Animal Planet - Promoting snake abuse?

[Elise.m]

Can't please everyone.

[Eventide]

if there are better ways to do it and its so easy then go out and do something. hes doing more for our community than a lot of people on here are so stop complaning. and yes the snakes did get water. they show them soaking the snakes and vets checking them out. they condensed 10 days into a one hour episode. so how much care and cleaning and exams do u think they cut out. prolly a lot. oh ya, and also did u see them eating. it looks like the snakes were ready for food to me. and did u see the rooms with the racks. those snakes looked pretty comfy

What makes you think those against the cruelty of this particular episode aren't doing anything to change people's opinions of snakes?

I, for one, have turned quite a few people from, "Ew, snake, I don't want to be in the same room with it!" to people who now respect them, realize how interesting they are and how personable they are, and all but one of those people will freely touch or hold the snakes. I also recently went to an elementary school with some of my snakes (along with other reptile enthusiasts) to introduce them to the kids and help educate them about all types of reptiles.

I hope they did get water. I know that when I take my Brazilian rainbow boa out for even a couple hours, when I put her back in, she beelines it to her water bowl and drinks for several minutes. (And I keep her tank at 70 to 80% humidity.)

your quick on the guns tiger did you not watch the show he pulled a few snakes out of black boxed hides that where around the room so there was hides available for the snakes i told you that they mailed all the snakes to me and i choped em up and ate them would you believe me

Did you actually see the poor excuse for hides those boxes were? They were only closed on the inside; they were fully open to the outside. You realize snakes like dark and tight spaces, right? Plus, in the little "tour" of the room, there were only two of these small "hides," a filing cabinet they could hide under, steps so the guy could get to his bed, and a pile of bags. From the size of the room and the "hides," it looks like they had somewhere around 16 square feet (4 sq ft for each hide, and that's being generous) for 100 snakes. The tubs I keep my ball pythons in are each about 4 square feet. So...yeah, they had enough hide space for maybe four or five snakes--perhaps more if they all crammed themselves in there together.

Also, the host himself admitted that not all the snakes were fed: [link].

And another point: You think people were learning from this? Watch the videos and listen to what people outside the box were saying. "That guy is crazy!" "I'd rather be thrown in the ocean with 100 sharks then be in there!" "I'm scared!" "No way I'd ever do that!" "I have nightmares about them strangling me and sucking at me!" "C'mon, let's go, this is freaking me out." Yep, people sure learned a lot about how to not fear snakes....

I'm downright flabbergasted that you guys think this stunt was worth the snakes' health. I really don't quite know what to think about that....

[m00kfu]

Also, the host himself admitted that not all the snakes were fed: [link].

You do realize that most, if not all, snakes don't eat every week in the wild? That's a schedule forced on them by keepers. Not being fed for 10 days is not in the least bit cruel. I've got some here that only get fed once a month.

[WingedWolfPsion]

It was only 10 days. Yes, it was most likely a stressful time for the animals--but they had warmth, I honestly have no doubt that they had water available, and some of them even got a meal. If I was going to subject one of my ball pythons to something stressful, I wouldn't try to feed it until after the stressful period was over, either. 10 days is nothing, many adult snakes that aren't breeding only eat every 14 days. (A few species eat even less often).

You should know that many of our ball pythons regularly volunteer to go 4 months without food--or longer.

I think most healthy snakes can handle 10 days of stressful conditions, when all else is ok. It's a stunt, yes. It's not in the best interests of those particular snakes--but it's not likely to result in any serious problems for those snakes, either.

The vast majority of snakes species are not so fragile that they can't handle 10 days without a hide box.

[mpkeelee]

I, for one, have turned quite a few people from, "Ew, snake, I don't want to be in the same room with it!" to people who now respect them, realize how interesting they are and how personable they are, and all but one of those people will freely touch or hold the snakes. I also recently went to an elementary school with some of my snakes (along with other reptile enthusiasts) to introduce them to the kids and help educate them about all types of reptiles.

good, and i thank u for that. i as well have done some similar things. but mine has been with people in the army here who hated reptiles. now many of them own BP's or beardies. im not entirely disagreeing with you. but i think that what hes trying to do for the reptile community was worth 10 days of stress for these snakes. yes it probably could have been done a little better for the snakes and our community and less for his show but looking at the big picture i think it wasnt a complete disaster.