Snakes slither into championship spots at Hand Pet Show

It was snakes alive at Parkwood Village when a pair of snakes took Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion at the Pratt County Fair 4-H Hand Pet Show.

Instead of participants standing before just a judge they had to present their animals in front of Parkwood Village and Pratt Rehabilitation and Residence Center residents during their competition at Parkwood Village Monday afternoon.

Taking the grand champion was Tyler Tobin with his garter snake “Slithers” and the Reserve Grand Champion went to Jake Thomas and his corn snake “Corn Flake.” All competitors were in the junior division.

This was Tobin’s first grand champion in his three years in 4-H and Thomas pulled his third hand pet show reserve grand champion in a row in as many years.

“I was really, really excited to win grand champion,” Tobin said. “It’s my first grand champion in anything.”

Tobin said snakes were his favorite kind of animal even though a lot of people don’t like them.
Tobin, a member of the Lincoln Climbers 4-H Club, likes snakes because they are easy to care for. He is a good pet and he thought it would be good to enter him in the competition.

Like other competitors, having to speak in front of a big crowd made Tobin nervous. He was also not used to speaking into a microphone while he was holding Slithers.

He enjoyed getting to use his own pet. The hardest part of owning a snake is feeding him and keeping the cage clean.

Even though this was Thomas’s third year in hand pet competition he was nervous because he had to speak in front of a group of people and not just a judge.

“I had more people to talk to,” said Thomas, a Golden Valley 4-H Club member.

He has always liked snakes and after two years of entering crabs in the competition decided to make the switch to snakes.

Participants have to learn all they can about their pets and finding out about his pet was the hardest part of the competition. He found out that it is difficult to get snakes to eat if they are caught wild so he bought his snake. Corn Flake is a small constrictor snake and eats small furry mice.

Thomas also got nervous talking in front of the big crowd. In the past he has just had to talk to a judge.

Thomas got interested in snakes when his dad would bring him snakes he found while he was mowing.

Having a pet is best part of showing a hand pet. Thomas would like to get people to change their ideas about snakes.

“People are afraid of them and I don’t think they should be,” Thomas said.

Having two snakes take the top awards came as a surprise to Judge Ashley Petty of Protection who said she didn’t care for snakes that much but both boys did an excellent job.

Petty was looking for participants to have a good knowledge of their animal and how to take proper care of the animal. She also wanted to see clean cages and tanks with ample food and water for the day.

Other 4-H’ers in the competition were Jenna Fitzsimmons, Wyatt Schrag, Jenna Fincham, Raiden Kohman, Samson Kohman, Carson Thomas and Aaron Thomas.

A lone competitor in open division hand pet show was Justus Novotny with his guinea pig Mr. Squiggles.

This was the first time that Parkwood Village had played host to the event and it was well received.

“It was fun to have the kids come and show their animals,” said Parkwood resident Galene Swafford. “We like to encourage the kids and help them any way we can.”

Parkwood Village encourages activities at their facilities. The residents love to have visitors and enjoyed having the children come out with their pets. The children really bring a lot of liveliness, said Parkwood Village marketing director Annie Campbell.

“I just think it’s great. If there is any way we can help out we want to,” Campbell said.