CALAVERAS ENTERPRISE (San Andreas, California) 20 June 07 For Arnold man, snakes are more than just reptiles. (Kate Gonzales)
David Schmedes shares his passion for reptiles in the classroom. Enterprise photo by Kate GonzalesIn Arnold, one man’s best friend is no dog at all.
David Schmedes, owner of David L. Schmedes Heating and Air Conditioning in Arnold, has had a fascination with reptiles since he was a little boy.
He grew up with his family in Campbell, an area surrounded with orchards and creeks where Schmedes would catch blue belly lizards and little snakes.
When he was 5, Schmedes’ mom purchased his first snake from a pet shop.
“That was really a dumb thing on her part,” Schmedes said, “because I became obsessed.”
Being the fourth out of five boys, Schmedes’ parents were very understanding of his reptile fascination.
The snakes would roam freely around the house, Schmedes said. “So they’d turn up at real opportune times in bad places.”
One example is when Schmedes’ parents had a party at their house and one of his pets slithered up the side of an occupied chair. “I got a lecture about that,” Schmedes said.
When he was in high school, his family moved to Santa Cruz and Schmedes lost an interest in reptiles.
“I got into other things,” he said, like motorcycles, sports and girls.
Schmedes moved to Arnold in 1989 after visiting with a friend.
“I came up here twice, “he said,”...fell in love with it, sold everything and moved.”
He worked as a heating and air conditioning contractor for 10 years in Santa Cruz, and continued his career in Arnold. When Schmedes’ daughter, Jessica, was about 10, she asked him for a snake. She didn’t know about her father's long lost relationship with the animals.
“That day I gutted the guest room, and built her...a cage,” he remembered. He bought her an African ball python, which she named Nasado.
“I told her, 'that’s too big of a cage,'" he said of the large cage. "'You need more snakes,'” so he started collecting again.
Today, Schmedes owns 30 reptiles-18 snakes, 11 monitor lizards and one rhinoceros iguana. Many of the animals reside in his heating and air conditioning business.
“Some people will not step in that front door,” Schmedes said. But he insisted the animals are no threat.
“They’re just my babies,” he said. “I’m not a dog lover!”
Sometimes while working at night, Schmedes said, one snake will roam around his work desk while another sits in his lap.
Schmedes recently started American Reptile, a business that teaches people all about reptiles. Schmedes, handler Ixaque Hume and Yvonne Torburn-Clark all take care of the animals and travel around California to parties, schools, camps and other educational venues.
Although holding is not allowed at presentations, people are welcome to pet some of the friendlier animals.
One thing Schmedes emphasized is that reptile maintenance is a lot of time, responsibility and money.
“I have an incredible PG&E bill,” he said. He has special lights, cage heating, humidifiers and pools he has to pay for every month.
Many children are impressed by the giant, foreign snakes and lizards Schmedes shows. He insists that owning them is not a macho thing.
“I don’t want anything to do with that,” he said. “These are just my personal pets.”
Recently Abby, a 16-foot Albino Burmese python, had 17 of her estimated 50 eggs hatch. Half are Albino Burmese and the other half are regular Burmese pythons like their father, Peja. Schmedes plans to sell some of the babies to local snake lovers and keep the others.
His snakes come from all over, many of them rescue cases. Zillers, a Savannah monitor lizard, was being starved and swung by the tail by his former owners. When he was given to Schmedes, Zillers had a broken tail.
“And yet, after all that, he turned out to be the sweetest thing on the planet,” he said.
“They all have different personalities,” Schmedes said, “just like we do.”
For more information, visit americanreptile.com.
For Arnold man, snakes are more than just reptiles.