Are you only bringing in ball pythons, or your lizards too?

Unless your ball pythons are very different I would probably opt to just bring a baby and one of the parents, as it will be more organized, and you can spend more time talking than shuffling through snake bags!

How long is your presentation? I always start with all the animals put away, and I tell the kids "I have a snake here today, would you like to see it?" I instruct frightened kids to move to the back of the room at this time. I find this practice prevents kids from acting out because they are uncomfortable with the animal. Depending on the time of your presentation I would talk about each of the following:

1. Introduce the snake by name, and explain the type of snake it is and where it is from. Continue with basic natural history!
2. Talk about the snaks basic anatomy (spurs, heat pits, yes it has a backbone, no it has no ears or eyelids).
3. Talk about husbandry. Explain why you keep snakes as pets, and talk about how snakes are not horribly aggressive creatures that will try to swallow your arm or strangle you for pure enjoyment...a lot of kids think this way!
4. Mention that snakes have babies, and show them where the babies would exit...some kids think eggs come out of the snake's mouth (yes I work with high schoolers and many think this way). Talk about how mom doesn't feed the babies, but the babies are like mini versions of the parents. You may want to take out a baby for them to see at this time.
5. Q and A session!
6. Allow the kids at this time to touch the snake, I wouldn't let a kid I didn't know hold one of my snakes, because you don't know how they (mainly the kid) will react....but that is just me.

I hope I gave you some ideas...good luck!
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Thanks,
Amy
www.myboids.4t.com
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1.14 Normal ball pythons
1.0 Pastel ball pythons
0.0.1 Sinaloan Milk Snake
0.0.1 Plains Garter
0.1 Normal Kenyan Sand Boa
2.0 Anery Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Mid-Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
1.2 Dumeril's Boa
1.2 BCI
That's Just The Snakes!

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