Great advice to wear gloves. I've kept mostly Kings & Rats in the past, and I'm a confident handler. If I ever have problems, on go my workout gloves. I then stick my hand in front of the snake and ask it to bite me until it's done playing games. The aggressive behavior ends almost every time. (Only 1 exception in over 30 years.)

Reptiles need no interaction from us? Not entirely true. Reptiles are VERY misunderstood. For starters:

1. They are social creatures. They know their family and other creatures in their environment, sometimes individually. Horned Lizards have been found sleeping together under sand, with arms wrapped around each other. Rattlesnakes can have a complex social hierarchy at popular basking sites.

2. Reptiles are MUCH smarter than what most people *assume*. They don't use vocal sounds, nor structured language, but they do communicate, and they do remember & learn. Mine have shown mild interest in me, and even appreciation for handling or an extra nice naturalistic setup, on many occasions. Some will climb up my arm when I extend my hand to them!

One of these days, go to a zoo and look at the elephants. They are quiet, right? Not making any sounds? Actually, they may be talking about you! They speak using low-frequency sound waves not audible to you. They can communicate real-time, under ideal conditions, for up to 150 miles!

Arizona biologists have documented an Arizona Mountain Kingsnakes that deliberately lures adult birds out into the open, allows them to attack him for a moment, then he hides in the brush and watches to which trees they fly back. He then heads to those trees and robs their nests!

Many people have reptiles which respond to them favorably, or even enjoy interaction with them. This is just as possible as with a dog, cat or any other animal. In time, I'm confident that many commonly believed myths will be dispelled.

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