Posted by:
toshamc
at Thu Mar 15 11:45:07 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by toshamc ]
I usually keep it fairly simple - the kids will have tons of questions and short attention spans - keep them involved and ask them a lot of questions too!
Assuming you are working mainly with balls:
I usually start out by asking if anyone knows where ball pythons are from with a brief description of their natural habitat and different snakes come from different parts of the world - where they live in the wild (ie burrows, termite mounds some snakes live in trees others in water, etc) - touch on anatomy, that they are nocturnal - the different ways they hunt and kill their prey - this is a good question to pose to them as most have seen crocodile hunter and already know and will enjoy sharing their knowledge - briefly touch on constriction versus venom - point out heat pits - tongue flicking blah blah blah. I then go into how these that I am showing them were born in captivity - touch on how they are kept in captivity as well as how old they get and how big they get and how they shed when they grow (bring old shed if you have one) - I usually ask them if they know if snakes are born or hatched - briefly touch on eggs versus live birth - go onto how they are kept and fed in captivity (some eat live some eat frozen thawed food) blah blah blah - kids love this part.
I really get the kids involved and pretty much follow what interests them so I tangent a lot but that's pretty basic. Also you kind of have to gear it differently if you are talking to a group of preschoolers or teenagers or mixture. If you have some great pictures bring them too - maybe of your eggs hatching or feeding pictures.
If you know something about your local species you can bring them up. But be careful the last thing you want is some irate mom calling up because their child misunderstood something you said or got scared or upset because they hear there are water moccasins in their pool - or some BS like that.
I think it's important to get across that snakes whether they are someones pet or found in the wild they don't need to be feared but they do need to be respected. And that although it's ok to pet and play with these snakes (that you brought) if you find a snake outside you should leave it be blah blah blah.
Oh and if you are going to let them touch or hold your snakes - be sure to bring hand sanitizer and have them do it while seated - I've had kids get spooked and drop snakes and I've had kids try to scare others with the snakes - if they are seated it tends to cut down on these urges.
Good luck.
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Tosha 
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RE: snakes and kids - toshamc, Thu Mar 15 11:45:07 2007
