An education experience - Very excited!! :)

[brobertson]

The school approved bringing Satin! Well, they responded with an email saying I needed to have my professor email them saying that it was okay/true. We're going to have a vote on Friday in class to see if majority of people would be okay with having a snake in the classroom, and if that goes okay then she'll get to come visit and help me out.

Sounds great! I'm sure that the two of you will make amazing ambassadors!

[crepers86]

That is soo awesome

[xFenrir]

So judging by the general consensus of the class, they want me to bring Satin. There are 2 or 3 people that are scared/worried/don't like snakes, but I stayed after class with them to address their fears and questions, and while they said they will be by the door for the presentation, they expressed that they did have some amount of curiosity and would at least like to look at her. I explained that I would bring her in a container so that people can have adequate warning to choose whether they would like to leave or move before she comes out, and that nobody would be forced to touch her. They actually started asking me questions like "what does she eat?", "where do you keep her?" and "how do you know her moods (happy, upset, calm)?"


I think this will be a great experience for everyone. I'm sure that even if people leave still afraid of snakes, that at least they'll be informed and hopefully understand them a little better than when they came in.

[crepers86]

So judging by the general consensus of the class, they want me to bring Satin. There are 2 or 3 people that are scared/worried/don't like snakes, but I stayed after class with them to address their fears and questions, and while they said they will be by the door for the presentation, they expressed that they did have some amount of curiosity and would at least like to look at her. I explained that I would bring her in a container so that people can have adequate warning to choose whether they would like to leave or move before she comes out, and that nobody would be forced to touch her. They actually started asking me questions like "what does she eat?", "where do you keep her?" and "how do you know her moods (happy, upset, calm)?"


I think this will be a great experience for everyone. I'm sure that even if people leave still afraid of snakes, that at least they'll be informed and hopefully understand them a little better than when they came in.

this is so awesome good luck with the prentation!!!

[kc261]

This is an awesome opportunity for you to spread some positive words about snakes and those of us who keep them as pets. As has already been pointed out in this thread, if you don't do it right, you could end up doing more harm than good, but it sounds like you are doing all the right things!

One time I was showing off one of my snakes to a non-snake person (not afraid, but didn't know anything about them), and the guy decided to reach out and pat the snake on the head! Scared the snake half to death, but luckily all it did was try to withdraw so quickly it nearly fell out of my hands, but it could easily have resulted in a defensive bite. So make sure if anyone gets close enough to the snake to touch it, that you've briefed them at least a little bit about where & how to touch it.

Let us know how it goes!

[xFenrir]

Just in case anyone was interested, I had my presentation this past Friday. It was a huge success!! Satin was on her absolute best behavior, although she did get a little nervous at first (nobody else would be able to tell, I only knew because she had her grip of death for a few minutes while she figured out what the deal was with the new area) and everyone asked tons of questions. She even hung out with me for the rest of the class, since it was a bit cooler than I thought it would be in the classroom so I acted as her personal heater, and people took pictures and just watched her as she sniffed around a bit (I told people that was okay, just as long as they didn't crowd her or use any flash). For a little while she was laying her head on my purse and staring at one of the guys that sits across from me, and he said he didn't think Satin liked him all that much. I explained that they've got good eyesight and she was either just trying to figure out who he was, or she just didn't care at all and was just laying there. Even after I left and was waiting for my ride, people came up and asked me what was in the tub I had (it had "SNAKE TUB: ONLY FOR SNAKES" written on the top so nobody uses it for any other storage stuff) and by the time my ride was there I had a whole group of people asking questions and wanting to take a look at her.

I think the coolest part though was when I was strapping Satin's tub in the backseat, I heard a group of people go "There was a snake here and I missed it?! Aww that's so cool!!"



All in all I think it was a great day for everyone, and a lot of people are now more educated about snakes. Even most of the people who at first said they didn't want to be anywhere near her came up at the end and touched her. I can't be any prouder of Satin for being a perfect scale-y ambassador, and I hope I get another chance like this again!!

[Kaorte]

Sounds like it was a huge success!! I wish I had more opportunities to show my snakes to people who have never seen a snake before.

I'm really glad you got that opportunity and everything went smoothly Congrats!

[interloc]

I find all of the "fears" behind snakes are driven by lies and/or myths. People hear ball python and only comprehend the python part and assume 30 foot man eater. People hear boa constrictor and focus on the constrictor part and assume that they will choke people out for no reason. You are a great ambassador to the hobby. You did a good thing X! Thanks for being a responsible snake owner.

[Erndogg]

Awesome Congratz on the success. I am glad things went well and that you didn't have any issues. I think it's great when people area able to help dispel some of the myths and fears about snakes. Who knows, you may have just convinced some one in your class to become a future snake keeper!