To clarify- the snakes are ball pythons.

I dunno- I just can't imagine anything other that a semi-scary bite happening- and if the kid gets scared... oh well.

Our kids are constantly messing with the cat and the cat occasionally takes a swipe at them. The kids will get scratched- sometimes even blood is drawn- but they don't even fuss about it. I just can't imagine these snakes doing anything worse than that. My kids are always unsupervised with our cat. I think cats are probably the most capable predators on the planet- although much more affectionate than snakes- which are basically killing machines who might get "used to" being handled.

I will make sure that the snakes are kept from their faces, though- that makes total sense. I'm usually one who challenges conventional wisdom or hard rules that don't seem to be based on substantial risk- and I'm not so sure I accept that I can't let my older kids (7 and 9) be with these young ball pythons unsupervised (with rules- like tell me when you take them out and don't let them get close to your head).