Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok, so i have to give a power point presentation on snakes to a non-snake admiring audience. i hear it all the time how snake people are weird because they like snakes. yeah, ok, whatever. anyway, i have to figure out how to communicate to and make my audience understand the attraction and appreciation of snakes. im having difficulties coming up with the right words or analogies: "because they are neat, pretty, low maintenance, quite, etc." whenever my coworkers ask me why i like snakes i usually just say, "i dont know, why do some people like coins and stamps." if anyone would like to post their reasons for loving snakes as i do please do. maybe i can use your reasons or analogies to get through to my audience, thank you.

Snakes are durable. They have been around, pretty close to their present form, far longer than most mammals. In contrast, your Labrador retriever or house cat are newcomers. Snakes give us a living link to the era when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

And snakes only eat once per week. How easy is that? They're pretty much the simplest reptile to take care of. They don't need UV or lots of supplements. They eat frozen mouse-pops instead of live crickets and stuff.

I know that lots of people get a thrill out of breeding them. You could say that a lot of people get sucked into snake keeping by because they are curious about snakes. Then they find out that they're so easy to breed and they can produce such a variety of different morphs that it becomse quite a hobby and even a business for a lot of people.

First off, I have kept many pets in my lifetime, and snakes are by far some of the easiest to keep. The fact that you only need to feed them about once a week is a big plus. Many of us go on vacation for a week, and when we return our snakes are fine with nobody looking after them.

They are much more "interactive" than most people think. They are probably easier and more fun to handle than many of the small furry pets that folks seem to adore.

With basic care, many snakes will live a VERY long time.

They are not that hard to breed, and yet the process can be fascinating and exciting.

Just a few reasons. Duffy

You can point out how boids and pythons have heat sensing pitts. Enabling them to “see” prey in the dark, much like the military using night vision now. Making them more advanced then most mammals, even though they have been around since prehistoric times.

You can also explain that snakes can be found on virtually ever land mass in the world – I believe the only exception is Ireland.

Being from Texas you are well aware that a rattle snake is on your state flag, and that almost all rattle snakes are found in North and South America (aside from a few island types)

Rattlesnakes are actually found in all but 4 states. Those without rattlesnakes are Hawaii, Alaska, Maine and Delaware

>>
>>Being from Texas you are well aware that a rattle snake is on your state flag,

Not on the Texas state flag. There is a snake / rattlesnake on the flag of Mexico, but we haven't been part of Mexico for for quite a few years now.

deg

LOL- What happened to the rattle snake flag and the "Don't tread on me"?

I know its been a while since I've been in school.

>>LOL- What happened to the rattle snake flag and the "Don't tread on me"?
>>
>>I know its been a while since I've been in school.

It's been a while since I've been in school also. Had to look this up. The "Don't tread on me" flag dates back to the American revolution. See http://www.foundingfathers.info/stories/gadsden.html As far as I know, the only national or state flag that has flown over Texas with a rattle snake on it is the Mexican flag.

deg

Lots of good answers as to why they make good pets, but I think with us "snake people" it goes a bit deeper. For me (I'm 39 now) I've been fascinated with them since I can remember. The fascination comes from the same reasons most people are scared or repulsed by them - they have no legs, they don't blink, some have venom, they are awesome predators, etc. When I give presentations on snakes, I try and show my audience why they are so fascinating with their myriad of colors and patterns, different lifestyles and habitats, etc. Then on top of the really cool natural aspects of snakes, throw in all the reasons they make good pets (low-maintenance, don't take up alot of space, quiet, hypo-allergenic, relatively inexpensive to buy/house/feed, fairly easy to breed, etc.) and it becomes very obvious why we love snakes! They are not like sharks, which have a similar effect on people (love 'em or hate 'em) where if you love'em, you can't really keep one in your living room and study it, interact with it, breed it and so on. So really think about what turns you on about snakes and just pass that along to your audience in a really enthusiastic way, and hopefully they all come away with at least a new respect and appreciation for our scaly friends.

Billy

>>ok, so i have to give a power point presentation on snakes to a non-snake admiring audience. i hear it all the time how snake people are weird because they like snakes. yeah, ok, whatever. anyway, i have to figure out how to communicate to and make my audience understand the attraction and appreciation of snakes. im having difficulties coming up with the right words or analogies: "because they are neat, pretty, low maintenance, quite, etc." whenever my coworkers ask me why i like snakes i usually just say, "i dont know, why do some people like coins and stamps." if anyone would like to post their reasons for loving snakes as i do please do. maybe i can use your reasons or analogies to get through to my audience, thank you.
>>

They're beautiful and take less work than most pets. Reptiles generally require less electricity than a reef tank and less work overall than fish. There is no guilt of not giving them enough 'me' time.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

They are kind of like one of those worry beads or koosh balls. They slide through your fingers so smoothly. Great stress reliever, once you get over your fear. Plus all the other stuff, ease of keeping, cheap, etc.
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

very cool responses, thank you all so much.

I have been interested in snakes since around 1974, when I found a Prairie Ringneck under some cardboard as I walked home from the Library in Tulsa, OK. I had always been fascinated by the natural world (I was 8 at the time), and I had seen snakes other kids caught at school (gartersnakes in IL), but this one was different.

I don't handle the few snakes I keep, and I don't keep them because I need them as pets, I have just been fascinated by them for over 30 years. I can't explain my fascination, but I can assure you that if I couldn't keep them, I would still be out in the field looking. And it doesn't matter if I go out a find the most common animal 100 times in a row, I still am fascinated. As I tell my friends when we are herping, there are no bad snakes! Every find is an amazing natural moment, even if you don't get within 20 feet of them.

I can't say it is the way they move, or any of the other stock answers. I just love snakes, have loved them for over 3 decades and hope to love them for many decades yet to come.

I hope I never get too old or feeble to look for snakes.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

i dont know why i just do,
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jake

my addiction:
0.2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
0.1 amelenistic corn snake (maizy)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)
1.0 albino cal king (zeus)
0.0.1 wc garter (zim)
hybrid breeders association
hybrid haven

Actually i was one of those whos thought " Snake People" were weird.untill my son got one ,and i have gone from being repulsed and terrified To tottaly smitten. for me it being able to gain the trust of a wild animal to the extent that it will let you handle it ,pretty awsome and just amazing to watch ,guess because they are so alien
regards Choppy

For me it was simple I loved Dinosaurs and since I couldn’t go to my local pet store and buy one, Retpiles fit the bill this led me to my passion of snakes. Also I lived next to a park that allowed me to find, capture and raise many species of snakes. People never understood why I loved snakes but they would always call me when they saw one and wanted it removed.

My fiancé never touched a snake until she met me, she had always thought snakes skin would be slimmy, of course once she touched her first snake a Red Tail boa she thought it felt neat and not at all like she expected. People fear what they don’t understand and people tend to form opinions based on word of mouth with out every trying to experience it for themselves. Just like bats, ants and spiders snakes help keep populations of animals and insects that are potentially harmful and destructive to us.

Ask your audience to ask themselves why do they have this fear of something that is very beneficial to us? A wild snake views us as a predator not as prey and they are more intimated by us then we are of them.
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Jason A.
"Long time Herper, first year Breeder `07."

Each one is a living fossil, a small piece of evolution.
They started out having 4 legs, 2 lungs ,etc, and evolved into a more efficient predator.
Ok, take an animal the thickness of an adult mouse, with poor eyesight, arms/legs, not capable of even the most basic emotions, with basically only a sense of smell to guide them, and have them live since the stone ages.
With that stone cold efficiency, you wouldn't expect them to make very good pets, but they really require very little from us. Some shelter, heat, and food.
Don't even get me started on the many types of serpentine motion......
The first time I saw a sidewinder move, or a snake swim, I was fascinated beyond words.
I mean, what animal, other than a snake can kill by squeezing the life out of it's prey.....
If snakes became extinct tomorrow, it would leave a gaping hole in our ecosystem.
I could go on for hours...

What you might really want to put into your presentation is how snakes help people, most people think that the only kind of snake that is good is a dead one. Actually, look at rodents around farm buildings. Rodents eat crops, chew through doors, wires, you name it inside your home, and also have certain diseases that can be passed on to humans. Snakes, specifically in North America, rat snakes and milk snakes to name a couple eat a large amount of rodents. Typically, that is why snakes like that are often found near farm buildings where there is a large supply of rodents for food. However, when most people see a snake, especially one they know is venomous, like a rattlesnake, copperhead, or cottonmouth, they'll take a shovel and chop off its head. You might want to keep snakes around to help control the rodent populations. If a snake gets into your home or is around your living area, there really is no damage it can do to you or your home. Of course, as long as you respect them, look out for them, and leave them alone. But there is no need to kill them and many people fail to realize how they can help humans.
Another thing to mention is venomous snakes like I said. Venom from snakes has all kinds of things in it that can be used medically, if it is studied more in depth. Snake venom can be used to treat certain illnesses, in fact there already have been some successful finds in snake venom from certain snakes. Right now there has already been a stroke medicine called ANCROD developed from Malaysian Pit Viper venom and they are doing reasearch on Indian Cobra venom to help treat HIV and MS. If these snakes go extinct, we may have lost out on treatments or maybe even cures for some of the deadliest diseases on earth. People can live with venomous snakes, snakes give you warnings, they don't just come out and bite you. Venomous snakes are misunderstood this way like rattlesnakes in the United States. Rattlesnakes rattle there tails to warn you that they are there, and as long as that warning is obeyed, the snake will not bite you. However, people will kill one the second they see one, all they see it as is deadly, if you respect it and leave it alone and are aware of the snakes in your area and take proper precautions, you and venomous snakes can live together peacefully.
Rattlesnake roundups go on every year in the states as well. Hundreds of rattlesnakes are collected from the wild and killed, then eaten by people. This is an unnecessary thing to do and one of the rattlesnake species most affected by this event is the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.
I hope this information helps you in your presentation and I hope it makes your co-workers see snakes differently after they hear more about them. Best of luck to you.

IF THESE PEOPLE ARE REAL ANIMAL LOVERS THEY WOULD LIKE REPTILES TOO NOT JUST DOGS AND CATS THESE TYPE OF PEOPLE ARE NARROW MINDED THEY ARE NOT REAL ANIMAL LOVERS THIS IS THE REASON I GIVE THEM IF YOU ARE SUCH AN ANIMAL LOVER HOW CAN YOU LIKE ONE THING AND TRASH ANOTHER ANIMAL JUST BECAUSE YOU DONT LIKE IT?AND CALL YOURSELF AND ANIMAL LOVER ? YOU MUST LIKE ALL ANIMALS TO BECOME A TRUE ANIMAL LOVER AND RESPECT ALL FORMS OF ANIMALS THEY ARE ALL HERE ON THIS PLANET FOR A REASON

no need to yell!
and i think everyone else summed it up nicely

Your audience probably thinks a little like this... snakes are exotic animals feared and admired the world over. They're mostly thought of as ruthless, careless killers who are slimy and deadly. They've long been associated with evil and the devil. They are seen as pests and animals that hide in the dark and bite when you least expect it.

What a poor reputation they have!

WOW them with these points...

*Aside from insects, birds and fish - no other animal lives in as many different regions in the world and exists in as many different colors, sizes and patterns.
* There are over 3000 types of snakes
* They range from a few inches long to upwards of 25ft long
* The longest known snake in captivity is 28ft long, a reticulated python.
* The live on land, under ground, in the ocean, in fresh water lakes and rives, and some exclusively in trees making their habitats the most varied of any single mammal or reptile
* Only 20% of snake species are poisonous
* Snakes have no limbs and are deaf, yet they thrive on 6 of the world's 7 continents. In several habitats, they are the APEX predators, with no natural enemies.
* Snakes can swallow prey 3 times the size of their mouth due to a unique ability to dislocate their jaw
* Yes, it is true - all snakes are carnivorous. They must kill to survive. But there isn't a single snake out there that bites for the fun of it. A snake bites for two reasons - to eat and to protect itself.
* With regular handling, most non-venomous snakes become more docile and much less likely to bite
* Snakes can't learn, they lack the brain structure, specifically Cerebral Hemispheres thus they always remain wild. This is part of their "mystique"

Aside from all of those, there are the husbandry items that make them also great pets:
-They make no noise
-They don't require feeding everyday
-They can be housed in relatively small areas
-They don't have to be pet, held, bathed, or cleaned up after every day (as some snakes defecate only once every 2-3 weeks!)
-They are exotic and rare! Captive husbandry often leads to discoveries that expand the scientific understanding of species.
-They are several million reptile enthusiasts throughout the world, who share the same passion. As a result there are many organizations that allow snake keeping to be as social as just about any other pet out there.

Good luck!
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-Iman

1.1 BRBs (Ying and Yang)
1.1 JCPs (Striker and Sheila)
0.0.2 BPs (Spot and Speck)
0.0.4 Dendrobates Tinctorius 'Suriname Cobalts'
0.0.4 Dendrobates Auratus 'Costa Rican Green and Black'
5.5 Fish (Insert your favorite names here)
1.0 Miniature Daschund (Rue)

Loving to Learn
Learning to Help
Helping to Love

Stimulate debates, stifle arguments.
Please be nice always.

Ask them what would happen if all the snakes in the world
were to disappear tomorrow..Answer, we'd be right behind them..
Without snakes crops would not make it out of the field..
Grain supplies would be conumed by rodents,the earth would be in such an imbalance that life would seize as we know it..
The benefits of snakes are far greater than the average bear
realizes..Horse folks Should love snakes..Its snakes that keep
their expensive saddles and tack from being chewed up..
Where will the next cure come from ? It might be the weed in your yard or it might be the the super saliva from your local
copperhead...
Tim.