Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have one room in my home dedicated solely to snake breeding. its locked, sanitary, i've covered those bases. child adoption home studies insist on seeing every inch of your home, and you only need one misinformed home study person with a fear of snakes to right up a bad report and ruin what might otherwise be a great situation / home. i do want to be upfront with them.

has anyone gone through this? any advice?

thanks.

Actually I have thought of this too. I would be upfront right at the get go. Tell your homestudy social worker that you have non-poisonous reptiles, in a locked room. Then get cages that all have locks too. Make sure all wires are behind the tanks and that the window to the outside is also secure. Put a sign on the door warning of non-poisonous reptiles within. Make sure the door does not have any cracks around the bottom or top. If you do have poisonous snakes..get them over to a friends house while you are adopting.
If you really have the ability, I would go ahead and get a tempurture controlled shed and put the snakes in there instead of a room in the house, but yeah you should be okay with locks and signs.
And good luck. I am scared of the homestudy myself. I hope it won't kill us.

I personally wouldnt put a sign up, that makes it sound a little more threatening. Kind of like if you have a dog and you put a beware of dog sigh up, if your dog bites someone unwarranted and they decide to sue, they can use that sign against you saying you knew your dog was a potential threat which is why you put the sign up.

Granted balls are in no way comparable to dogs but still.. I would avoid the sign.

If putting a shed up isnt an option, does a family member or close friend have a spare room, space in a garage or basement you could borrow until the baby is old enough? Just offer to pay a certain amount for the extra electricity bill. Or maybe even rent out a room from someone?

I understand your point w/the sign, but in the case of the dog signs, actually it works the other way! In that case, you must post a "beware of dog" sign to "fair warn" the public! My buddy just went through this last year! So in this case it's "apples and oranges"! I do however, agree with your "no sign" point of view!

What about a sign that reads "Private" or something non-threatening like that?

nonvenomous snakes with non-herpers who have power over you, always be careful to refer to them in the most innocuous terms possible, such as "my pets" or "pet shop reptiles" or something similar. Even though you have to tell them (or show them) what they are, it helps to keep calling them something non-threatening. Try to avoid the word "python" whenever possible. Even if you have to say the whole name, try to call them royals, BPs, pets, or something else when discussing them at other times. If you happen to get an ophidiophobic inspector, he/she may subconsciously feel less threatened if you are careful how you refer to the snakes, and what you tell them about "your pets" (such as how much kids learn about responsibility, biology, genetics, etc, when they have them at school or home, etc. - or whatever other positive items you can come up with).

Good luck!

you'd probably have a better chance raising the andrea doria with a "happy 40th birthday" balloon. beurocratic boobasauruses rarely have the common sense to realize the educational opportunities present on an almost daily basis that kids who are blessed enough to grow up in such a household are exposed to.
besides the whole 'fraid of snakes thing. too many total morons in the position to squash your hope of saving some unfortunate kid's life. assume ignorance on their part, send me all your morphs , dump all your normals for next to nothin' , and use the rat money you'll be saving to buy extra potpourri bags for all the bathrooms.
it's your only prayer.
seriously , good luck with that.

peace , ck

Keep us updated when you can!!!

The AMA and pediatricians groups have a "zero reptiles in the house" reccomendation for any child under 1 year old (I think, it could be 2 years old). If you have an infant an even mention it to your pediatrician they are obliged to call social services (in some if not all areas). If you are looking to adopt an infant, this may be an automatic deal breaker. What you may want to do is build an outbuilding. You could probably get a reasonable ready made shed from Lowes/Home depot, get it installed, wired and insulated for 3 or 4 grand. I kow its alot of expense and hassle, but you might have problems otherwise. People are stupid...

some good thoughts and info. we own a large floor through apartment, in a major city. moving is not an option, and so the shed idea (which is a very smart solution) is out.

thanks for the feedback, and i will report back, though this will no doubt take awhile.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

The sad thing here is that you could be breeding dogs (lets say big, agressive dogs), horses, or any number of other animals that would pose far more danger for a child, and you'd have no problem getting apporved.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I have a question. Are these laws in place because there is a chance the infant might be hurt in any way by an escaped snake etc, or is it because a young child might be immunocompromised and more susceptible to salmonella? Both reasons seem kinda ridiculous to me. Anyway, best of luck to ya!
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0.1 Normal Cornsnake
1.0 Sumatran Short Tail Python
2.3 Ball Pythons (2 normals, 2 pastel and 1 ?)

My understanding is that the concern is the salmonella issue. There have been infants killed by salmonella after mom cleaned the iguana cage and made a baby bottle without washing her hands. The have also been far more cases where babies have been killed or maimed by domestic cats and dogs...

This is only a recommendation , not law! As a healthcare professional , I'm a mandatory reporter of any child abuse or child endangerment and I assure you pediatricians are not mandated to report if you have a reptile in your house! Please do not spread misinformation if you don't know the facts!

You're looking at this from a herpers point of view. The fact that is a published "reccomendation", coupled with the fact that many people (even educated physicians and health care workers) have deep beliefs that all snakes are "bad" does in fact lead to reports to child protective agencies. The was one poster on here a year or two ago who havd his kid in for a routine check-up. The subject of the fathers snakes came up in conversation, and child wellfare was knocking on his door the next day. IT happens. You were the one jumping to a conclusion without the facts sir...

Please don't refer to generic "articles". Please list a reference to your case in point and don't refer to something someone might have heard at the local pet shop. Despite any objections a physician may have with reptiles, he or she will not report a parent to child welfare services for a parent possessing a ball python.

I don't know why you seem to have a problem with me, but this is my last post on the subject. I have been a member of this community for nearly 10 years (how about you?), and I have never posted anything that I was not 100% sure of. I did not refer to a "generic article" or "pet store talk" as you indicated. I'm not sure where you got that from. The case I mention involved a long-time rpeat poster here. I don't recall his username...If he's still around, maybe he'll chime in. You can search the forum archives if you want to...I'd say it was about 18 months ago. Anyway, it happened just as I said. Child was in for something routine (ear infection, etc.). Snakes came up in conversation, and the doctor had his staff call social services without even informing the dad. It happened.

I can understand your desire to "stick up" for your profession. I am a teacher and I have the same requirement to report suspected child abuse/neglect/endangerment that medical professionals do. The fact is that some physicians, through ignorance and fear (and through the misguided AMA reccomendation that children less than 1 year should have no snakes in their place of residence), do really believe that simply having a BP in the house constitutes child endangerment. You may not know anyone who takes that stance, but they are out there.

I really don't have a problem with you. Let us just agree to disagree on this subject

put the snakes anywhere you have to. Sell them, have a friend hold on to them. I wouldnt tell these people, it is my opinion that they wouldnt understand. Get rid of everything for awile and make the room into a storage room or something you can easily convert back.

Honesty is not always the best policy. All you need is for one person involved to be a anti-snake idiot and that will be it...why take the chance?

Since its an apartment...Put a heavy duty looking lock on the door, and lock it. Put up a large official looking sign on the door. The sign reads "Mechanical Room - No admittance by order of the building manager" or maybe simply "Tennants do not have access to this area".

It MIGHT work. My guess is moving the snakes is not really an option. There are likely to be several visits, many of which may be unannounced, both before and after the adoption.

I like this idea. You can say that the landlord uses it for storage of tools to fix the apt. & maybe even a backup hot water heater & an extra generator in the event of a power outage. Buy a plastic "No Entry" sign to make it seem official. Use a nice big combo lockpad.

Since you want kids, they will take priority over all else, as they should. I would focus on doing whatever it takes to get the child, & then wiggle the scaley kids back in later once you have everything else worked out.

There are just too many ignorant haters out there to take a chance & be honest. I agree 100% with Zefdin on this one.

You know that if 1 agency says no to you, they will spread the word of your herps to all the other agencies too.

Best of luck!

We are in process of adopting our 6th child as of this posting. I was really stressed over this same thing. My set up is similar to your description. The only question they asked was if anything was "dangerous". I said I have no venemous or giant snakes. They asked if they could see one. I pulled out a young albino ball python (I'm not dumb, I didn't yank out the biggest ugliest thing I had). They said it was pretty and they volunteered that they noticed the lock on the door. That was it.

They told us all they were looking for was if we had a bed for the children, didn't have filth everywhere, and the children would be safe. They actually said if people try to present to perfect of a home they become suspicious. This is my personal experience. Contact me via email. My wife and I have helped a number of people walk through the process and especially the adjustment period afterward. God Bless your open heart.
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James and Vickie Bryan
Bryan Reptiles
bryanreptiles.tripod.com
bryanreptiles@lycos.com
A good name is more desirable than riches
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