Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have posted on here many times before, but have not posted pictures of what I have really gotten into doing here in Charlotte NC. I was contacted by someone involved with a Senior Day Care facility (Piedmont Adult Living Services -PALS) to attend their touch fair with a few snakes of mine. Evidently, many seniors lose touch sensation in their fingers as they age. The lady thought that having them touch snakes would help activate their touch sensors again. Well I brought a few snakes to their fair, and from that point on, I have been going back 2x a month spending an hour at a time with them. I talk about my snakes and then let them hold and touch them. They know me now and trust me, and love my snakes. The pics I have here are from one of the first times I went, and all of my Pits and most kings were in hibernation, so all I had to use was my 3 ball pythons and my female gray banded king. I have since brought Tarantulas and blooming orchids from my collection as well. Frankly- THE HOUR SEEMS TO FLY BY! I really love these people and at the same time promote good snake PR and just enjoy a chance to share my passons with others. They love having someone come in and just spend time with them, and care about them- and I do- the lady with the white hair in her chair, loves sitting and petting her ball python, and last time I brought my 6' Female Kansas bull and they LOVED her, unfortunatly the pics were to large to be uploaded. I never thought I would be using my snakes and spiders as Therapy??!!! Its awsome. I guess I'm saying this to you all, because I hope this encourages you to see if you can take your friendly animals to your local Senior care facilty or home once or 2x a month- you never know what good things could happen. I've found in reality, that helping others with their touch therapy is awsome therapy for me as well!

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1.1 Newton County Indiana Bulls
1.0 Kankakee Bull
1.0 Texas Red Bull
0.1 Kansas Yellow Bull
1.2 Ball Pythons
1.1 Costal Chocolate Cal Kings
0.1 Gray Banded King

Here are two more pics.

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1.1 Newton County Indiana Bulls
1.0 Kankakee Bull
1.0 Texas Red Bull
0.1 Kansas Yellow Bull
1.2 Ball Pythons
1.1 Costal Chocolate Cal Kings
0.1 Gray Banded King

Thanks for the story and great pics. I go to a senior center also twice a month. I love the folks there and have made some wonderful friendships. Keep up the good work!
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0.1 Mexican Black King
1.0 Brooksi King
1.0 Japanese Bobtail
1.0 Maine Coon

Hey!,.....That's really great!, I'm sure the senior citizens there certainly enjoy that. Being able to interact with snakes is probably the very last group activity the folks there thought they would EVER be doing. In my opinion, that would beat playing bingo any day of the week!

Glad the white-haired lady in the chair enjoyed petting your balls,.......or at least one anyway!..LOL!

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

That is wonderful! Very commendable.
I was recently asked to bring several of my snakes to the school where my fiance teaches to do a sort of "show and tell" for the kids. It will probably be scheduled for next week. I've never done anything public with my snakes before. Any advice?
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1.1.0 Hondurans Het Amel
1.1.0 Hondurans Anery, Het Hypo
0.1.0 Honduran Hypo
0.2.0 Pueblans
1.0.0 Pueblan Hypo
1.0.0 Thayeri MSP
0.0.1 GBK Blair's Phase
1.0.0 California King
0.1.0 California King Blue-eyed Blond
0.0.1 Speckled King WC
0.0.1 Jungle Carpet
0.1.0 Ball, Normal
0.0.1 Sulcata
0.1.0 Girlfriend, Caucasius Mexicana, Fiancee Phase

I certainly think it's a fabulous idea, and I brought many cool snakes to shool for "Show & Tell" when I was a kid,.....however, those were different times back then(late 60's- 70's).
As I'm sure you are already all-too aware, nowadays, it seems EVERYONE wants to "blame" someone else for something now, and nobody will take responsibility for ANYTHING they do, it's alway's someone elses fault, and there seems to be a handy lawsuite for every occasion.

Say for example, that while you are holding a display snake at the school, little "Johnny" quickly reaches out for the "friendly" snake, and grabs it rather suddenly directly in front of the snake's face, and receives a little quick "nip" from the snake. He later goes home and while eating dinner, casually tells his parents that he was bitten by a snake someone had at school,.....well, you can imagine how some over-reacting parents could/would see this, and from there, the legal "fireworks display" begins. It's sad as all hell, I agree, but I think we often live in some very horrible social times now. As a matter of fact, I am QUITE surprised that anything close to this would be allowed nowadays.

Back then, if "Johnny" were bitten by my six-foot Indigo that I brought to school in 1968, ....oh well,....now it's a whole different story,.........sad, but true.

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

That is so true Doug, people always seem to be out for the easy buck. I remember a lady that worked at my high school who slipped on the ice in front of a grocery store. She sued them for having icy sidewalks and won! How crazy is that!

So, would you suggest the school sign something holding you harmless is something like that would occur?
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Aubrey Ross

©
www.SlipstreamSerpents.com

Well, thing is, I don't think they(the school) would EVER do that,....because then, on the very remote off-chance something DID ever happen, the doors would be left wide-open for legal action against THEM from any parents, and they just wouldn't ever take that kind of chance.

If you had a signed waiver from the kid's parents that were going to participate, then that would dis-attach you from any legal action, and that would certainly work.

But in all reality, the best way to probably do anything like this at a school, would be to just "show" them from a safe distance, with NOBODY but yourself being allowed to hold the snake....period!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Just imagining such a situation really affected me. I actually experienced a bit of bystander trauma just reading your post, Doug. I’m afraid you will be hearing from my attorney…

Me too.. this may end up a class action. LOL

And my herp lawyers are already on top of this,......I actually have a designated attorney for EACH snake I own. Yes, it's quite expensive, but considering the times we're in now, it's also very necessary.

BTW, my Texas Ratsnake lawyer seems to get called to court most often!..LOL!

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

That's exactly what I mean!..LOL!,.....I can see some little kid claiming to have nightmares after just SEEING the snake(s) displayed at the school, and the scumbag parents slapping a mental anguish lawsuit against everyone involved. But more importantly, and LIKELY, whoever has the most assets. That's how the world works now.

When you and I where kids, if a kid in class got whacked by one of our huge Indigos,....oh well!,........here's a band-aid kid!..LOL!,...now, it would be Johnny Cochran to the rescue!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I remember as a kid there were many many litigious situations where you were bruised, battered, bleeding, etc that was basically resolved on the spot with the simple check mate move- the offer of a lolli-pop and assuring words that you were going to be all right. Talk about your simpler times, anybody our ages has a few hundred thousand worth of scars in todays $mit happens dollars!

LOL!!!!!,....that sign you posted is hilarious!....and I totally agree, if my parent's sued everyone back then for everything I got hurt with as a kid,...I would have been a friggin' multi-millionaire long ago!..hahaha!, I,m sure the same goes for you!

Funny stuff!,........ but sad at the same time!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Keep it simple, age relevant. The snakes will do most of the talking for you! Do a short presentation, and have the kids save their questions for last, when you can give them your undivided attention. All great stuff, I do Cub and Boy Scout presentations.
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Todd Hughes

What I do with this PALS group like I did today was: bring 4 nice snakes that are touchible or holdible. I bring each out one at a time, while leaving them out to be held or passed around. Now this goes against the Advice responses, but the main reason why I was contacted was to help these people with their touching sensations. So holding and touching is at the core. The lady in the pics with the ball python, loves to sit with one, so she got her python today and was very happy. Another guy loves to hold my 6' female Kansas Bull, who has been used with children and adults since she was 2' and has grown up around people. She just coils around your arm and sits there, and has gone to sleep sitting on my lap.(He joked that hed love to take it home with him but his wife would flip- but the pleasure and smiles it brought to him was soooo cool- he really got talking and awake with it)If you want to use your snakes in this way you have to really work on training them. YES you can train your snakes. My bull recognizes my scent sometimes over other people, and relized this when after being held by a camper she was tensed up- yet when I held her up to my nose and she flicked her tong on it, she relaxed in my hands. I noticed that we tend to have alot of oils on our noses, so I started letting the snakes flick mine with their tongs and it has worked over time. I also trust my animals. Again this takes work and effort. Today for example, my Male Cal king was fine and nice but after letting him on the floor as a few clients wanted to see, and then trying to pick him back up, he got startled and musked alot. They were kinda freaked by it, but I used it as a teaching moment, while I cleaned the snake and me off. We talked about snake defense and what the snake thought of me and what I was doing to it. Tensions calmed right down, and as soon as the king was on my arm and comfortible again, he was perfectly happy to be stroked and touched by those that were nervous about him just a few minutes before. However, I have been using snakes around people since I was 20 and running summer camp nature programs and doing environmental education. It takes time, but really work with your snakes in hand and get to "know them" very well- before you even think of using them. If a snake might be pissy when you take it out but fine when you hold it, thats ok, just dont let others touch it, because it probably knows your scent and you and might not be ready to be touched. Again watch your snakes and also pay attention to YOUR FEELINGS AND CONFIDENCE level. Baby steps is a good thing! Also work on your public speaking skills, keep things brief and not to technical. Figure out 3 points about each animal you use. Often, folks want help in understanding the snakes in their yards or what they have seen- and could care less about the behavors of the Green Tree python. So study up on the behavors and how to identify your native species, and how to deal with them if they come in contact wtih them- thats SOOOO key and perhaps the area of most asked questions I ever get.

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1.1 Newton County Indiana Bulls
1.0 Kankakee Bull
1.0 Texas Red Bull
0.1 Kansas Yellow Bull
1.2 Ball Pythons
1.1 Costal Chocolate Cal Kings
0.1 Gray Banded King

That's a lot like what my former sister-in-law does at the Junior Museum. She doesn't let the kids hold the snakes though, but the display she has set up is nearly all native herps. She feeds them every Thursday at 3pm and allows the public to watch, making sure she advertises it exactly the way it is: herps eating mice/bugs/etc. No surprises. A lot of people usually show up and are quite fascinated with watching the herps. When I have time, I'm going to stop by there on one of her feeding days and take some pictures. I bet you guys would like to see that.
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Holly

0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden) (missing )
1.0 Florida Kingsnake (Eddie Gein)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Black Cat (Shadowfax)
1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan) (Deceased )
1.0 Tennessee Walking Horse (Durango)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

That's really awesome that you got into doing that. And its great to see someone doing something good for the hobby with all the bad press everywhere.

I would love if someone else took an interest in my snakes. I always seem to get the opposite reaction.