NH93
New member
Hello!
If you hadn't seen my earlier post a few weeks ago, I'll just get you up to speed. The university I attend (University of Waterloo in Ontario) holds a huge charity fashion show every year. It's a pretty extravagant event. This year they were doing themed photo shoots beforehand, to put up with the models on stage. I was contacted by one of the organizers, asking if I would volunteer my snake for one of the shoots! After lots of pondering and ironing out of details, the shoot was held last night.
There were 3 models; two female and one male. Overall everything went really smooth - Sydney only fell once, off of the tallest model (of course) because he wasn't wearing a shirt and she slipped right off. But she was alright and remained her normal self afterwards. The first female model actually fell right in love with Sydney too! She had the longest shoot, and just kept talking and talking about her the rest of the night.
But here's what I learned - or rather, what was reconfirmed for me.
In my opinion, snakes absolutely can tell who is who, and prefer someone they are used to. That may not sound like much if you already believe this, but I think it's as close to having a snake love you as it gets.
The reason I feel this now more than ever, was how Sydney reacted to me versus the others whom she did not know. Normally at home when I put my hand or face up to her vive she comes right up to me. If my partner does it, she instantly hides... she can see a difference between him and I (and we're about the same height and build). I don't know if it's the vibrations in my higher-pitched voice, my face, my smell, or what.
At the shoot we introduced her to the models, and she got to get used to them before taking photos with them. She was extremely reluctant to leave my arms, and attempted to come back to me and only me when I walked near her. She didn't stretch out to anyone else (to be honest this made me feel pretty special)!
After each model I would take her back off of them to give her a break. EVERYONE noticed and commented on how calm and relaxed she was on me, because she would just chill out. It was really funny because they wanted to have her around their necks and near their faces, but she wouldn't do that... until she was on me. Now, I am aware that I am most definitely much more comfortable with her than anyone else there, as she is my snake and the models have had minimal experience with snakes. I definitely think this impacts her, as the more calm a person is, the more calm she is.
I do have to say, the whole time the 2 1/2 hour shoot was going on, I was pacing and watching like a hawk.
I was extremely grateful to have the organizer there, whom I knew, who kept urging the models and photographers to back off and let me have Sydney back when it was time. There were many times when everyone crowded her because they were all so excited and I had to tell people "The less, the better!" and intervene a bit. Overall though, everyone did very well! I got them to sign waivers beforehand, and instructed them on proper handling.
It was really interesting because they all tried to get Sydney to do specific things and kept moving her all over the place. I kept saying, "If you just go with her flow and allow to her move rather than forcing her where you want, she'll relax and you'll get the pictures you want." And guess what? It worked. Obviously.
I think sometimes as much as people like and respect animals, when they have a job to do they forget that they ARE animals and not props.
Everyone got to pet Sydney, and she definitely gave some really positive first impressions for people who had never seen or held a real snake before. I had a great experience, and I would do it again. But I think next time I would do it with Beau, my ball python, because he is not at all flighty, which made it a longer process for everyone.
I can't wait to post some photos when I receive them!
Thanks for reading
If you hadn't seen my earlier post a few weeks ago, I'll just get you up to speed. The university I attend (University of Waterloo in Ontario) holds a huge charity fashion show every year. It's a pretty extravagant event. This year they were doing themed photo shoots beforehand, to put up with the models on stage. I was contacted by one of the organizers, asking if I would volunteer my snake for one of the shoots! After lots of pondering and ironing out of details, the shoot was held last night.
There were 3 models; two female and one male. Overall everything went really smooth - Sydney only fell once, off of the tallest model (of course) because he wasn't wearing a shirt and she slipped right off. But she was alright and remained her normal self afterwards. The first female model actually fell right in love with Sydney too! She had the longest shoot, and just kept talking and talking about her the rest of the night.
But here's what I learned - or rather, what was reconfirmed for me.
In my opinion, snakes absolutely can tell who is who, and prefer someone they are used to. That may not sound like much if you already believe this, but I think it's as close to having a snake love you as it gets.
The reason I feel this now more than ever, was how Sydney reacted to me versus the others whom she did not know. Normally at home when I put my hand or face up to her vive she comes right up to me. If my partner does it, she instantly hides... she can see a difference between him and I (and we're about the same height and build). I don't know if it's the vibrations in my higher-pitched voice, my face, my smell, or what.
At the shoot we introduced her to the models, and she got to get used to them before taking photos with them. She was extremely reluctant to leave my arms, and attempted to come back to me and only me when I walked near her. She didn't stretch out to anyone else (to be honest this made me feel pretty special)!
After each model I would take her back off of them to give her a break. EVERYONE noticed and commented on how calm and relaxed she was on me, because she would just chill out. It was really funny because they wanted to have her around their necks and near their faces, but she wouldn't do that... until she was on me. Now, I am aware that I am most definitely much more comfortable with her than anyone else there, as she is my snake and the models have had minimal experience with snakes. I definitely think this impacts her, as the more calm a person is, the more calm she is.
I do have to say, the whole time the 2 1/2 hour shoot was going on, I was pacing and watching like a hawk.
I was extremely grateful to have the organizer there, whom I knew, who kept urging the models and photographers to back off and let me have Sydney back when it was time. There were many times when everyone crowded her because they were all so excited and I had to tell people "The less, the better!" and intervene a bit. Overall though, everyone did very well! I got them to sign waivers beforehand, and instructed them on proper handling.
It was really interesting because they all tried to get Sydney to do specific things and kept moving her all over the place. I kept saying, "If you just go with her flow and allow to her move rather than forcing her where you want, she'll relax and you'll get the pictures you want." And guess what? It worked. Obviously.
I think sometimes as much as people like and respect animals, when they have a job to do they forget that they ARE animals and not props.
Everyone got to pet Sydney, and she definitely gave some really positive first impressions for people who had never seen or held a real snake before. I had a great experience, and I would do it again. But I think next time I would do it with Beau, my ball python, because he is not at all flighty, which made it a longer process for everyone.
I can't wait to post some photos when I receive them!
Thanks for reading
