(continued from page 113) Zoe Allaire is a playground for her three bearded dragons. She also owns a seven-foot boa constrictor named Rocky Balboa and a blue iguana named Beans. She likes fur as well, as the owner of a dog and a cat, but has a special affinity for scales.
RAVI NG A BOU T
REPTILES
TALLAHASSEE RESIDENTS OPT FOR SCALES OVER FEATHERS AND FUR
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STORY BY ROCHELLE KOFF
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THREE-YEAR-OLD SELVA DAMELIO was nonchalant as her pet, Persephone, wrapped itself around her arm like a colorful piece of jewelry. Named for the Greek goddess of vegetation and the underworld, Persephone is a small, harmless corn snake that will eventually grow to four or five feet in length. “She’s smooth,” Selva said. Her brother, Quin, 7, was equally as confident as he held Iris, his Brazilian rainbow boa. “Her forked tongue is really cool,” he said. “For kids, snakes are a perfect pet,” said Selva and Quin’s dad, Mickey Damelio. “They don’t smell, and they have no fur. Persephone is fine if she’s held, and if she was never held again, it wouldn’t bother her.” The Damelios are among the growing number of families raving about reptiles. “The interest in reptiles is incredible,” said Vanessa Lane, who owns geckos and snakes and is an assistant professor of wildlife ecology and management at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Ga. Snakes, in particular, have many fans. But that wasn’t always the case. The maligned animals have faced an image problem since time immemorial. For starters, there was that sneaky serpent that tempted Eve with an apple in the Garden of Eden. Modern culture hasn’t always been kind, either: How can we forget the horrific basilisk in the second Harry Potter novel or Samuel L. Jackson with all those scary “Snakes on a Plane”? Yet snakes are just one type of coldblooded creature that is getting a warmer welcome. Tortoises and lizards — particularly bearded dragons and geckos — are also in demand. In 1996, an estimated 2.5 million U.S. households owned one or more reptiles, according to The American Pet Products Association, a not-for-profit trade group for a multibillion-dollar industry. Ten years later, in 2016, the group reported that an estimated 4.7 million households had a reptile in it.
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like bugs or spiders or whatever by parents. It more or less stays with people most of their lives unless they make a special effort to get over it.” He said that antipathy has decreased over the past few decades, as the public has become more educated and knowledgeable — especially with more televised nature shows focusing on reptiles. Still, when a cobra escapes someone’s home or headlines focus on pythons living in the Everglades, fears intensify. In March, a two-foot-long suphan cobra escaped from the home of an Ocala man licensed to handle venomous reptiles. At the time, the snake was under the watch of an apprentice who was not yet licensed to handle them. Florida requires anyone who possesses venomous snakes to be licensed, pay a fee of $100 and meet caging requirements. They must also prove that they’ve received at least 1,000 hours of experience for each type of reptile they own and submit to yearly inspections. Currently, there are about 300 individuals and facilities in Florida licensed by the FWC to own venomous reptiles/conditional species. Forrester Chance Gwaltney, of Wakulla County, is one of them, licensed to keep venomous snakes, including a few rattlesnakes and a four-foot cobra, all bred and raised in captivity. Gwaltney said that most problems involving snakes “are caused by a small number of people who acquire snakes illegally and end up doing something stupid that shines a bad light on everyone else.” A former placekicker and punter for the FSU football team (1998– 2003), Gwaltney has been an advocate for reptiles since he was a child, and his dad caught and nearly killed a hognose snake. Gwaltney talked his father into letting him keep it. Its saliva can cause swelling, Gwaltney said, but it’s not toxic for humans. Although Gwaltney loves his venomous reptiles, he never underestimates their power. “I respect them, and I know what I can do and what I shouldn’t do,” he said. “I’ve never been bitten, and I don’t plan on it.” While venomous snakes make up a small portion of the pet population, their impact does trickle down to all reptile owners, said Hale. “You’ve got the more dangerous realm of reptiles — venomous snakes and larger pythons — and when anything happens with them, it starts