Snakes Alive!

Students turn residence into virtual snake pit full of scaly companions

by la ll Johnson Semi11e/Rc11orter osl people wouldn ·1 feel nm1fortable ,1,ith a pct ,,:cighing aroun<l 200 pounc.b and easily capable of cru hing their rihsorchoking them. NIC ,tudenh Terri An,e l and Burk Little. however. have no hesitation in owning Uncle Buck, a I-I-foot. 180 pound Burmese python. Ansel and Little are called the ··snake People:· mid for gocxl rl!a!->on-thcy own 18 snakes ranging from 8 inch ldnho native ruhher boas to Uncle · Buck. The couple also has a pi ranha collec ti on. legless linmb. a mo nitor lizard. some birds. a ca t and dog. They said they co llect reptilc.!s bccau l! theylovcanimalsandlikcto..,tudythcm.

·The) 're actually rea lly cool pets:· Anse l said. They"re fun to have around:·

The Snake Peop le" arc majoring in commercial art.

An..,cl plans on going into the field of herpc1ology-the sllldy of amphibiam, an<l reptik!-.. Collecting reptile, for two and a ha lf years in Idaho. they started with ju,t one snake and now have up to 68 pets. Their first rep tile collectio n was too large for the ir apa rt ment and prompted n move to the ir current ho use dubbed the ··House of Death"' by a neighbor.

Snakes are feared ,me mi,undcrstood by many people, Anse l said. T he biggest mbconccp tions about them come fro m ig norance. Snakes are n· t slimy. co ld or caku lating kill ers. Ansel said.

An,e l expressed <lbgusl over th e movie "Anaconda." She said snakes are reactionary an imals and do11·1 have the i111c ll igence o r blood lust the movie portrays.

"Snakes have alway:-. gollc n a bad rep " Anse l sa id. "T hey're not the mom,tcr, the movies ma ke them out to be. If they' re handled properly they 111..ikc good pet but you 1mi:,,t respect their potential to he wild."

Snakes arc good pets for peop le with all ergic,. An:-.cl said. They're ea,y to maintai n bccau,;;e th ey ea t o nce every ot her week o r so, depe nding on the spec ies. They a lso req uire li tt le space and don't make any noise. Ansel sai d The ··Snake Peop le· enjoy s howing th eir co ll ection. They trave l to local schoo ls giving informative talks about rept il es. They·ve never had a negative mishap w hi le show ing th eir snakes.

On the con trary, Anse l sa id whil e disp lay in g some snakes in fro nt of the Coe ur d'Alene boardwalk someone approac hed them and said that the disp lay made their vacation the best ever. Ansel said th..it everyo ne who has seen the snakes enjoys the exper ience.

Coeur d'Alene has a law keep in g snake owner'.') from bringing their snake.., in public. This is ridiculous. An cl :-.aid. becau\c people can bring iguanas. which ani more aggressive than snakes to the park. Anse l and Little abo help othe rs buy and ,e ll snakes. They he lp pet stores wi th sick sna kes and are involved with some snake resc ues. Anse l is also working o n a book e nt itled 'The Pct Shop Repti le & Amph ibian Guide ..Some shops don't know a lot and have so me accidenta l death beca use of poor e nvironme nt al regu lation:· Ansel sa id. Someday the couple hopes to open a rept ile far m Th e ir far m wou ld have many different kin ds of rept il es in areas des igned specilically fo r th e ind ividua l species. Kids from local schoo ls cou ld be bussed in to sec wild animals in anenv ironment!'>uitedfortheminsteadof in cages, they said.