Today was the Science Night at the elementary school. I had proposed a half-dozen potential activities that would be good for a science night and was taken up on the offer to bring a big snake in. I spoke with the herpetologist and made arrangements to borrow a large boa for the night. The only boa I saw when I was in there was gigantic. Luckily, when I went in, they had a much smaller one to take, which was a lot easier to wrangle.
I arrived around 5:30 and had a chance to check out the environment ahead of time. I was going to be in the center of the room -- one of the first things people saw when they came in. I was a bit concerned about having kids get behind me, so I arranged to sit or stand with my back to a table. I got the snake out around 6pm. It was a wonderfully docile female. She had shed recently, so her skin was smooth, clean, and bright. I realized I had forgotten to ask if she had a name, so I decided to call her Boa Derek. The kids wouldn't get it, but the parents would. At 6:30 the kids came in and for 2 hours, I was constantly barraged with questions and intense interest. Years ago, people often thought that snakes were slimy, but almost nobody thinks that anymore. There is relatively little fear of snakes among people anymore. The most common question was "Can it bite?" I generally respond "Yes, it can bite... But I don't think it will." Finally, around 8:30, we got packed up and took the snake back to the reptile room. I had forgotten how exhausting it is to work with elementary school kids. Exhausting, but fun too.
StevenBrewer