05/27/2026
Finally. I believe it has come together.
I’ve been pretty stoked as the summer approaches, as I have come up with several “enhancements” for my program. I’ve been practicing in classrooms and parties over the past few weeks, and since the latest enhancement arrived just a couple of days ago, it won’t undergo the audience test until Friday, during the last two programs before my summer schedule begins.
These “enhancements” are nothing more than some visual and audio gags, and of course, a couple of animals that are either new or haven’t been used in a couple of years.
I fed the snakes a few days ago, and I’m pleased to report that the small one-eyed python is eating more consistently, and has undergone a shed. After several unsuccessful attempts at feeding the viper boa, it finally ate as well.
Which brings me to why I acquired the viper boa in the first place. As I alluded in a previous post, the reason will be construed as controversial by some. Not a lot, but some.
I intend to discourage other people, especially youngsters, from handling dangerously venomous reptiles in an obviously unsafe manner. It’s called “free-handling,” and unfortunately, in some reptile circles, it seems to be controversial.
It may be because my social media timeline is crowded with a bunch of snake posts and videos, but I see it every single day. It’s with rattlesnakes, copperheads, water moccasins, cobras, king cobras, Gaboon vipers… people (usually young men) being videoed or photographed handling these snakes (as well as Gila monsters and beaded lizards) without restraining the animal in a way that would prevent a bite.
Why? I don’t know. I guess it’s cool. I imagine there’s an adrenaline rush. They might even believe that they “know” their animal, or that it “trusts” them. It doesn’t make sense to me that one would literally risk their life for a few comments or “likes” on social media.
So I’m not going to tell adults not to do it. With some of these folks, you’re not going to change their minds anyway. But I will tell you why I don’t do it, and why I will discourage that type of handling, particularly in young, inexperienced handlers.
Every time a handler is bitten by an exotic venomous reptile, or if it escapes, it has a tendency to make the news, and it puts everyone in the hobby in a bad light. Legislators try to pass laws that affect everyone who keeps reptiles and other exotics. Insurance rates go up. My annual business insurance, despite having never have had an incident, DOUBLED from around $1,300 a year to over $2,800 last year, not-so coincidentally after the Liebowitz/taipan incident in Florence in 2024.
I have so much more respect for venomous snakes and their venoms than I did when I was younger. I’ve seen the effects of the bites. I don’t see anything “cool” about going into renal failure, losing most of your back teeth or half of your hand, or acquiring immense medical debt. Nope. Nothing cool about that at all, no matter how many “likes” you get. And that’s not even considering the suffering and worry that your family and loved ones will endure.
I hold the view that freehandling dangerously venomous animals is foolhardy and unwise, and it sets a poor example. Knowledge is knowing something; wisdom is applying that knowledge in the right way. If you know that an animal can hurt or kill you with a bite, then handling that animal in an unsafe manner is unwise. Sounds logical to me.
Beyond that, EVERYONE is an “influencer.” I had never considered myself as one, but if any of us interact with others, we have the capability to influence. Since my primary audiences are children, who are so often impressionable, I must take my potential as an influencer seriously. If I had a dollar for every time a parent has sent me a picture of one of their children pretending to do a Critter Keeper show after one of my programs, I could totally buy another viper boa. But I do worry that one day, a child or teen is going to watch a reel of someone with a rattlesnake or a copperhead and think to themselves, “That’s cool. I can do that.” And I worry about the potential consequences.
I’m not too worried about the influence cast by Timothy Treadwell and his overconfidence around bears. I’m not overly concerned about the influence of Siegfried and Roy and their overconfidence with their “pet” tigers. And I’m even grateful that Liebowitz survived the taipan bite, but I’m disappointed that he didn’t learn from his experience, because he’s back at it.
So, this summer, that’s where the viper boa comes in. It looks venomous, but it’s not, and you’ll know that by the way I’m handling it. Sure, there will be some implied peril, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that I don’t need a venomous snake for a Critter Keeper program to be exciting.
Brutella, my Mexican beaded lizard, will help with that. I recently began using her again - she’s had a bit of a hiatus since the acquisition of the sailfin dragon - And she will be handled, but as always, she’ll be handled with caution, care, a hook, and most importantly, respect.
It’s my hope that I can continue to influence our youth to treat all animals similarly.
