Sarah - we use time out in regards to Tom's hitting (yes he's one of 'those kids' at the moment ) and it works. At the moment we just have to say 'Do you want to spend some time in your room?" and he stops. If he does need to go into time out, we put him in his bedroom for 1 minute exactly (although it feels longer) and when he comes out we have a bit of quiet time explaining what he has done, then have a little cuddle. It seems to work well. His hitting has really stopped, except in moments of extreme frustration. Good luck with your brown snake - I was freaking out when I read it on FB!