Funny questions from non-herp keepers.

[syeph8]

I once spoke to a lady around the same age as me (35), that had never heard of a python!! I still cant get my head around that!

Thats a recurring frustration of mine. the conversation goes:

"What happens if he bites you? wont you die?"
"no, he's a python"
"so he'lll just make you sick"
"no, he's a python, he doesnt have venom"
"I heard all snakes have venom, just some not enough to kill you"
"you heard wrong"
"no im pretty sure im right" (or) "id stay away anyway, just in case"

theres also the big ones previously mentioned...

has it ever lay down next to you to size you up?
can it escape?
why would you like them? theyre so cold and slimy...
can you feed it now?

and my personal favourite (because i used to work a 72 hour run over the weekends)

"who feeds him and looks after him while your gone?"
"no-one"
"WHAT?!?! you just let him starve?"
"no he only eats once a week."
"thats just cruel!"
"stop talking now."

[ZsaZsaGaboa]

Re: my Murray Darling juvenile..

"Will you get his fangs removed when he's big?"

And my favourite, from Mum;

"Does he need a toy to play with?"

Edit: Jst realised how old this thread is... Sorry to drag it back up!

[borntobnude]

[Edit: Jst realised how old this thread is... Sorry to drag it back up![/QUOTE]

oh well !! i think the best one is a simple WHY?

[Rissi]

And there's always the story someone tells you when they find out you have snakes. You know the one they heard of, about the lady who's snake was lying straight along the bed next to her and the vet told her it was sizing her up to eat her....Muppets...

EDIT:
Beat me to it.

I am so sick of hearing this story! we need to re name this website to: "APS - no that old wives tale isn't true they don't lie on your bed next to you and no it wasn't your friend you don't even know the person.com"

[davies.ads]

I know this is an old thread but was asked today how my snakes pluck the birds that they eat? Or whether I pluck them first before feeding..

[TreeHugger]

And there's always the story someone tells you when they find out you have snakes. You know the one they heard of, about the lady who's snake was lying straight along the bed next to her and the vet told her it was sizing her up to eat her....Muppets...

EDIT:
Beat me to it.

Holy Moly!!!!!! I have heard so many variations to this same story. Once, the snake was a ALBINO...(becuase I just mentioned I had one I'm guessing) and another who continued to tell me 'I know this becuase I am friends with the vet....) you gotta be kidding me!

[Chanzey]

Haven't had any real weird questions yet but my family always ask when Im holding on of my snakes "Which one is that? Is that the angry one?" I don't know how after atleast 3 months they can't tell the difference between a yellow and black snake thats twice as big as a brown and white one? Jungle and Bredli (The jungle has struck at me for a month or so now so i dont think shes really a biter much anymore

[Twitch_80]

How does it get up the branch like that with no legs?

Elevator, I install them in every enclosure...

[Revell13]

The standard question I get when people see my enclosure (EWDs, Coppertails, water skinks, frogs, fish + gecko) most of whom are quite visible during the day...
Question 1; "so what kind of snake do you have in there?"
Response; "No snakes, just lizards"
Question 2; "Yeah reptiles, so what snakes do you have in there?"
They don't seem to understand the difference between snakes and lizards...

[Venomous_RBB]

Mine are different, depending on which snake:
Dads Spotted Python - Why is it so small? Do you handle it? Does she bite? Will she constrict my neck off?
My BHP - Why is she so big? OMG she is only young and has much more growing to go, how big will she get? Will she eat children? Is she venomous? Will she kill me? Does she bite and leave 2 fang marks. Will she eat your cat or your birds? What does she eat? Do you feed her rabbits?
The list goes on with my BHP :/
She is so placid, lol I have laughed in peoples faces before. She is only 1 1/2 years old so is still growing. Just because she has a black head and doesnt have a big boofy python head does not mean she is venomous.
(Also I love the big boofy python heads, not having a go at them )

One of my biggest irritants is:
Why are snakes Slimy?

[Aetain]

Had the following conversation with my dad last night:
Dad: "How big is Reggie now?"
Me: "Only 40cm"
Dad: "That's still 39cm too long. I'll get the shovel."

It really irks me when people say that or "The only good snake is a dead snake." I love my snake and it really upsets me when they say that. How would they like it if I said that about their dog or cat? UGH

Sorry for that >_<

/end grumpy rant

[Tassie97]

Blue tongue lizard bites come back every year at the same time...

[StellaDoore]

I had someone ask if I fed my snakes vegetables...
One kid who saw my snakes announced that they stung you with their tails (that was a new one).

While doing shows, kids are fascinated with bearded dragons:
Kid: is it real?
Me: no, it's animatronic.
Kid: why's it called a bearded dragon?
Me: cause when it's angry, his beard glows orange and then he'll breathe fire.

Regarding a Murray Darling: "is that the snake form Snakes on a Plane?" to which I replied "yep! And he played the shark in Jaws!" "REALLY??" -.-"
I have my fun at work ^-^ please note, I do give out the correct information straight after the jokes =]

[LittleHiss]

I took my lot of lizards to my little brothers very CATHOLIC primary school. They asked where the boyfriends of all the other females were - the teachers weren't very happy when I explained that one male took care of all the ladies, but they were cheered up when they heard about the shinglebacks' cross-country trek to find their mate. I made them pinky-swear that they wouldn't touch anything that they found in the wild and they all turned to the person next to them and shook pinkies... It made me laugh.
A kid in year 4 told me that I was stupid to have them out because if they touched the spikes they would die.
My elderly neighbour swore to me black-and-blue that her mother was a nurse at a school and "once a kid was bitten by a blue tongue and it swelled up and got pussy and then, every year on the same day, it went like that again and she had to give him antibiotics."
An Indian who recently moved here tried to smack my dragon out of my hands to kill it. He also squished a a frog because it was in his house. I asked him why he didn't just take it outside and he said "WHAT?! WITH MY HANDS?!?!?!?!". He was under the impression that the wet stuff on their skin was, in fact, poison and would soak through your skin and kill you. I couldn't convince him otherwise.
But then there are always the sweeties who, at the start of a talk, are terrified of the animals, and by the end, when they get to have a pat, they're the ones who stay behind after the bell rings. And the ones where a mother was going to buy her daughter a cat, but after meeting your lizards, decides that she'll buy her one of those instead.

Oh, and my own MOTHER telling me that she had a friend who was feeding the sheep and he saw a snake and it chased him all the way back to his ute and the climbed the wheel because "it hated him!" 0.0

I also get asked if the Shinglebacks have a brain in each head or only a brain in one of them. "How do you tell which end is the head?"
"Why pay that much for a bloody lizard?! I could go get you dozens of the little blighters!"
"Why do you BUY all those crickets? Can't you just catch them?" this coming from a 40year old school teacher, which is odd... How many crickets do they think the little guys eat?! I'm not spending my day catching 250 odd crickets everyday, not to mention the poisons.