It's confirmed!

[Wapadi]

I think its a good thing taking a snake out in public. How are we suppose to teach new ideas to the public if nobody ever sees them? When I lived in Florida I would take a ball python to our horse shows and people LOVED it. (for those who have never been to a horse show, they are outdoors and people bring all sorts of pets to them, most commonly dogs and birds...) Even the people who were scared of snakes would come around and ask questions and take pictures. They ecspecially loved my Pied because he looks like a paint horse. And they were very curiuos when I started explaining breeding and codom genes, etc. When I didnt bring him, I got asked why??

[h00blah]

I went to an anime expo and some guy was walking around with a kingsnake XD. He was friendly. I asked him if anyone had freaked out over it yet, but he said everyone loved it! Perhaps that goes along with the "setting" he was in.

[WingedWolfPsion]

I see both sides of this argument. Ophidiophobia IS common, and some people will freak out and cause a fuss if they see a snake out in public.
On the other hand, if people never see them, they think there is something abnormal about owning one.

Perhaps a good middle ground is to only take a snake out to places where it can be assumed to be welcome (like any other pet), and to be extremely courteous and sympathetic to anyone who shows signs of fear.

I think there are down sides to hiding them away at all times, and down sides to bringing them into public view. I don't think there is a certain 'right answer'.

[sirchaosofgb]

The pricipal at our sons school asked when we could bring our "unique" pets to school for show and tell. She met one of our bearded dragons and fell in love with him and when i told her we have a total of 3 she got excited and now that we have 2 BPs she's even more excited. I know they are just normal BPs but they look nothing alike. So i'm thinking about giving it about 2 more weeks just make sure Lucy is doing well before she makes her debut. I need to give some info about snakes and lizards to the school (oh yeah not just 1 class...i get to do the WHOLE school!) Anyone want to help me with some info to pass along to the young moldable minds? Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Mike41793]

SNAKES ARE OUR FRIENDS, NOT EVIL, MAN EATING, SLIMY CREATURES!!!!
Just shout that at the begining of the presentation lmao

[gr8gugly]

Well I took three of ours to my girls science class. I held one the teacher held one and my girls would hold one. I let me little girls tell the class about them. They made out a huge sheet about facts on snakes. Unfortunately one of my girls spent like 45 minutes talking about snake sex. OOOPS. My other one was somehow an instant expert on snakes and even knew all the ins and outs of two headed snakes. (She made up most of it)

[sirchaosofgb]

SNAKES ARE OUR FRIENDS, NOT EVIL, MAN EATING, SLIMY CREATURES!!!!
Just shout that at the begining of the presentation lmao

I noted it and i will defintely will say that to start with!! Thank you!!

[sirchaosofgb]

Well I took three of ours to my girls science class. I held one the teacher held one and my girls would hold one. I let me little girls tell the class about them. They made out a huge sheet about facts on snakes. Unfortunately one of my girls spent like 45 minutes talking about snake sex. OOOPS. My other one was somehow an instant expert on snakes and even knew all the ins and outs of two headed snakes. (She made up most of it)

LOL Snake sex!! That's awesome! Looks like they are paying VERY close attention to the snakes!

[crepers86]

I thank causuley just taking our pets out in public in general is a bad idea. I will from time to time take petsmart, but wont allow her off my neck because of other peoples dogs. but take her to the gas station or home depot I wont do. I wont even take mine to the vet in a manner where they can be seen... I always in a dark plastic bin and in snake bags. I will do educational presentations. but that is it

[captainjack0000]

It seems that most people posting on this debate are forgetting a huge part of the issue - the owner! People will judge you and your pet. I'm not saying they should, but I am saying they will. So if all of the people who take their pythons and other herps into public are misinformed about their pet, talk to themselves, have poor personal hygeine or some other taboo, then that will be reflected back to the whole herp community. The pet, IMO, is probably the least of the concern, unless it is something large enough people feel is dangerous (such as the pet alligator).

I think some people are going to freak out about a snake no matter what, so don't waste your time on those people. What can be useful is talking to the people who are interested but don't know about pet herps. A well imformed, well groomed pet owner can use a well behaved, pleasant herp as an ambassador. I'm not saying you should start a herp campaign, but I don't see anything wrong with taking your pet to places where everybody else takes their pets. I'm saying it should be taken to an environment where it is welcome.

Somebody else pointed out failure to take our animals into public will keep people thinking that it is abnormal own a herp. Well, I suspect that it is abnormal, in the sense that the majority of pet owners have cats, dogs, and maybe birds. I don't see anything wrong with being abnormal, but we have to recognize we are a minority and there certain implications that go along with that.