Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yesterady I did an educational presentation for a local 4H group. I brought a large variety of animals. Corn snakes were part of the presentation. The snakes were a big hit.

I feel that educating the next generation is the best way to keep our hobby alive. Also, I like to show kids that these animals are not monsters and should be respected.

i agree, the erliear kids learn about snakes the less likely they are to hack off thier heads on sight. thats a problem around here.

my mother runs a preschool, i show them my snakes snakes on occasion.

i also like to bust the local myths when talking to people of all ages. "around these parts ya gotta watch out for them checkerdadders". just about every snake in vermont has some form of checkers on its body so tons of snakes are killeda around here because they are mistaken for "poisonous checker dadders" when in reality they are garters and milk snakes
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Jake Barney

snakes
1.1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns

aquarium
0.0.1 Typhlonectes natans (aquatic caecilian)
0.0.1 common pleco
0.0.? feeder fish/ shrimp

Man!,Around here you really have to watch out for them there "moccasins" and "spreading adders!!lol! Jeff

Oops! wrong pic! That's a striped moccasin!!lol! Jeff

Brother, That is a PRETTY HOG!!

Thanks! and keep up the good work! Nice animals! Jeff

I do the same, I am a Leader with the Boy Scouts of America and am a councelor for the Reptile and Amphibian Merit Badge. I use my Corn Snakes for some hands on education and The Scouts have been following my breeding projects on line this year. They love it!

very cool. Nice looking animals as well.
I speak at my daughters school, I do little class presentations every year for some of the teachers. The kids love it. I agree that getting the kids into it is great.
In my area there are rattle snakes, gophers and kings. I bring a king and gopher to explain how the king does good by eating rattlers, how the gopher mimics the rattle snake. Its nice to be able to teach about the local animals as well as bring in others.

Keep up the good work! I think it is great
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****Misty****

www.sneakyserpents.com

"Due to intense Mind fog, all thoughts have been grounded."

I want to think everybody for the kind comments.

For those involved in educating about the animals we love...AWESOME, keep it up. Not only are you bolstering our hobby but also you have probably indirectly saved a lot of wild snakes.

For those who haven't yet taken the time to try to educate the next generation, please try to get involved. The looks that you get on the kid's faces are priceless. The rewards for doing this are that you know that you are helping the industry as a whole and teaching conservation.

Here's a quick rundown of what I presented that day:

Tremper Albino Leopard Gecko
Bearded Dragon
Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula
Silverqueen Ghost Corn
Striped Amel Corn
FLourescent Amel Corn
Natural Corn
Lavender Albino Cal King
Cal King
Striped Cal King
Eastern Chain King
Mexican Black King
Albino Nelson's Milk
Ball Python
Red Tail Boa

I tried to hit a wide range of animals common in our hobby.

Here's another pic:

I am already scheduled for 2 more presentations at 2 different librarys this summer. The topic there will be native snakes.

I will be presenting and discussing photos I have taken in the field.

Before I say what I am about to say....I am totally against collecting animals from the wild. I will be presenting a wild caught Nerodia sipedon and a wild caught local black rat snake.

I did not collect those animals. The Nerodia was found inside a local college in January and brought to me. As it was January I could not release the animal. The black rat was brought to me in December..again, can't really release in the winter...by a friend of mine. I didn't even know he had it. After being in captivity for any more than a couple of months, a snake is basically ecologically dead and releasing it in the spring runs the risk of passing on viruses and such to wild populations.

I can legally keep these animals in my state, although I never wanted to, but I can't legally breed them. So these animals are for education only. They are good for doing presentations on local wildlife. So hopefully I can use these two snakes to help save wild populations through familiarity and education.

I appologize if I have gone too far off topic on the corn snake forum. Just something I needed to put out there.

GREAT JOB! I run an education program here in the C. FL area. As an ex teacher I am using those skills to teach children about these animals and how they live. It is part of our job as keeps to educate so our hobby will live on. We should also be teaching that the animals need to be respected and cared for properly.

There is nothing like the rush of pulling out a 8' Boa and seeing the look on kids faces. Especially in title 1 schools where they are not used to seeing animals like that.

Keep up the good work!!!

www.reptilesrevealed.com
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Scott
"The most powerful person never has to use it"

Thanks!

You too. Keep it up!

Doing educational presentations is one of my favorite aspects of this hobby. I never turn down a call to do one...even when I'm busy with breeding or hatching season. This is just too important and too good for the kids. They might read about some of these animals but they are not really real to them until the animal is in front of them and they can see and touch it.

Without the next generation coming up, the hobby that we love is doomed to fail the test of time.