Alright, so I ran into an awkward situation at my workplace last night.

Long story short, a few weeks ago one of my coworkers found out I have reptiles, and told me they have a Mojave BP that’s six years old. Of course I was like, “Awesome! We’ll have to talk snakes some time!”

Fast forward to last night, I was hanging out in the lobby at work (we work at a dance studio so there’s always parents and students to talk to) and she was working at the front desk. She asked to see a picture of my snakes, so I pulled out my phone and started showing her my Cal King. She then goes, “Does she pull herself out of her skin when she sheds?” And I was kind of confused by the phrasing of her question, but I just went, “Yeah, she gave me a nice full shed the other night actually.” I had a picture of it (I posted it on here in the Kingsnake section yesterday as well actually) so I showed it to her.

Then she says, “See, mine won’t shed on his own. I have to sit down and peel it off of him.”

Obviously red flags started going up, but before I could say anything, a parent in the lobby goes, “Oh my gosh, that’s so gross,” and my co-worker responded, “I actually kind of enjoy it.” Then someone came to the front desk to ask her a question and my chance was gone.

I don’t know what I could have said without being rude. I was thinking about it on the way home, and I figure I could have at least thrown out, “Oh, you should try misting with a spray bottle when he’s about to shed. It might help him get it off on his own.” Or something casual like that. But I didn’t have the time to think it through or chime in.

So my question is: How do you approach trying to educate people without offending them? I have to see her every day, and on a personal level, I really like her. She obviously cares about her snake if she sits down and takes the time to peel stuck shed off. However, we all know that a) if your snake is constantly having stuck shed, there’s a husbandry issue and b) pulling it off like that is not the best or safest solution.

What would you do?



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