Definitely take Rob up on his offer of extra communication. He's helped me a few times and sometimes he even knows what he's talking about. Hahaha!!!



Getting back to your numbered questions;

1)Will my husband be able to help me? He will be available to help with cleaning and feeding, but my 13yo and 11yo daughters are my working assistants. Would I have them work a burm with me?"



Sounds like my wife & your husband feel about the same way towards snakes. My wife doesn't mind them, will hold them once in awhile, but still is pretty leery of my big burms.



My wife helps me & since it's just us and our 8 & 12yr old kids, we sometimes do a review of our emergency plans. I wouldn't be afraid, as far as your daughters' safety goes, with your daughters being my assistants with my snakes. The ones you might be getting may be a different story, I don't know them.



Depending on their level of maturity and how they deal with emergency situations, I believe its possible for them to be effective if a large snake were to ever get a hold of you, in getting it to release you.



I beleive it's easier to use things like - vinegar, strong liquor, etc..., poured into the snake's mouth than it is to try to use brute force. Large snakes are incredibly strong.



Adults tend to think more clearly in emergency situations, but that's not to say that your daughters couldn't.





2)How will having a burm affect my business insurance?



With Florida's new dangerous animal regulations going into effect soon I wouldn't be surprised if insurance companies aren't already incorporating clauses, exclusions. Some companies have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy (obviously I'm atlking about homeowner's insurance here). If you have a bond or liability insurance for your talks/shows, I doubt it'll have any effect. Ain't but one way to find out for sure, call 'em.





3)It would have to live in my garage (I'm in Central FL) because I have no room in my house.



A good thermostat for the cage & ambient room temps aprox 10 degress below maximum cage temps should work fine.





5)FL is adopting a microchip tracking system for Burms in Jan 08. Do I want to open myself up for further inspection from the state, not to mention the possible city code violation? Technically, I'm sure I'm already in code violation for the number of animals, but no one's picked up on that yet!



I'm biting my lip real hard to keep from going off here on FL's ridiculous microcrap chip, or, microchip crap. Good intentions, lousy enactment or approach.



Stay on the good side of the law. If you take being an educator seriously you don't want to do anything to jeopardize that grand opportunity. Approach the most sensible person on the city council or whatever, privately, and see if you can be granted an exception or at least given quite some time to make other arrangements. If no satisfactory results, try another member or go before the whole board/council. This is where the integrity of your educational talks/shows will go a long way.



I hope this helps.



Best to ya!

HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,

this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:

Appalachian American

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