Snakes wanted for education

Thank you for taking the time to look at and hopefully consider my request. My name is Chance Duncan and I'm a biology teacher at a public school here in Arkansas. I'm a big herp enthusiast as well as a conservation proponent and am trying to gather together a number of different species to display in my classroom.

I originally started out wanting to display the country's two largest, most endangered colubrids - a Louisiana pinesnake and an eastern indigo. I did manage to get an indigo on donation and will definitely be displaying him and talking up his endangered status, but I feel that the more animals students can be exposed to the better off they'll be in the long run. I feel that having my students connect with a real, living example of the species would drive the conservation point home much better than lectures and pictures.

I'm still extremely interested in acquiring a Louisiana pine, but am also very interested in obtaining a number of other harmless species. Very high on my list would be milk and kingsnakes, especially Hondurans and Sinaloans, but any relatively harmless species would be great. Western hognoses, spotted/childrens/stimpsons pythons, other Pituophis (if nice!), etc. Obviously giant constrictors and venomous snakes are out of the question (...or so says my administration...) and I don't really need any ball pythons as I already have one. I'd even like to get some lizards if I could. I have some leos on the way, but fat tails, maybe beardeds, plateds, no igs though.

Being a teacher, and especially being a teacher getting back into the fold and not getting my first paycheck until the end of Sept () I'm asking for these animals as donations. I have plenty of enclosures, just not many funds to outright buy things to put in them. If you have spare offspring you've been having difficulty moving, retired breeders, extra stock taking up room, etc. Or if you just want the great feeling knowing you're helping to change the mindset of future generations from "The only good snake is a dead snake" to "The only GOOD snake is a LIVE snake!" (a poster I made and have on my wall) You will of course receive full credit for any donated animals and I'll be sending you pictures of where the animals are located in the classroom and how I'm utilizing them, students interacting with them, etc.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or offers at najak82@hotmail.com or you're welcome to call or text me at 479-477-0434.

In case you're curious, here are a couple pictures from my previous job:

Telling my students about a Louisiana pinesnake I had (and am kicking myself in the rear for giving to a nature center at the end of that year!)


Showing (safely) a Namibian coral cobra


One of my students handling a young black milksnake, first snake she ever handled


And finally, another student getting to know an adult male woma python

Chance,
We're on the same page. I'm a middle school teacher in VA.
Also a herp lover. I'm going the route of exposing the kids to
snakes that could be found/should be found in their/our region.
We've had a juvenile northern water snake, rough green snake,
garter, black rat and a relative of the pine (gopher).
Just lost my prized baby eastern milk due to the 4 feet of snow
we had last week. Someone made the decision to crank up the
heat to melt snow off of the roof and it dehydrated my little girl.
So, if you can help me out with a small eastern, I'd appreciate it.

We have a snake club at our school. Great support from admin. sounds
like you do too.

Dave Snyder (Snyds)

Hey Dave! Great to hear that there are other teachers out there with the same passion. I haven't started a herp club yet but would very much like to. I don't have any Lampros right now but I've been really lucky the past few years and have been running across them regularly. If I happen upon a healthy one this year I'll definitely let you know. Keep up the great work!