Thank you Rich! You've confirmed much of what I'd expected. I always love to hear what other people do as far as animal outreach goes.

I've wanted to have a Blood to show off just how different snakes can be. People tend to be blind to the wild morphological differences between snake species, as they're all limbless. I thought showing people a strict ground-based snake would be a nice contrast to the multipurpose mostly-arboreal body plan that my boa displays. I definitely never expected to keep a blood on my shoulders. They really need their weight supported to avoid spinal damage. Also, showing people that snakes can be vulnerable, and that these ones must be cradled like infants might work nicely to give them a bit of anthropomorphizing sympathy.

I've done some docent work with a local zoo and as a professional educator out of a butterfly house, so I'm familiar with safety and sanitary procedures, the hand sanitizer and paper towels are always in my bag of tricks. I generally have a policy of only displaying one animal at a time rule so my animals get just a short display period. As far as letting people touch animals, I never let them get near my snakes' heads, and give children a 2-finger rule, letting them stroke the snake's back on its lowest 1/3 with their index and middle finger while I maintain full control over the animal's head. So far, this has worked very well to prevent grabbing.

That photo is just adorable! I find the blood python body shape to be just charming. It always reminds me of a Japanese mythical creature, the tsuchinoko, a short, fat-bodied snake with a triangular head, that when captured grants a wish or confers good luck. I'm absolutely decided that I will have to get one of these lovable 'slugs' at very least to be my own lap-snake.

Now I just need to figure out who I'm going to get my snake from and if I should wait for this season's hatchlings to be ready versus getting one that's a few months old.

Thank you!

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