Garters visit Montessori stepping stones.

[Selkielass]

My sone loves to talk about his snakes, and when my husband was visiting his school a week ago, several of his classmates said they's really like to see all of Jays Garters.

Now these kids are familiar with garters- one of their class pets is Sang, who was the mother of about half the baby butler Garters I sent to Steve a few months ago, but most had never handled anything larger than the 20 inch long Butler.

So thursday I bagged everyone up, tucked them inside my shirt, and took them off to school- 4 young Butlers (One of whom had been born at the school.) one adult Butler (Trax) A 30+ inch Eastern and a similarly sized Albino Checkered. We had about an hour to visit, the kids learned a lot about Garters, and by the end of the visit, even the most snake-shy of the children was comfortable handling even the largest of the garters.

A couple ground rules helped- I asked everyone to sit while handling the snakes, and not to leave the circle area- so no snake could be dropped more than a foot or two.
All the ladies were on their best behaviour, and even the most skittish of the little ones 'Micro' quickly decided that just holding tight to fingers and chilling was the best course of action.

When the visit was over, we brought everyone home and food waiting for our brave ambassadors. Nobody seems to have been too seriously upset by the change in routine, and Abby and Ziva were downing pinky rats within moments of catching their scent.

Pictures were taken, but I'm not sure about posting them Other peoples kids and all.). If the school puts some up on their public website I'll link to them.

[guidofatherof5]

Glad to hear things went so well.

[EasternGirl]

That sounds so awesome. I took one of my snakes into my son's school last year. I didn't let any of the kids hold him because he is too skiddish...and the children were very hyper..lol. But the kids really enjoyed seeing him and hearing all about garters. The teachers really enjoyed it too. I'm thinking about maybe asking if I can take one of our snakes in to his new school this year...we'll see. It's really nice to educate kids about garters. I think it's great that your son's class has a garter for a class pet and knows so much about garters. I just wish I could get my son to get over his fear of holding our snakes!

[chris-uk]

Start brainwashing hem early, else in 10 years they'll be asking their parents for a ball python, or a corn snakes, rather than a garter.

[PINJOHN]

It was really heart warming to read of your class visit and while i agree it will probably lead to some future new snake owners, even better for me the magic of your actions are that there are now likely to be a load of kids who when older won't reach for the nearest blunt instrument after coming across a snake in the wild or garden ...and they might also have the same effect on their friends and relatives, well done.