.....thanks for all the kind comments on my initial post below. I will try to get back to individuals as I can. I posted this addition below, but on hindsight, thought it best to start it as a new thread.
After having some time to reflect on this event, I added the following paragraph to my web site:
"Education is the Key:
Our hobby is constantly threatened by government regulation & bans, shipping company policies, and the general devaluing of these animals by humans. In my opinion, our only real hope is to change people's minds one at a time. We know how special these animals are but we need to to the work necessary to educate others. It is hard work and takes lots of time but it is very rewarding and we (knowledgeable hobbyists) are the only people who can do it. Despite deeply entrenched cultural and personal biases against them, snakes have long fascinated humans. If you can get someone past their innate (or trained) fear of snakes, we will have one more person in the community who is willing to speak up for the rights of snakes and our rights as hobbyists."
As a career teacher, I am certainly biased towards the importance of education in general. I would encourage anyone who hasn't done this to give it a try. Start small. Volunteer to do one short presentation for your child's class (or a child in the neighborhood). If you're not comfortable allowing them to handle the animal then make this off limits until you reach that comfort level in future presentations.
I will say that I learned something important from yesterday's big event. You have to give the animals some rest. Have you ever seen a boa that has completely run out of energy? Until yesterday, I had not....but now I have. After 5 hours of attention and handling (which they certainly seemed to enjoy), one by one, the boas began to shut down and stop moving. They turned into limp rags. So, one by one, they went into their tanks for naps. In the future, for large events, I will bring enough animals so that I can rotate them, 2 hours on then 2 hours off. Here is a photo gallery that I completed of yesterday's events. The photos are lousy but you get the idea.
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Link to photos of big event
