Educating vets if Fiji about snakes

[Helenthereef]

We don't have specialist reptile vets where I am, but we do have a very willing and helpful general vet practice (https://www.facebook.com/vetessentials.fiji/).

Recently, coupled with some great advice from members of this forum, they have been able to help me treat one of my snakes, but as most of them had never even seen, let alone handled, a live snake before, we thought we'd give them some handling experience.

They were very excited to do this, staying late after their weekend practice closed. All three vets and six veterinary assistants were there, and a lot of selfies taken. Unfortunately, Rifraf, the first one out of the bag, disgraced himself by biting one of the vets, but thankfully vets aren't much phased by small bites, and no damage was done (except to Rifraf's reputation, but, to be honest, he's a bit of an idiot anyway).

Mazikeen, the much more ladylike matriarch of my group, behaved perfectly, and was the hit of the session.

Here are a few pics. I think we have some converts!

 

[Helenthereef]

And a few more portraits...

 

[Robert Walker]

Very, very cool Helen! This is one of the highlights of keeping herps!

 

[hotlips]

I love it, way to go Helen! Nothing I like better than changing minds about snakes. Now that you've helped them to better understand snakes, just by doing this, they're more likely to take more interest medically...and that can ONLY be good for your snakes and any others kept as pets locally now & in the future. Unfortunate to have one bite, but it does "go with the territory" (working with live animals), and in some ways, the bite is educational too, as few bites are really as bad as what fearful people have in their mind.

 

[Helenthereef]

Actually they were all very interested to see that the bite barely broke the skin and didn't bleed at all - and the bitee was totally calm and collected, so all in all, it may indeed not have been a bad thing!

The session was a lot of fun too, recommended!

 

[AbsoluteApril]

That's really awesome Helen! Kudos to you!

 

[Lucille]

Sounds like a wonderful experience!!! Hopefully it will pave the way for additional interest by that group in treating snakes. Way to go!!!

 

[richardhind1972]

That looked like great fun Helen,nice to see they all looked really interested and wanted to learn from the handling .i think you and your snakes can only benefit from it,good luck and hopefully you won’t have to take them there that much in the future


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[Helenthereef]

Thank you all for the nice comments.

What's always interesting in Fiji, where we have an ethnic split between the original Melanesian inhabitants who are mainly Christian, and the third or fourth generation immigrant population originally from India who are mainly Hindu, is the difference in attitude to snakes.

Although they have all been born and raised in the same natural environment and with the same education, those who were taught Bible stories about the garden of Eden etc., are deathly afraid of snakes and have to be persuaded to even enter a room with one in it, whereas those who have gods with snake companions are much more chill.

Even so, with a bit of gentle handling we are usually able to get through the barriers in half an hour or so.

 

[weblizard]

What kind of snake is in the photos? Nice!


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[Helenthereef]

What kind of snake is in the photos? Nice!


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This is one of my much-prized Fiji boas, Candoia bibroni bibroni. This one is a fully grown female, about as large as they get.

And thanks!