I use my two burms in presentations almost weekly, and have been doing so for many years. At present, I do not have insurance on my snakes, but I am in the process of getting insurance as I type this. My big albino female has grown up doing school presentations, and she knows what's going on. She is too big for me to handle standing, so I usually get the kids in front of me, sometimes in classrooms or in the gym or even the cafeteria. I get a safe distance away, and take Alberta out of her container and either sit on the floor with her or sit in a chair and place the upper third of her body in my lap. When I get through talking about her, and if the group is a good one (and small enough), I let the kids come up a couple at the time and pet her. I've been doing this for many years, and I've never had a bad experience with my burms. I did have a big African rock that went nuts one day in front of about 100 boy scouts at a scouting day camp. He peed all over me and took a plug out of my left forearm. Freaked the kids out, but we were in a big gym and the snake wasn't close to the kids. I got control of the snake quickly, and finished the show without further incident. In the end, the scouts thought it was pretty funny that I got nailed. That was the last time I showed that African rock (shouldn't have in the first place). Most of my shows have been done with burmese and retics, and they've worked well.

I am in the process of getting licensed here in Georgia for venomous snakes, and I have to carry insurance on any venomous snake I would get. While I'm at it, I'm looking into insurance for the pythons as well. Though not required (at least not here in Georgia), it wouldn't be a bad thing to have. Doing shows is really fun. I enjoy it immensely. Both my burms, Alberta and Murray, have been great ambassadors of snakedom. I am a health educator and I do some of my health presentations with the snakes as examples.
RP

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