30th September 2019
My latest “Small Talk” video last week discussed the advantages I get from being around animals being Autistic. I starred in that video with a farm cat named “Tom”, who is an amazingly affectionate creature and great fun to be around. If you haven’t seen the video yet, you can find it here on my website. However, I also had a really amazing animal experience a few weeks ago with slightly less furry creatures…reptiles!
Whilst on holiday my wife and I attended a private three hour reptile experience, in which we got to meet several animals including lizards, snakes, frogs, spiders and tortoises. I am interested in all animals but reptiles are really cool. As a child I had the common interest in dinosaurs and I think part of that never goes away. Holding snakes and meeting lizards has therefore always been a special treat for me.
Like with cats and dogs, I find that being around them helps to ease my anxiety and reptiles are capable of showing just as much affection as animals that have fur and hair. During the experience, nearly all the lizards would move their heads towards you to let you stroke them. You could tell they appreciated the fuss just as much as any dog who rolls over for “belly rubs” does. I know that these sorts of animals are not to everyone’s taste, but if you have never been around them, I would suggest giving them a chance. Snakes were also part of the experience and this is a common phobia amongst people – I believe it is called “Ophidiophobia”. If you have this condition, then this experience is not for you, unless you are facing your fear.
From my Autistic point of view I thought the whole experience was outstanding. Firstly the guy running the experience was very knowledgable. Some Autistic people love to collect facts and figures, and with each reptile that was brought out for us to meet, a selection of stories, facts and figures were shared. For example, how to determine if a tortoise is male or female. I absorbed it all.
Secondly, it was calming to fuss the animals, stroke them, interact with them and just be around them. Autism often exists co-morbidly with other conditions such as anxiety. It is well known that animal contact can ease anxiety but often it is just “furry” animals such as cats and dogs that are thought of in this way. During the meeting of the reptiles, I could see that they were having the same affect on me. Like cats, lizards also stretch their heads upwards to be tickled under the chin or patted on the head.
If you have never handled snakes before, they have a really strong grip as they move around your hands applying quite some pressure. I know some Autistic people like deep pressure feelings, so I started to wonder if a snake would be a good pet for an Autistic person with this particular trait. I like weighted blankets and deep hugs from people I know (mainly my wife), but as beautiful as they are, a snake would not be an ideal pet for me. But for others it might be…. they are interesting creatures.
If you prefer your reptiles with legs, the iguanas that we were introduced to seemed to like to play games. Carefully placing grapes in certain places, they would follow the path of the food. This was fun to watch. I know a few Autistic people that would enjoy this activity with any sort of animal; cats, dogs and indeed lizards. If you combine this with the responsibility of looking after such creatures, feeding them, cleaning out their environments, I could see how this has the potential to turn into a special or intense interest for some Autistic people.
So overall I enjoyed the whole experience. In fact from my Autistic point of view, my only sensory issue was the heat – the room had to be quite warm for the reptiles. Once again I appreciate that on paper it might not sound appealing to everyone but as an experience for me it was awesome!