Need any Real snakes?

[Jim Warfield]

A happy customer of mine last night called and said he is in the snake business , his web site is : Electricchairreptiles.com
See it and enjoy all the pertty pictures of colorful snakes"With No Arms or Legs!"
He presently has 300 snakes," None Of Them Have Any Arms Or Legs!"
They seem to be all-neck!
(I had a childhood nightmare that a snake would magically steal my arms and legs.)
I really liked having my limbs alot too!

[Matt Marich]

We have the really cute variety here in Arizona, the darling babies even have their own rattles!

[Jim Warfield]

Around 1835 the first settlers in this county had to live in tree houses because there were so many snakes here.
Around 1850 Point Rock, a really big rock that makes a cliff all by itself now at the entrance to the city park, was found covered with rattlesnakes after the sun had been up a few hours.
Maybe they all retired and moved to the southwestern US?

[monsterwax]

Rattle snakes make great eating. I tried some at a black church cookout in Lexinton, Mo. and they were really good (honest). They tasted just like Possum-- which was the other item I had that night (plus some Racoon). Actually, they all tasted like chicken, but maybe that's because chickens really taste like snakes (we just didn't know it!).

That being said, snakes are great animals to have around and a rodent's worse nightmare. In India, they treat them as sacred, not even killing deadly Cobras, which get inside huts and strike thousand's of Indians each year. But they still come out ahead, because the snakes (and especially the Cobras) are the only urban predator of rats, which otherwise consume millions of desperately needed bushels of grain.

What's that you say? Cats are also natual predators of rats? The baby rats, perhaps, but not the big ones, which are bigger than most squirrels!

Now, where's that thick extension cord I was about to uncoil...?

[Matt Marich]

The most amazing thing is watching a Roadrunner simply bend down and kill a rattler with one strike. This is obviously something Wile E. Coyote didn't take into consideration, so Acme did him a favor so to speak...,

[drfrightner]

Missouri has rattlesnakes just like Arizona just not as many!

Here is Missouri we also have the MOST AGGRESSIVE snake in the entire United States... Cotton Mouth, you know the ones that swim around in the water. They don't run like most snakes or curl up and try to scare you off they come after you!!!

We also have copperheads here in Missouri as well.

I personally LOVE to look at snakes through glass but would NEVER want to touch one I'm terrorified of them. So if anyone wants to know what Larry is scared of now you know...SNAKES of any kind!

Which brings up an interesting topic because are people scared more of zombies or snakes or rats, or bugs? Ahhh I think its snakes, and bugs and rats over a flesh eating rotting zombie anyday.

Larry

[Spookyfinder]

They just found a MASSIVE Diamondback in Ohio, near Cincinnati! -Tyler

[Dr. Giggles]

Really Larry? Dr. Fear, the owner of a very successfull haunt scared of snakes? Well im not one to judge, so i guess its all on the person. Me personally, i saw a picture of this thing called a camel spider, now i refuse to go anywhere the temperature is over 90 because thats where they flourish. And if it ever gets to 90 or above here i sit in the kitching with a hammer and my paintball gun. Oh and sorry for the all of a sudden off topicness but what larry said caught me a little off gaurd.

[Jim Warfield]

Snakes, Bugs , Rodents

Scary stuff!
So here's a question for haunters...if people are so afraid of these basically tiny creatures (with the Camel spider exception, that camerl has alot of legs!) then having a huge rendition of these critters , logically, should not be as frightening as one normal sized because a good replica in normal size leaves it logically an open question:"Is it real?"
Have a working rat or spider closer to actual, normal size should be more scary, if you Really want to scare the customers, right?
Maybe we just feature the over-sized models as a display to impress ourselves? Other haunt owners?
But then some younger audiences might bite on believing the huge monster-critter, at least for a couple of seconds.
I have done just the opposite, telling an afraid customer that a real bat or smelly carcass covered with maggotts were not real, "Just radio-controlled!"
(They usually believed me.)

[monsterwax]

Call me crazy, but we tell them the truth: That the giant warehouse has real live RATS and if you're wearing sandals, don't let them get near your feet! Move away quickly or have your friend with shoes kick at them. THEY ARE NOT PROPS and are NOT PART OF THE ACT! Sometimes, someone will stop and won't go any further, which is why we tell them this AFTER they pay for the (non-refundable) ticket. The last two years, we also had an inside possum, but he stayed up in the rafters. I figured he was one of the few predators that would eat the rats!

[Jim Warfield]

I Don't know?

But Florida possuums must be alot quicker than Illinois possuums, they can't waddle fast enough to catch corn!
Everybody picks on them, catching them and forcing them to try for the Academy Award with their death scene acting.
Who could play a possuum better than a possuum?

[REDRUM]

People are REALLY freaked out by spiders. We have over 400 live tarantulas from all over the world in a tunnel guests have to walk through after they buy their tickets. At the end of the tunnel we rigged a rubber spider in the ceiling on a string we drop on the guests. It kills the arachnophobic people every time! Tarantulas are bar none the easiest pet to care for. We feed our spiders a few crickets each once every two weeks and fill the water bowls.

We have a few snakes at our event as well. One of them is a 17 ft. Albino Burmese python named "Medusa" and she is our photo op snake. Some people LOVE to get a pic with this giant banana yellow snake on their shoulders. Others don't even want to walk by her on the way out of our show.

Snakes are a lot harder to care for and handle. The temparture must remain constant, the cost of feeding them can get expensive, weekly cage cleaning, feeding and a bath is a must, and we always have a "snake handler" put the snake on and remove it from the guests shoulders after the picture is taken. Different snakes of the same species can have different temperaments and it is important to know when a snake is "in the mood" to be handled.

Our first year open I worked a deal with a local exotic pet shop to have a display at our event and the first weekend it was a huge hit with our guests (it was set up in our que line and we advertised it) well come the second weekend I had to go and get all the animals myself and every weekend thereafter was a major pain to get them onsite for opening. So at the end of that first year I started gathering our own animals so we would not have to rely on anyone else and we have been doing it on our own ever since.

Between spiders and snakes the spiders weird more people out for sure.

[brad]

Just so that no one is miss led, the camel spiders arent really as big as that picture earlier in the thread is.

I thought for the longest time that that was one big ass spider, but it's actually 2 spiders stuck together. Here's a vid to show you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOXvdfcct8g


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXbwi...eature=related


Dont get me wrong though... they are very aggressive, and I still dont wanna come across one- I am deathly afraid of spiders!

[Jim Warfield]

Snake Spider Advantages

At least they won't be a "No-Call, No-Show ".
Keeping employees in a cage and watering and feeding them would also be a pain but again, a possible option.
Maybe one big cage for everybody?
(Cages can get expensive you know.)
"Oh, yes , they will be working here tonight, I just have to open the cage."
..sounds like a plan.

[damon carson]

I hate snakes as well. I did get the courage one day to go to a pet shop and hold some smaller snakes. Im not sure I really want to do it again. Ha Ha! But I think snakes are the main thing people are scared of. Its a primal thing or an instinctive fear we are born with. To be scared of snakes or spiders. Its a survival thing.
Damon