Do I start them in my classroom?

[Caryl]

Hi everyone, I'm a recent addition to the corn snake addiction. My family gave me a 2007 amel female for my birthday Feb. 2, and I'm so delighted with her that I HAD to get more. I'm expecting a delivery of four 2007's next week. They'll be coming FedEx from Kathy Love. I
I'm a high school teacher, and I have pets in my classroom. I plan to rotate the corns between school and home so that I can keep 2 in class at a time, always assuming they're healthy. Would it be better if I kept them all at my house until after their first feed/digestion for me, or could I keep two at school right from the start?
They'll be housed separately, given water immediately, not handled or fed for 3 days regardless of whether or not they stay at school initially. Thanks for any input/past experiences shared.

 

[Drizzt80]

Start them off right away at school so they immediately get used to the hustle and bustle of a classroom. I'm a middle school teacher, and have a majority of my snakes in my classroom. They do just fine and dandy. The only concern I'd have is the interchanging them often. Why not just keep all 4 there?! You could also just have your two "school" snakes and your two "home" snakes. PM if you have any specific questions that you don't want to post about.

Glad to see another educator here!
D80

 

[greatcornholio]

at what times are you planning on rotating? Just asking cause if its every week I would assume it might stress the snakes out. However, I don't keep pets away from my house so I'm not sure how you would go about doing that. Just make sure they are kept warm watered and have enough hides.

Personally I would pick two to leave in the class at all times cause if I were a snake being moved every week would stress me out wicked bad.

 

[bitsy]

Some Corns don't take kindly to a change of environment - I'd advise against swapping them in and out. Just decide which ones to keep where, and keep them in one place unless they show signs of not coping.

 

[xchris]

As a high school student i would be VERY careful with taking your snakes to school, some people my age are just absolutely cruel to animals and your snakes might be used as a prank like putting them in girls hoods or hair trying to scare them. If your going to bring them to school i would keep them away from where kids can mess with your tank and also not allow any of them to hold them without you being ontop of them basically.

as for rotating them, two of my 4 snakes regurged after moving them to a friends house BUT my girlfriend handled both of those snakes about an hour or two before they regurged so im not sure if the change in environment or the handling did it or a combination of both. I would agree with whoever said keep 2 as home corns and 2 as classroom corns... i hope nothing bad happens to your corns at school, i sure wouldn't trust some of my friends with my pets.

 

[Cronus]

Watch the snakes in your classroom like a hawk. When I was in high school we had a fish tank in the back of the room and my teacher would find all kinds of trash in there and some kids even killed some of the fish with our bio-lab instruments. It always made me so sad because I loved having animals in the class room. Maybe you could invest in some good locking screens and pad locks.

 

[Caryl]

Thanks for the thoughts. I know that corns are territorial, and would rotate the animals in their own vivs. My tentative plan was to rotate one or two of the 5 every month. All 5 are different cultivars, and the goal is to let the students see some of the many beautiful colors adn patterns of corn snakes.
As far as the animals' safety at school, I've been teaching for 11 years. I've always kept classroom pets (mice, fish, turtle, bird, guinea pig, other visitors on occasion). I'm well aware of the possibilities for harm, and take all possible precautions to keep my animals safe. To date I've only had problems with a single class. Someone dropped a Sharpie marker in a fish tank years ago.
Usually the students really enjoy the pets. I'm very particular about the handling/feeding/care of the classroom critters. My new corns will be no different in terms of student access and due care. All classes know that if there's ever a problem, the animals go home with me and stay there. Thus far, no one wants that to happen.

 

[kathylove]

The snakes here are kept in a quiet room and seldom see visitors, except me. If the school set up will be right where kids can get up close to the tank, it could add more stress at a time when they are already stressed out from the trip and change of climate or other factors. I usually advise to keep them as close to what they are used to for the first several weeks, and then make gradual changes (substrate, temps, kids, handling, etc) as they are used to their new place.

I would suggest a quiet place at school or at home for the first 2 or 3 meals. After that, they should have a good start, and you can slowly start introducing other new stresses into their lives.

Some snakes deal with stress fine and it is hard to stress them out - and some don't. You won't know which ones are subject to stress until you overdo the stress. Then they may not feed, or may regurge. So I like to treat them all gently and quietly until after the first few meals, just to be safe.

I will be sending a care sheet with them (it is also posted on my site) to help you get through the first several weeks.

 

[patm1313]

As a high school student i would be VERY careful with taking your snakes to school, some people my age are just absolutely cruel to animals and your snakes might be used as a prank like putting them in girls hoods or hair trying to scare them. If your going to bring them to school i would keep them away from where kids can mess with your tank and also not allow any of them to hold them without you being ontop of them basically.

To ad to this, I have seen a few cages with holes for locking with a padlock. Might be a very good idea to lock them up.

 

[xchris]

if you feel safe bringing your snakes to school then go right ahead, i guess my other main concern is a student leaving the top open, im not sure how much the school would like that

 

[Caryl]

Patience is a virtue...

Okay, Kathy - they're coming from you so I'm sure know best how to transition them. I've waited all these years; if a few more weeks makes it easier for the animals, I'll wait a bit longer. Thanks again for all your help in this whole deal - you've been great.
I'm not sure how to quote, in the reply, but xchris, I definitely will be doing all I can to keep the corns safe - just like the other pets. My amel has been to school with me. Her viv went right beside my desk, and I was the only one to remove or replace her. She spent the first three days at school in the viv, and I was the only one to handle her the next two days. After that, a small number of students who wanted to hold her were allowed to place their hand beside mine when I had her out. It was always the snake's choice whether or not a new person was allowed to hold her. So far, so good.
Thanks, everyone for your replies. This forum is really helpful for all of us neophytes. (It's fun, too.) :dancer:

 

[xchris]

Alright good luck, it seems your students are better behaved then my classmates, im a high school senior and cant wait to get out, i have always had older friends because most people my age are just soo immature, there was a kid in my class today that thought it was be hilarious to see how many times he could fart in the hour and a half long class i had :angry01:

That kid has to be atleast my age (18) or maybe 17.... i mean come on grow up, it might have been funny if he let one slip accidentally but i mean to purposely do that over and over... :shrugs:

What is america coming to nowadays :uhoh:

 

[Caryl]

Gee, xchris, that sounds like such fun! ...not. I've had pets at more than one school; one school was downright dangerous for humans - that's why I'm not there any longer. I'm practially paranoid about my pets - please pardon the unintentional alliteration They're like family members, and quickly become family to most students as well. Congrats on your upcoming graduation, and thanks again.

 

[tricksterpup]

Caryl
There is a wonderful post by Cegninedorf and her corn snakes in the classroom.
I would say this might be a good post for you to read through. Enjoy.
http://cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40546

 

[Caryl]

thanks for the thread tip

Thank you. I enjoyed that.

 

[Suncoast Herps]

Caryl

You also might consider adding a young adult to your collection and starting that one off as the school specimen. Neonates can be a bit fragile if they are going to be handled regularly by multiple people. That would give you time to raise up the babies to somewhat sturdier size before putting them in a potentially stressful situation.

Just a thought

 

[Caryl]

I did think about getting an '06. Are '07 hatchlings still thought of as neonates? I've bred horses and dogs, and for those species that term has a much shorter duration. My thought was that young ones would adapt more easily to the classroom situation. I didn't want to bring '08s to school due to fragility. I figured that '07s would be established feeders and ready to bring to school. At the moment, I'm hoping to win the Amber pair that is being raffled off to support a member's medical expenses.

In any case, the snakes will be present but NOT handled in the classroom for an adjustment period. When I do allow students to handle the snakes, it will always be the snake's choice whether or not to go to a particular hand. That's worked well for my current corn.

Thanks for the thought, and please share other ideas.

 

[isabella]

I think it would be better to have 2 at home and 2 at school. My concern isn't so much the kids but more for the snakes over weekends and long breaks. I don't know about your school but at ours the heat/ ac is not on when we aren't there. The classrooms get very hot or cold (depending on the time of year) so extra care would need to be taken so that the proper temp. can be maintained. Other then that I think its a great idea. I wish I could bring my snake to work but its not allowed. :nope:

 

[patm1313]

I think it would be better to have 2 at home and 2 at school. My concern isn't so much the kids but more for the snakes over weekends and long breaks. I don't know about your school but at ours the heat/ ac is not on when we aren't there. The classrooms get very hot or cold (depending on the time of year) so extra care would need to be taken so that the proper temp. can be maintained. Other then that I think its a great idea. I wish I could bring my snake to work but its not allowed. :nope:

Very nice first post. I would think the same thing. The only problem with moving them back and forth is that it could be stressful for the snakes.

 

[Caryl]

They won't be moving often; how much is too much?

I know that moving around is stressful for the snakes, and didn't intend to shift them around often. I thought it would be interesting for the students to see some of the many beautiful morphs. Two would be in the classroom, while I had the others at home ( I actually will have 5; these 4 plus my original). I'd planned My school is on an 18-wk semester schedule, and I thought I could bring one in and take one back home about every 6 weeks.

My tentative plan is to move them tank-and-all. That way, while the outside environment will change, "home" will remain essentially the same. The food and the water will be the same, also.

I'm currently hauling a tank of mice in and out of my classroom every week. They go home each weekend and holiday. And yes, having pets at work is great! :crazy02:

As far as temps. etc shifting around, I wish our school was more energy conscious! They don't adjust anything over weekends, and I'd probably bring them back home over lengthy breaks like Christmas - definitely for summertime.

Obviously some snakes are more adaptable than others - just like some people. Herp shows involve moving them around; so do presentations as are done for children.

I really appreciate the comments so far. Has anyone else done this? I know others have classroom critters. How about the rotation?

Thanks, folks!