snake in a natural environment sweet. However as with the above situations you risk escapes, random people bothering you. If you are working with native species you run the risk of being reported if keeping them in your area is illegal.

There is an alternative to getting a photo in a natural environment. Considering most of these species we keep aren't native to our own area, maybe get a houseplant from the origin country and pose your reptile on it within the relative safety of your own home. Set up a small studio, which is relatively easy with a sheet and something to put the snake on.

In regards to walking around with your snake outside. What's the point? There are other ways of adding enrichment to a reptiles daily life than handling them around the block.

Finally in general the only reason your reptile should ever be out in public is if it is in some sort of educational capacity with them. That's it. Educating the public about reptiles and how interesting they are is the only reason they should ever be exposed to the public.