Critter Connections

I booked Bob for my daughters 9th birthday party at home. I cannot tell you how impressed I was with the knowledge that was imparted to all of the children and even the adults during his program. He talked about each animal as he brought them out, allowing each child (who was comfortable) to hold the animal whether they were snakes, spiders, scorpions, turtles or birds. the kids LOVED every minute that he was there. Highest recommendation.

We booked a party for my son’s birthday. He had a lovely time. Kevin had a good balance between information about the creatures and education on their care. Even the adults who brought their children were included and remarked how much fun it was. Thank you so much for making a little boy’s dreams come true!

We had 17 kids at our party yesterday and hired critter connections to come do a presentation. First of all, we were able to hire them pretty last minute which was awesome. They had some openings due to a cancellation. First of all the providers were early which was awesome. Second, they had so many cool animals to show the kids and gave information and asked questions to the kiddos. Getting to pet and hold each animal was their favorite part of course. The lady that presented was awesome. She knew a lot about the animals and was very patient with the kids. We really enjoyed this. I got many compliments about the show and the kids got awesome pics holding the animals and having the boa around their necks. They made us make a rainy party day amazing and we made lasting memories we will remember forever. Even for those kids who didn’t care for snakes and reptiles, there were adorable bunnies and Guinea pigs for the kids to meet. I would definitely recommend this group to come to your party and would hire them again. They were reasonably priced compared to other prices I got. Thank you for everything yesterday! You helped make our daughters party so awesome!

The show that I visited was one of the most appalling things I've ever seen.
Kids were literally tackling the rabbit they had, putting all of their weight on the poor thing. They were flipping over little tortoises to look at their bellies, and holding them just above the ground to watch their legs paddle. One kid very narrowly crushed one of these turtles.
Both presenters handed anyone (even VERY little kids) any snake, be it an incredibly delicate hatchling or the 20 lb boa constrictor. At one point, someone dropped the huge boa and it make a B-line to the rabbit pen, squeezing itself halfway through before one presenter tore it back out again. That didn't stop them from handing it to another unsupervised 8-year-old again, though.
One presenter kept handing snakes to people in groups who were clearly finnicky around snakes and geckos, and were being pressured by their friends (and now this guy). He would put them around their necks, when the snake would typically raise its head to get a view of the surroundings, getting its face very close to these stiff, frightened people's faces. These people usually started yelling and freaking out and pass on the snake very quickly.
Little kids were draping the smaller, 3 ft snakes over their necks and holding their heads and tails strained so that they didn't try to reposition themselves.
I don't mean to blame these kids, of course. They probably haven't ever held a turtle or snake before... because these presenters never taught them! They hand them an animal and turn around. And even when they could clearly see the mishandling of their animals, they turned a blind eye.

At one point, one presenter pulled off shedding skin off of an albino leopard gecko to make it look better. This is something that you should NEVER do. To find dozens of articles that agree, google "Should I remove my gecko's shed skin?" Note: He tried no other methods of shed removal.
One person asked him if this was right (I'm sure they knew it wasn't), pulling off their shed skin and all, and he said "Oh yeah, once it's shedding, you can rip it off."

I asked the other presenter about why their crested gecko was missing their tail, to which she replied "When their juveniles they sometimes drop them. They don't come back." When I kept asking why it dropped it (as it's a very well-known fact that they drop them only when they're threatened), she finally told me that it was probably a kid at another event.
I repeatedly asked that same person the goals of the company, if they have a mission, or if they are involved in any conservation efforts. Aside from the boss's "rattlesnake rehab" (something that could totally be a separate thing, unaffiliated with Critter Connections), they don't do anything to help these species, and they don't have a mission other than "Well, people think that these reptiles are yucky, so we're trying to make them think that they aren't." (which means absolutely nothing).

They don't control the people visiting the animals, endangers both parties an ENORMOUS amount. Please don't invite them to a birthday party or event of any sort to discourage this.