Snakes!

   I did my first solo snake presentation last week at the Catholic Mission where I have been going every Thursday to give conservation lessons. I have been doing this almost the whole year and I finally decided it was about time to show these kids some snakes!  Something that we do often from the center is use snakes for educational purposes and take them to various events to just let people touch or hold them and to teach them that snakes, although they should be respected, are not to be feared!

    The general attitude of people here when it comes to snakes is see it – kill it! You can’t blame them very much when they live in an area with some of the most venomous snakes in the world, but we try to teach them that it is not a good idea to try to kill the snake because you can hurt yourself even more (plus it is illegal to kill some snakes). The best thing to do when you see a snake is leave it alone! For some, I don’t think that is too difficult because the second they see the snake they run screaming in the opposite direction! But fear is the root of wanting to kill them, so by letting them have the opportunity to hold or touch a snake in a safe environment they can see that not all snakes are bad and there is no reason to just kill them!

    I took a Brown House Snake and a Southern African Python (Rock Python) to show to the group. These are two safe snakes that are very commonly found around here.  It is quite entertaining watching everyone’s reactions when you pull a snake out of the bag. Funny the children were much calmer than the adults! It’s so rewarding to watch people go from screaming and running away to actually coming to touch the snake (after they see others do it safely of course). Overall, great experience! Saving snakes, one human at a time….