Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Recently, I took my largest Eastern King over to my brother's house to show to his girlfriend's daughters. They have been consistently asking me to see my snakes so I decided to show them my largest and most impressive Eastern. I believe kids are not scared of snakes but curious and learn to fear them from parents, adults, etc. Anyway, here are a few pics of Greer and Parker having some fun.

A couple months ago with one of my large kingsnakes. It was really cool to see that out of about 30 students, only one was afraid to touch the snake. I'm sure they were much braver than their parents.

Yeah I think the kids are much braver and curious than their parents. I have several kids that live around me and have shown them several of my snakes and they want to see more and more. One couple is okay with seeing and touching the snakes but another lady won't even come near them...yet she's okay with her daughter around them which is good.

It's weird how kids don't have the fear of snakes. Maybe the genetic pool of possible herpers are there but not realized because of controlling/fear ridden parents?

I live in a area made up of prodamently african americans. Most of the the black kids in my neihborhood are deatlhy afraid of dogs. When i take my [bleep]-zu out for walks in the park the adult african americans ask me to keep my dog at a distance because they are afraid. Correllation...maybe?

Have you noticed most, if not all, African Americans are afraid of snakes? I can't remember ever seeing any on the forums...or any at expos. And alot of calls I get are from African Americans who are deathly afraid of snakes.

One is Jason Cruse from golizards.com. He brokers snakes and hosts one of the local shows here. It's funny because I saw him walking around the show with a dumerils boa on his neck, looking like a big tough guy, but then he freaked out when a baby hedgehog blinked at him.

Another is one of my friend's partners over in California.
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chickabowwow

I have a lot of black kids in my neighborhhod and they are not afraid of the snakes. Now the parents is another thing.

What surprises me a lot of them (young and old)are afraid of dogs.

I work @ the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind and I still can't get over how much the students like to see all of the pictures of different kinds of snakes and here me talk about mine. Especially the ones I have bought just recently. Staff on the other hand, have little desire to have any part in the experience but my boss loves snakes.(Guess that's all that matters!)Please keep posting the fantasic pics because you all are making my job extremely fun!

Thanks!!!

Paul Stojek

Always good to see another Va poster. Seems there's quite a few of us posting on the King, corn & ratsnake forums. If you like checking out local va herps, take a look at that huge black rat I took pics of over in the Ratsnake forum. Photos were shot at the York River area. Have a good one.

Steve

Wow! That thing is huge!!! Nice pics.

I remember going on a snake call several years ago and found two Eastern Garter snakes behind a children's day school. The children asked to see the snakes so I brought them inside and most were absolutely fascinated. The women that worked there weren't quite as curious but they liked seeing the children being so interested in the two snakes. I think if more and more people (especially children) were educated about snakes, they wouldn't be as big a fear as they are made out to be.

Very nice picture Sean. Most kids are interested and don't seem to have the fear that many adults were taught. My daughter loves to hold our snakes, and I use photos of her doing this to drive home the point of how harmless most of these animals are. Again, very nice pics.

Steve

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..as you know I do a few shows and it is my experience that 90 per cent of the kids are curious about them and really only know what they've learned at home. Often it is a lot of misinformation. I have had many parents touch/hold for the first time/learn about snakes by giving in to their kids' wishes and prodding."See Daddy/mommy, they won't hurt you!" or "see-they aren't slimy"etc.
The desire and curiosity of the young ones can be used to educate the parents since most parents DO want to give their kids the right info and to do that they must learn a bit themselves. Playing to the kid in the adults goes a long way toward getting better information out there about snakes and other animals viewed as "creepies".
Admittedly, some of the TV shows have helped since they are often shared with the whole family watching.
Keep up the PR work. It all helps!
:Mark