It all started about five years ago when my brother had gotten me a job at the zoo. My whole life I had never really been interested in snakes, I had always thought that they were useless and served no interest to me what so ever. My entire life I had always had a love for animals and wanted to go to vet nary school so I could always be around animals, so Harold had given me a chance to become a zoo keeper.
I worked at the Scotch Plains Zoo for three and a half years before it was closed down do to lack of money. While I had worked there I had become to love snakes and thought that were amazing creatures. This love grew to where I started taking in snakes that people didnt want as pets anymore so I would care for them. I started out with two constrictors one blood python and one red tailed boa. I still have both of these snake today the python is 7ft and ninety pounds and the boa is 5 feet and about fifty pounds. At first my parents were going to have a heart attack but they accept it now.
While I was working at the zoo I applied to take the test for caring for exotic and endangered animals. It had taken forever to get my permits and even with them it is still hard to purchase a lot of animals. When I moved out of my house and got my own place I wanted to start a breeding program for venomous snakes for other zoos in the country. I dont sell my snakes to them I just donate them so other people can see and learn from them that they are not Satans creatures and are quite docile.
The first snake that I had purchased was a horned pit viper (which had taken me about 5 months to get. I had to hand build all my enclosures due to the fact that each snake needs different humidity, light and enclosure space. As time gone by I had gotten two more breeding pairs one russels viper and one death adder. The two vipers have a high potency of venom but nothing like the death adder, plus the death adder has one nasty attitude problem. The death adder is the third most venous snake in the world and if it did bite me I would only have 10 minutes to inject myself wit the anti-venom or I would be dead, and even with the anti serum I would still be hospitalized for some time.
At my house I keep all three pairs of snakes in the basement all in separate enclosures. I can only put the males and females together at mating season or they could fight(snakes can sometimes be cannibals). It is funny when my roommates come home even to this day they check every night that each snake is in its cage( I guess I cant blame them though ) but they have accepted it and are starting to get use to it. In the future I plan to get one more breeding pair I am just no sure which ones I want yet.
Over the past year I have gotten calls from several zoos that asked if they could have the hatchlings. So far you can see my snakes at the Poconos game far, Bronx Zoo, LA zoo, Columbus Zoo, and The South Carolina Alligator Farm. I do what I do not for the purpose of having venomous snakes but to show others that you dont really have much to fear from snakes unless you provoke them. People like I was are afraid of something that they shouldnt be, a snake is not going to come and attack you but more of the less try to get away from you as fast as they can. I think that everyone that is afraid of snakes should hold one just one time to realize that there is really nothing to fear but I also do not mean to go out there and pick up a venomous snake that would be stupid, but to go out and conquer there fears.
