Snakes

[Scareview]

I know I brought something similar up a long long time ago and it may have been brought up again in a thread.

When some of the workers began re-doing the haunt this year, they found 3 big ass black snakes lurking around inside. Like most people would do, they killed the snakes. It gave me an idea about the ole "snakes under a plexi glass floor trick."

Would doing something like that cause problems with animal rights people? Ive heard of places using spiders, roaches, mice, and rats basically the same way but Ive never actually seen it done before. If anyone else has had experience with this, please let me know. Thanks

[Jim Warfield]

All critters create waste products before they die and become a waste product themselves.........stinky,stinky?

[Scareview]

Yes, I apologize for wasting anyone's time about the post! Your right Jim. Messy, messy, messy!!! After considering what we would go through having to deal with them on a daily basis, I withdraw my question. Bad idea!! I think taking them in and out everyday would be too much of a hassle and the snakes would probably become very aggresive with so many people walking over them nightly.

[Transfusion Tom]

If memory serves correct, The Nest, in Queen Creek, Arizona uses live coackroaches and snakes behind plexiglass, and creeps the hell out of anyone who goes through. If you need thoughts about that I'd contact them, you can go to www.frightened.com

[TheRupert]

Being a snake lover, it bugs me that people are killing snakes they find in their haunts Black snakes are absolutely harmless and can simply be removed. There's no need to kill them.

Makes me sad when I read "Like most people would do, they killed the snakes..."

[Scareview]

I agree! Was just saying that most are afraid and that's what they do when they see one. I have a python that lives with me and dont have a problem with them.

[Jim Warfield]

When I was very young snakes scared and upset me because they had no arms or legs. I imagined being threatened by a snake saying he wanted to take my arms and legs to use for his own!
I am not joking here. Strange childhood phobias sometimes come from nowhere else but our own imaginations.
An imagination can be a blessing or a curse, can't it?
The first white people to inhabit this county around 1830 had to live in tree houses because there were so many snakes around this area.
Don't feel sorry for the snakes today, they all wear suits and sit behind desks all day long.
Suspenders were invented because of the lack of hips for a belt but then where were their shoulders to hold up the suspenders?

[Midnight13]

We have had snakes in our haunted house for many years now. They are a tremendous amount of work but also a lot of fun. Here is a video of one of our bags of snakes being delivered to a temporary holding pen. We usually have anywhere between 150-500 snakes in the house during October.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUtCXwFb6iU

Then check out what we did to one of the guys. He was looking at the real snakes in the holding pen when we slipped this rubber snake on him. ...Very funny! No one is safe around us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIlTeHToRe8

Dwayne Sanburn
13th Gate

[SpFXChic]

Many years ago I worked in a haunt and somebody brought in their 20 pet rats nightly to add realism to a room. Wasn't a big deal back then. Now-a-days, live animals are pretty much no-nos in haunts in our town. Codes and such. If you do decide to utilize live critters, ask around to make sure you aren't breaking any codes/rules before you plan on putting them in, especially if it'll make or break your room. Definitely treat them well, too.

[Midnight13]

Absolutely. We work closely with several reptile experts here to make sure that we are doing everything necessary to keep our snakes safe and healthy. It is a tremendous amount of work and cost involved maintaining a clean habitat for them. We have never had a problem because we take very good care of our animals. I would not recommend using snakes in a haunt unless you have someone who knows a lot about snakes and can guide you in their care.

[Jim Warfield]

In northern Illinois we would have to put fur coats on snakes to give them half a chance of being entertaining or to remain alive.

[lurker]

A little piece of info I keep from my actors is the fact our haunt has a few free roaming snakes. We are located near a good-sized creek/stream. After the first year of having the haunt at this location, I noticed that we never had any mice problems. The building is not sealed very well, so I was sure mice had access, and all the little food scraps the actors dropped was an open invite to mice. However, I never saw any, or evidence of any. On the other hand I have seen a few baby water snakes slinking around the outside and inside of our building. They are the reason for the lack of mice, and I'm grateful. Mice are destructive and messy. Snakes aren't. And, I love telling customers that we do have real snakes in our haunt.

[MMManiac]

we use real ball python snakes. They csn get big (5-6 feet) They are somewhat easy to maintain just make sure you keep the room they are in very hot (85-90 degrees) If they get too cold they wont eat or be very active. DO NOT let them free roam in a room. People who hate snakes will indeed kill them. Never happened to us but Im sure it happened somewhere. we keep our behind plexiglass or black mesh which blends in the background so people dont know the snakes are contained.

[WARLORD]

snakes

We use both snakes and rats. Our rat lady has about 60 rats. At any time 30-40 are with her in her scene. She is inside a custom built crate with glass front and ventilation. Our rats are very well taken care of. We have our "rat wrangler" who sets them up before the show, removes them after the show, and takes care of them daily on off days. They have a space in the scene that they stay during the show to add our own "sinister scents" to the room. Our two boa constrictors are set up in large aquariums behind glass in our overgrown foilage room. They are monitored by our local exotic pet and reptile pet store. Both are a great addition to the show but both require routine upkeep to keep them healthy. Our actors really like the rats and most of them are adopted out to the actors at the end of the show. Those that are not, the pet store we buy them from will take them back at the end of the show. One of our boa constrictors belongs to one of our security gaurds, the other is a loner from the pet store that takes care of them. Again, a lot of care, but worth it if you have qualified and reliable people to take care of them.

[HauntedWebby]

I wouldn't use any type of animal .. wild or not ... in a haunt. It's hard enought to control actors!

The ASPCA frowns on all animal entertainment unless by a trained professional .. and even then still frowns.