Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Had some fun this morning, I took my Indigo to my son's school and did a presentation on snakes. The teacher asked me to somehow work earthworms into the presentation, since that's what the kids are currently studying. So I ended up ad-libbing a food chain/circle-of-life type of thing.

Here are some pics. I wish the camera person took more shots of the kids and the snake, but oh well, you'll have to put up with my ugly mug.

The kids were great and asked all sorts of questions. I thought I was going to be there for 10 minutes, ended up being almost an hour.

Anyway, I highly recommend doing presentations like this, it really helps to show kids how important it is to respect and appreciate snakes. It was kind of sad that half of these kids seem to have gotten all there snake knowledge from the Animal Planet shows where some dimwit is chasing black mambas and king cobras. They automatically think any snake is gonna kill them.

Had to start off with worms...

Tough audience!

Most of the kids wanted to touch the Guest of Honor....

Everyone wanted to ask questions and tell me about their snake story!

Me with my son after the show was over...

Ed,
..Good on you. Indigos are great for presentations like that. Kids will ask more questions about snakes than I ever thought possible.
Jeff

>>Had some fun this morning, I took my Indigo to my son's school and did a presentation on snakes. The teacher asked me to somehow work earthworms into the presentation, since that's what the kids are currently studying. So I ended up ad-libbing a food chain/circle-of-life type of thing.
>>
>>Here are some pics. I wish the camera person took more shots of the kids and the snake, but oh well, you'll have to put up with my ugly mug.
>>
>>The kids were great and asked all sorts of questions. I thought I was going to be there for 10 minutes, ended up being almost an hour.
>>
>>Anyway, I highly recommend doing presentations like this, it really helps to show kids how important it is to respect and appreciate snakes. It was kind of sad that half of these kids seem to have gotten all there snake knowledge from the Animal Planet shows where some dimwit is chasing black mambas and king cobras. They automatically think any snake is gonna kill them.
>>
>>
>>Had to start off with worms...
>>
>>
>>
>>Tough audience!
>>
>>
>>
>>Most of the kids wanted to touch the Guest of Honor....
>>
>>
>>
>>Everyone wanted to ask questions and tell me about their snake story!
>>
>>
>>
>>Me with my son after the show was over...
>>

Hey Jeff,

Thanks. Yeah, part of the fun is getting all sorts of questions. Most were actually very astute, but others not so much.
Even after I kept saying that the kids should not fear snakes, that there is no danger if you just leave the snake alone, and that there is only one venomous snake in the area and it's not aggressive, this kid just kept asking things like, "Don't Cobras spit in your eyes and blind you?" "How deep to their fangs go into you when they bite you?" "What's the most poisonous snake?"

After I and one of the teachers tried to stop him from harping on that, one of the other kids asks, "So what is the most non-poisonous snake?"

Another classic was, "Who would win in a fight - a brown recluse spider or a black mamba?"

Fun stuff.

Thanks,
Ed

>>Ed,
>>..Good on you. Indigos are great for presentations like that. Kids will ask more questions about snakes than I ever thought possible.
>>Jeff
>>
>>>>Had some fun this morning, I took my Indigo to my son's school and did a presentation on snakes. The teacher asked me to somehow work earthworms into the presentation, since that's what the kids are currently studying. So I ended up ad-libbing a food chain/circle-of-life type of thing.
>>>>
>>>>Here are some pics. I wish the camera person took more shots of the kids and the snake, but oh well, you'll have to put up with my ugly mug.
>>>>
>>>>The kids were great and asked all sorts of questions. I thought I was going to be there for 10 minutes, ended up being almost an hour.
>>>>
>>>>Anyway, I highly recommend doing presentations like this, it really helps to show kids how important it is to respect and appreciate snakes. It was kind of sad that half of these kids seem to have gotten all there snake knowledge from the Animal Planet shows where some dimwit is chasing black mambas and king cobras. They automatically think any snake is gonna kill them.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Had to start off with worms...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Tough audience!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Most of the kids wanted to touch the Guest of Honor....
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Everyone wanted to ask questions and tell me about their snake story!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Me with my son after the show was over...
>>>>

ohh man ya gatta love the stuff kids come up with. too funny!!
-----
-Stephen-

0.1 soon to be wifey (hopefully)
1.0 rotwiler/chow (Boomer-wifey's pooch)
1.0 norm corn (Jake aka grumpy old terdhead)
0.1 col redtail boa (Dixie-my baby girl)
0.1 ball python (Bella- wifey's baby girl)

hopeful for not to distant future:
--brazillian rainbow boas 1 female for sure
2 or 3? maybe a breeding pair?
-- bearded dragon for the wifey my list got to big...

more distant future hopefuls
1 or 2 of each maybe a breeding pair?
--anery boa (ooooh)
--jungle carpet python (love to have 1 or 2)
--dumeril boa (ahhhh)

slightly more wishful thinking
--hypo br rainbow boa (love em)
--anery br rainbow boa (oooh even better!!)
--motely boa (gorgeous!!)

Thats really cool. I think it great to introduce kids to reptiles in a positive way when they are young. I have been asked to do a presentation for a summer program at the elementry school my wife works for. They are having theme weeks and one will be "reptile week". My problem is knowing what to bring. Alot of my BCI are morphs and or hets. I don't really think the kids will understand or really care about much of that other than albinos. I do think that they'll get a kick outta my caiman though. Most kids really seem to like seeing Angus even if they are hesitant to touch him.
Milo

Thanks! I think it would be great for you to do a presentation. I agree, showing them a Punnett square along with some morphs might be inneffective.

For what it's worth, my main points to the kids were:
- to explain how important snakes are to the "circle of life" and food chain
- not to be fearful of them, and to leave them alone if they see one in their yards.

Every so often during the presentation, I would loudly ask the kids what they should do if they see a snake, and by the end, they were all screaming in unison, "LEAVE IT ALONE!!" I don't think the teachers in the neighboring classrooms appreciated that, but hopefully I got my point across to at least a few kids.

So for my presentation, it was more about that than the particular snake I had.

I say go for it, really anything you do will help alleviate someone's fears, and I think that's especially important these days with all the fear-mongering and proposed legislation
against keeping reptiles.

Good luck, and if you decide to do a presentation, please let the forum know how it went.

Also, if you have any pics of Angus, please post them. (I'm kind of a kid myself, so I'd like to see him. )

Thanks,
Ed

>>Thats really cool. I think it great to introduce kids to reptiles in a positive way when they are young. I have been asked to do a presentation for a summer program at the elementry school my wife works for. They are having theme weeks and one will be "reptile week". My problem is knowing what to bring. Alot of my BCI are morphs and or hets. I don't really think the kids will understand or really care about much of that other than albinos. I do think that they'll get a kick outta my caiman though. Most kids really seem to like seeing Angus even if they are hesitant to touch him.
>>Milo

Just kidding.
I don't have any pics of him here at work. I'll check when I get home. I honestly can't remeber the last time I took pictures of the little guy.

That picture is great!!
-----
Aubrey Ross

©
www.SlipstreamSerpents.com

yeah lol that is fantastic... i had an email of a bunch of cool pics like that "at the perfect angle"
-----
-Stephen-

0.1 soon to be wifey (hopefully)
1.0 rotwiler/chow (Boomer-wifey's pooch)
1.0 norm corn (Jake aka grumpy old terdhead)
0.1 col redtail boa (Dixie-my baby girl)
0.1 ball python (Bella- wifey's baby girl)

hopeful for not to distant future:
--brazillian rainbow boas 1 female for sure
2 or 3? maybe a breeding pair?
-- bearded dragon for the wifey my list got to big...

more distant future hopefuls
1 or 2 of each maybe a breeding pair?
--anery boa (ooooh)
--jungle carpet python (love to have 1 or 2)
--dumeril boa (ahhhh)

slightly more wishful thinking
--hypo br rainbow boa (love em)
--anery br rainbow boa (oooh even better!!)
--motely boa (gorgeous!!)

It's a dog costume. The picture is from an add that I saw online for a zoo promotion. Something like "Come to the Zoo before the Zoo comes to you"
I'll have to check tonight if I saved the whole add. I just cropped the photos out to send to my Dad. He's a crocodilian fan like myself but he's also had a lot of beagles over the years so I thought he'd get a kick out of it.
Here's the other pic.
Milo

Great picture, thanks! Don't let PETA get a hold of that, though!

Thanks,
Ed

>>
>>
>>Just kidding.
>>I don't have any pics of him here at work. I'll check when I get home. I honestly can't remeber the last time I took pictures of the little guy.

That is so neat that you brought him in to a classroom. Its great to teach kids early on that they are not evil creatures that will kill you at first sight. I see too many people that are just plain afraid of snakes, even thought they may have never met one.
-----
Aubrey Ross

©
www.SlipstreamSerpents.com

i agree there are alot of people who are seemingly learn to be afraid of snakes...

the odd thing is, is that in my experience the younger kids are almost always fine with them, the girls more so than the boys too!! ive had my snakes to plenty of birthday parties, school, and that sort of thing.

i also have many aunts who are scared of snakes but not a single cousin that is. one of my aunts that is afraid of them has three boys and funny thing is i got a snake for one of them 7 months ago... now all three boys have a snake lol
-----
-Stephen-

0.1 soon to be wifey (hopefully)
1.0 rotwiler/chow (Boomer-wifey's pooch)
1.0 norm corn (Jake aka grumpy old terdhead)
0.1 col redtail boa (Dixie-my baby girl)
0.1 ball python (Bella- wifey's baby girl)

hopeful for not to distant future:
--brazillian rainbow boas 1 female for sure
2 or 3? maybe a breeding pair?
-- bearded dragon for the wifey my list got to big...

more distant future hopefuls
1 or 2 of each maybe a breeding pair?
--anery boa (ooooh)
--jungle carpet python (love to have 1 or 2)
--dumeril boa (ahhhh)

slightly more wishful thinking
--hypo br rainbow boa (love em)
--anery br rainbow boa (oooh even better!!)
--motely boa (gorgeous!!)

Funny that you mentioned the girls more than boys. That's been my experience too. My niece and friend's daughters always want to hold all of them but the boys will shy away from the bigger ones. At 3 years old my niece asked to hold my 40 pound boa. Weighed more than she did.

I absolutely agree the fear is mostly a learned behavior. Not one girl refused to touch the snake yesterday, and only two boys (out of about 40 total kids) refused to touch it. And it's the same way every other time I've shown a snake to a bunch of youngsters.

And for what it's worth, orphaned orangutans need to be taught to fear snakes, since in the jungles of Borneo venomous snakes are a real danger. Not sure what that means, just thought I'd mention it...

Thanks,
Ed

>>i agree there are alot of people who are seemingly learn to be afraid of snakes...
>>
>>the odd thing is, is that in my experience the younger kids are almost always fine with them, the girls more so than the boys too!! ive had my snakes to plenty of birthday parties, school, and that sort of thing.
>>
>>i also have many aunts who are scared of snakes but not a single cousin that is. one of my aunts that is afraid of them has three boys and funny thing is i got a snake for one of them 7 months ago... now all three boys have a snake lol
>>-----
>>-Stephen-
>>
>>0.1 soon to be wifey (hopefully)
>>1.0 rotwiler/chow (Boomer-wifey's pooch)
>>1.0 norm corn (Jake aka grumpy old terdhead)
>>0.1 col redtail boa (Dixie-my baby girl)
>>0.1 ball python (Bella- wifey's baby girl)
>>
>>hopeful for not to distant future:
>>--brazillian rainbow boas 1 female for sure
>> 2 or 3? maybe a breeding pair?
>>-- bearded dragon for the wifey my list got to big...
>>
>>more distant future hopefuls
>>1 or 2 of each maybe a breeding pair?
>>--anery boa (ooooh)
>>--jungle carpet python (love to have 1 or 2)
>>--dumeril boa (ahhhh)
>>
>>slightly more wishful thinking
>>--hypo br rainbow boa (love em)
>>--anery br rainbow boa (oooh even better!!)
>>--motely boa (gorgeous!!)

Not only afraid but full of misconceptions too. How many times to get told "wow, it's not slimy at all" when someone touches a snake for the first time.

Sounds like the kids had a lot of fun. I took my Dumerils Boa to my sister's classroom about a year ago for her show-and-tell. It was a fourth grade class and they loved him! All but a couple touched him and he was a pretty good size.
-----
Rachel Squier

1.1 BRBs
1.0 Albino Colombian BCI
0.3 Het Albino Colombian BCIs
0.1 Poss Het Albino Colombian BCI
0.1 DH Sunglow Colombian BCI