Talk with friends and family who have an interest in reptiles and see if they will help out presenting and educating children etc. about reptiles.

search yellow pages etc for pet stores, especially ones who have good knowledge about reptiles they sell. Also check for animal shelters, rescues and zoos, if any in your area. Visit or call these places and ask if they ever get reptiles handed over to them and if they do, do they adopt them out themselves or hand them off to somebody local who can care for and find new homes for the reptiles. You can certainly tell them you are a reptile enthusist looking for others to help educate the public etc. Talking with vets or their receptionists to see if they have regular customer's who bring reptiles in for care or just checkups.

At all these places, ask if you can put up a flyer/ad saying you are looking to find a few people to volunteer at various events, to present reptiles to children, to further education on the wonders of reptiles.

As for what to say or what animals to use in such a presentation, the first thing you want to do is select your calmest animals. They need to be able to tolerate a fairly long period of being handled (though its best to limit even these handling sessions for short periods). Its good to have a few animals so you can present it, talk about some basic information (you can give a brief rundown on the animal's natural range, maximum adult size, etc, followed by its personal history (how long yuo had it, age, male/female, morph information if any) then you can hold the snake and let children touch the back third of the body, (always ensure yuo have control of the head, just in case it gets cranky, better for it to bite you than a child)

Have children come up one at a time to touch with a finger, but not to grab.

Before each presentation, make sure you practice ahead of time, and make sure you know how long you have in total (calculate the time for you to give a short speech about the animal, and a 'touch' period, and time for questions and answers.) If you say, have a half hour to present, maybe bring 2-3 animals, give a 5-6 min talk about that particular animal, ask if anybody has questions, then let the audience have a chance to touch if they want. If you feel confident your reptile is calm and not likely to bite or scratch, and the child or listener seem comfortable, you could let one hold it for a few seconds. Then go to the next animal.

If you have a friend or two along with you, they can help get the next animal ready and you can switch over and start talking about the next animal while the helper either just puts the first away, or walks along the audience to give them a chance for closer looks or touch.

Don't move animals too close to people, or too fast, if they seem nervous or fearful, at best, have them come to you, while encouraging them.

Make sure you do your own homework, so if somebody asks you a question, you are prepared with the answer, especially if you don't know much about the animal itself, besides basic care, such as natural range, the scientific name etc. Also, make sure you are polite and courteous, even if you are asked the most stupid questions (remember alot of people only know all the wrong facts so you will certainly be asked if its poisonous, does it bite, is it slimy etc.)
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PHLdyPayne

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