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

[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

[STORMS]

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

What exactly is your speech about?

[Miera ElfPrincess]

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

[STORMS]

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

[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

[Blu Mongoose]

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! At least let us know how it went!

[Neal]

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

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.

[Miera ElfPrincess]

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)

[West Coast Jungle]

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

[anatess]

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.