New ball python/ worrying

[JodanOrNoDan]

I would suggest re reading that sentence. "The hope is by spending a huge amount of time gently working with that bird it will soon learn to trust you OR LEAST LEARN NOT TO BE AFRAID OF YOU. Believe me the brain of a Red Tailed Hawk isn't much bigger than that of a ball python's brain. In the future if you're going to quote me I would appreciate it if you would at least complete the sentence.

Twenty years ago when I first started doing reptile educational presentations in the San Francisco Bay Area I was warned by just about every breeder I knew that by having my snakes in front of people the snakes would get stressed out and that stress would be the cause of health issues including the lack of feeding response. I appreciated everyone's concern, but sometimes you just got to make these decisions based on your own logic, common sense and experience rather than the logic, common sense and experience of others, that's when I created the other side of my business called For Goodness Snakes Adventures. Sure I wondered how the snakes would act or react when handled by hundreds of children at a time, but was relieved to see that they handled the crowds of children with no issues at all. Now twenty years later and 50,000 people later my snakes are doing fantastic. Just to put my business into perspective I now do between 200 and 300 reptile programs a year that means that 15,000 children per year touch and handle my ball pythons including some that are on my breeding team. We have never had any issues (no one has ever been bit) and the 200 plus snakes in my collection's health level has never been better. Sometimes I do between 5 and 6 presentations a day. In fact I just got home a few minutes ago from doing a program and in a few minutes I'll be going out to feed the collection and as always I don't expect any issues from those that were with me today.

So when you say (and I'm sure that most people would agree with you ) that by handling your snake 15 minutes a day is and I quote you "Your advise is a recipe for a stressed out, sick snake that won't eat", I just smile and shake my head.

Here is a link to one of my videos that will show you what I do at the end of my reptile presentations and again I do about 300 of them a year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyHTt75jgsA

A note to the newbies: It's OK to think outside of the box when it comes to these animals, don't be afraid to try new things to push the envelope.
Remember breeding and selling ball pythons is more of an art than a science, question everything and don't be afraid to try new things.
I'm one of the lucky ones because I get to do this for a living, but no matter how many times I've been told I was wrong or that I was going to fail I leaned on my own experiences, I listened to myself rather than those narrow minded people that were advising me.

Like I've said before I'm here for you guys, let me know if I can help.

Brian Gundy
For Goodness Snakes
408-981-6694

This is hands down one of the most intelligent posts I have read on here in a long time. I agree 100% with what Brian is saying. Anyone that has trained animals should understand Brian's approach.

The part that is missing though is not everyone is meant to be an animal trainer. I have seen posts on here that absolutely amaze me. You tell people to regulate their heat source, they argue about it and then they are back with a burn. I am continually amazed at the lack of logic some people can display. Experimenting is great when you know how to interpret results. If you have problems interpreting results you should not experiment. It is because of this that we tend to give "safe" advice. Stuff that we know pretty much works every time. I am guilty of this. I tell people to feed in the enclosure. Truth be told I don't always do it. As a matter of fact when I am trying to convert an animal from live to f/t one of the first things I do is feed live in another container. The animal becomes conditioned to know it is being fed when it goes in there. Pretty soon it is so wired to eat in this situation it will hit a F/T. Once it does it is back to feeding in its tub. No one told me this. It makes sense so I tried it and it works. The problem is it doesn't work every time and you have to know when to switch tactics. This is almost impossible to try to describe online, let alone while you are getting slammed for not doing it the "right" way. I am also guilty of telling people to let their animals chill out. Another do as I say not as I do situation. The nastier or the shyer an animal is the more I handle it. Works for me, but I also know when to stop. Once again impossible for me to describe online.

I believe there are many people on here that experiment but are afraid to come forward with their results because they are going to get slammed. I am too old to care about such things. I listen to people's opinions for what they are. I will continue to experiment. Without experimentation we would still be living in caves having to catch our food. Some people need instruction though. Read the warning label on some products some time. They are there because some idiot did whatever it says not to do.