Snake Farm

Vivian has two days off of school for parent teacher conferences, so we teamed up with some other moms and kids for a fun outing to the Thai Red Cross Snake Farm.  The Red Cross part is that it's a major place for creating anti-venoms.  With extra funding, they've also created a zoo/museum combo that's really well done.  My one friend wanted to make sure she knew what the poisonous snakes looked like, and my other friend used to work at a zoo with reptiles, so it was a great team for a snake trip.  The kids are all about the same age and get along really well too, so it worked out perfectly.

The first part of the Snake Farm is outside, with the snakes inside glass enclosures.

As we walked farther in, the snakes were in pits which you could look at from above or through glass.  None of those were the dangerous kind, but the kids still felt the need to goof around a little.

Then we went inside, where there were more snakes and more information.  The first floor had lots of snakes behind glass.  Our favorite was one that was molting, and so it was moving all around its box trying to scrape off its skin.  You can see a chunk of the skin on the rock next to the tree.

Not only did the snake move around, but it seemed like it kept looking at the kids.

We took a break from our snake friend to go to the venom extraction show.  There was an auditorium in the middle of the first floor.  The demonstration was behind glass, which was reassuring.

The snakes are in the stack of plastic containers on the right.  They would take them out one at a time by putting the metal rod in where the snake could get onto it.  Then they would use a long piece of plastic to pin the snake down, so that they could grab it behind the head.  The set up on the right of the table is a camera, and there was a big screen above the room they were working in, so that you could see the fangs up close.  They also brought the snakes up to the glass, so that you could see how they got the venom out.

It was actually really interesting.  After the show, we went back to say hi to our snake friend one more time, and then we went upstairs to the second part of the museum.  The first thing that caught our attention were the dead snakes in glass jars.

Then the kids found a little room about the mythology of snakes.  You could push a button for the narration.  Different pictures on the wall lit up when the narrator was talking about different myths.  It was low tech, but cool.  The kids got into it.

They also had lots of displays about snake bones and snake skin.  The Burmese Python skin was so long, they had to fold it up to get it to fit in the case.

By the time we were done with the second floor, everyone was ready for lunch, so we went down a block and across the street to Roadhouse Barbecue for lunch.  They had kid friendly food (hamburger, hot dog, wings), and the grown ups found some yummy options too.  Our timing was perfect, because the skies opened up while we were at lunch, and we could watch the rain through the restaurant window instead of being caught in it.  The rain finished a little before we finished our lunch, and then we walked back to the Snake Farm for the afternoon snake show.

This was outside, and we could get up close and personal with the snakes.  There's a highly poisonous green viper at the end of the stick that guy is holding.

They also brought out cobras who danced and hissed.

I know these guys are professionals, but it seemed like they were taunting the snakes to get them to strike.  It was nerve wracking! 

This snake is highly poisonous.  At least the guy carrying him was keeping a close eye on the snake's mouth.

This one is slightly less poisonous.

At the end of the show, they brought out a huge Burmese Python (not poisonous), and offered to let us pose for pictures with it.  The kids were all for it, and even the moms got brave and went for it.

While I would never have said that visiting a snake farm was at the top of my list of things to do, it ended up being a really great day with lots of learning and a little adventure.