Funny story

[DavethePython]

Yesterday afternoon a few of us who have formed a reptile club here in town were meeting for a coffee . It was a beautiful sunny warm day so 3 of us brought some of our Bp's with us . We were sitting out side for about an hour with our snakes enjoying the day and our coffee and talking about possibly doing a reptile display when all of a sudden a cop shows up. Turns out some couple went into the coffee shop , saw us outside and left . Refused to even buy their coffee and called the cops . So this cop shows up and walks over and sees us sitting there and says oh this is what we were called for ??? He explains the situation and then spends about 20 minutes playing with the snakes and asking questions . He was really cool about it . He even took some of our cards for the other watch commanders so if they end up having a call with snakes involved they will call us . He thought this was a cool idea and this way someone who can handle them will show up and deal with the snakes and not just have them killed on the spot. They will also call us to consult on whether a snake or reptile is legal to own or not so some innocent keeper does not lose their animal due to someone not knowing the laws or how to deal with it.

[shaunyboy]

sounds like you have a really understanding decent police department where you live

fair play to that policeman pal ;)

i can also however understand the people who called the police in the first place.the last thing people with snake phobia's would expect to see at a coffee shop,is a snake.over here that type of behavoir with snakes paints us keepers in a bad light

cheers shaun

[Pareeeee]

Sounds like an awesome cop. Glad you didn't get in trouble, maybe snakes at the coffee shop isn't such a great idea, lol...also very cool that he took your cards!

But...

You know what? Why does taking your snake outside paint snake-keepers in a bad light? Really why?

People can take their dogs EVERYWHERE (so many people bring their dogs into the store I work at, even off leash, despite there being breakable glass display cases and picture frames for sale everywhere) I've even seen people bring dogs into Grocery Stores and Drugstores(!). Talk about health hazard. No one calls the cops on these people.

People are only gracious towards others as long as it's an animal they like, or a socially accepted pet. If you're on a walk and someone's dog jumps up all over you with its muddy paws, (something most people don't like) do you call the cops??! No...

It really grinds my gears that people will actually CALL THE COPS over what type of pet you have. People can take their dogs, cats, rodents, birds and what-have-you outside and people don't care. But bring a snake outside and WOAH that's such a BAD thing!!!!

When someone who's afraid of dogs sees someone walking a dog down the street, they don't call the cops, and there are a lot of people out there that are genuinely afraid of dogs.

When someone who is afraid of cats sees that someone has a pet cat, they don't call the cops on the owner. (and yes, I used to know someone who was afraid of cats, lol)

People are so blasted ignorant it makes me mad.

Sorry there's my rant for the day.

[shaunyboy]

Sounds like an awesome cop. Glad you didn't get in trouble, maybe snakes at the coffee shop isn't such a great idea, lol...also very cool that he took your cards!

But...

You know what? Why does taking your snake outside paint snake-keepers in a bad light? Really why?

People can take their dogs EVERYWHERE (so many people bring their dogs into the store I work at, even off leash, despite there being breakable glass display cases and picture frames for sale everywhere) I've even seen people bring dogs into Grocery Stores and Drugstores(!). Talk about health hazard. No one calls the cops on these people.

People are only gracious towards others as long as it's an animal they like, or a socially accepted pet. If you're on a walk and someone's dog jumps up all over you with its muddy paws, (something most people don't like) do you call the cops??! No...

It really grinds my gears that people will actually CALL THE COPS over what type of pet you have. People can take their dogs, cats, rodents, birds and what-have-you outside and people don't care. But bring a snake outside and WOAH that's such a BAD thing!!!!

When someone who's afraid of dogs sees someone walking a dog down the street, they don't call the cops, and there are a lot of people out there that are genuinely afraid of dogs.

When someone who is afraid of cats sees that someone has a pet cat, they don't call the cops on the owner. (and yes, I used to know someone who was afraid of cats, lol)

People are so blasted ignorant it makes me mad.

Sorry there's my rant for the day.


i think you must have missed the word " PHOBIA " in my post.....

when someone leaves their house,they expect they may run into dog,cats,birds in the trees,etc...

but over here the LAST thing people expect to see in public or a coffee shop,is a SNAKE...

so it puts FEAR into the public,then it looks like some idiot out giving it...look at me...i've got a big snake...hard guy i am...

whether you like it or not tha IS how MOST of the general public percieve it

another example i have a fear of spiders.....

so how do you think i'd react,if i was sitting in a coffee shop and someone walked past me with a tarantula...

i'd kick the crap out the guy,for scaring me half to death...!!

to the op
i'm not calling you an idiot mate,but over here doing that would just be asking for trouble,it may even lead to a criminal record,the charge would be...breach of the peace or causing alarm in a public place type charge

cheers shaun

[Lankyrob]

Also except for a small number of snakes that are native, how are you providing the proper husbandry for them whilst carrying them in the street? Even native snakes wont have the option to thermoregulate whilst oyu are holding them.

In terms of it being bad for the hobby, one reason is that the person who sees the snake will tell their friends that "someone was walking around with a 10ft snake" even when it is only a 3ft Royal - this story then gets passed around until chinese whispers turns it into a venomous 15ft cobra thats striking at people in the street.

I am all for education and regularly take my snakes to PLANNED events where children and their parents can come along and learn but in this case they KNOW the snakes are gonna be there and have the option to not attend.

My final point is - what do you do about quarantine after your snakes have been around other reptiles and their keepers?? With mine i know that my animals will be the only ones at the event and only i will be handling them, even then i still carry out a strict hand/arm cleaning between animals.

[DavethePython]

Understood Shaun and I did not take your comment in a bad way . But as par pointed out , and I used the same example , if I had been sitting there with a Pitbull nobody would have said or done a thing . Even the cop thought it was a waste of time . And as for the rest of the people who were there most either stated away or came over . Even an elderly woman who was nervous came over and petted one. We used the opportunity to answer questions and educate quite a few people . Laws are different here for sure . It is not out of the ordinary to see people carrying snakes around in the warm weather . Not as common as dogs but you do see it . And as for the spiders Shaun , I could not agree more :)

[Pareeeee]

I wasn't trying to bash you Shaun (I feel that you thought I was) I'm just angry at the general public for being so freaking ignorant. They see you with a pet snake and they think it's their business to tell you what pets you can and can't have out in public. I for one am not going to let 'what other people think' stop me from enjoying my pets. I hate that even some of my friends and relatives think I shouldn't have snakes for pets, saying things like "ewww" or "what were you thinking!" when they see a photo of one of them.

I agree with Dave that if you had a pitbull sitting there nobody would've done a thing. From what I understand the snakes were not brought inside the shop (that would have made me upset, no matter what animal. Pets in general should not be allowed in places that sell food) If we are going to discriminate against certain pets and not others, nobody should be allowed to take any animal outside then.

As for the temperature problem, it gets very warm here in the summer (this summer it was consistently over 30 degrees C here in Ontario, can't speak for BC) and I do not take my snake outside if it is, or is going to be, cool.

Dave, I think it's great you were able to educate some people. I've had that privilege in the past, and it really is a great feeling to be able to alleviate some people's unwarranted fears and misunderstandings about such beautiful creatures.

I guess everyone has the right to their own opinion of things. This is just mine.

[DavethePython]

Yeh , we are having awesome warm days now so I like to get my snakes out when I can for natural sunlight . Something I feel is beneficial to them over just uv lamps . As for sickness and disease and stuff , I would not just allow my snakes to mingle with anyone's animals . These are people and snakes I know , plus 2 of the 3 were mine and my wife's . While I try to keep them as healthy as possible sheltering any living being is not helpful . I trust their immune systems like ours can cope with certain amounts of exposure . These days our immune systems are much weaker on average than they were even 20 years ago because we shelter ourselves and all this anti microbial soaps and hand sanitizers an stuff just add to weakening immune systems . Fora healthy immune system there must be a certain amount of exposure . And to clarify no our snakes were not inside .