Quote Originally Posted by eel588 View Post
The biggest thing to remember when educating someone is to take it slow. You can't shove a burmese python in someones face and expect them to understand you. Most are incredibly nervous. It took me years to convince my Mom to touch one. She now appreciates their beauty from a distance.
Absolutely. Also take it slow with young snakes. If someone gets bit or even struck at in the process of trying to overcome a fear, they're going to be scared for life. Know your animals and be honest with yourself in regards to how much you can trust them. Once when my young cousins were visiting they were dying to hold some of the snakes and I couldn't resist letting them hold my boa, because she really is the coolest snake. However, she was very young at the time (now she's a big hunk of sweetness) and not accustomed to meeting new people, much less a large group of people passing her around. Luckily it was my little brother who got bit, and he took it very well (the next day I had him hold the boa again to show everyone that it was not a big deal, and so that he would not be afraid to hold the snake in the future). If one of the younger ones had gotten bit I could never forgive myself.