Mazikeen progression thread

[tttaylorrr]

Someone besides me, to clarify. This happened a little over a month ago. The girlfriend of a guy I know is interested in snakes, and we'd chat about Maze every time I'd see her at work. I eventually invited her over to meet Maze. We'll call her A.

For reference, I'd never had anyone over that liked snakes before this, and didn't really know what to say before it happened to prevent this. Common sense, probably should have known. Most folks that come over are curious, but not curious enough to stick their hand in Maze's face.

This time, I barely had Maze out of her enclosure for a minute, and A stuck her hand right on Maze's head. Maze is head shy. She doesn't like it when her head is touched, at all. I was so in shock I didn't really know what to say to get A to quit without freaking her out. She immediately goes, "I can read cats but not snake body language." Can you, though? Can you really??? Would you just grab a cat without letting it sniff you first and expect to not swipe at you?? No, so why would you do that with a snake?

It just kind of went downhill from there. By the time we put Maze back, she was living up to the name 'pet rock' and was the most tense I'd ever seen. I felt so bad. It's definitely made me think of rules to tell people beforehand. Most importantly, let Maze come to you first.

Don't mean to be rude about A, and I realize it's also my fault for not having better control of the situation.... Just. It could have gone better.

did Maze strike out? such a bummer, and yes both of you made mistakes. A sounds a bit ignorant and just needed some common sense snake handling info. when i had my 6 year old cousin handle the snakes, i explained 2 rules before she even saw a snake: 1, IMMEDIATELY let me know if you are scared, nervous, or don't want to hold them anymore, and 2, their heads are not to be touched or gotten close to. honestly that's the only rules i have, besides you know...not throwing the snake across the room if you freak out.

remember: mistakes are important learning experiences, and are just as valuable as any resource out there. live and learn, friend.