Snakes are secretive, seem boring, so condensing exposure of the capture and handling experience has proven itself to be a way of capturing some excitement. I didnt mean to rain on Primitive Tim's canopy (
Your's is a Great Moniker, BTW 
) And you seem like an earnest, compassionate and knowledgeable Herp Spokesman.
I think truth is important, and it has an odd way of doing great things, and balancing the adventure aspect with the truth, however discreet and seemingly unexciting it may
seem to be, may be a challenge who's time has come.
Once when i was working it was pretty slow and i turned and noticed a woman had quietly came up the stairs into the reptile room. She didnt seem happy, she was rigid, troubled. I put down my bucket and walked toward her, asking if she needed help. She said she only came in to look at snakes, because her fiance loves snakes but that she is terrified of them. She didnt want to be, but attempts of her significant other to 'introduce her' to his pet snakes did not work out and only resulted in her feeling worse. It was important to her though, and i was touched by her candor and willingness.
I told her I would do what i could to help and she became very nervous and asked me to please Dont try to get her to touch or hold one. I told her what i always tell people who are afraid, that i am not going to take a snake out, Im only going to talk to you about them, and let you see them behind glass.
I led her to the area where i keep some baby / juvenile colubrids and introduced her to Paper Towel Tube Girl. An Okeetee with a very shy disposition, who unlike her siblings, wont take to the upright paper bag method - but only eats in a paper towel tube, which she also favors over her cork hide, so i just leave one in for her all the time.
Paper Towel Tube Girl had her chin on the rim of the cardboard tube, as usual. I told the woman to look closer if she felt comfortable, and she did. I shared a little about the particular snakes history, and then went on to talk about snakes in general, their place on the food chain in nature, and how important security and a serene environment is to them.
The woman was totally surprised about these realities, she had never thought about snakes being A Prey Item Themselves, she only thought of them as A Predatory Creature. She had never thought about a snake seeking to protect itself from harm, and
she found that relate-able
Never had she considered that snakes were secretive, not sneaky, and defensive, not aggressive.
Her features and shoulders relaxed, and she understood. She looked at the little okeetee peeking out of the paper towel tube and her feelings changed.
She said she was less afraid now than when she came in
and it wasnt because she saw a snake getting captured or because she was coaxed into touching one.
It was just finding out the truth.
