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I think EVERYONE involved with snakes should know of this guy!

This is a photo from ten years ago, when my girlfriend, her daughter and I went to visit Bill Haast's facility in Punta Gorda, Florida.................as you might have already guessed, I'm the guy wearing the Lampropeltis shirt!..LOL!

The ol' boy is pushing 100 years now!

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Hey Doug, thanx for the memories! I was a kid in Miami and went waaaay down south to the Serpentarium every birthday to see him in action. There's another picture of Bill on Joe Forks site also.
What a great guy.
Jeff

That's too funny Jeff!,......I also went there several times as a kid with my parents, and once with my grandmother in the late 60's, and early 70's. My mom bought me Bill's book ~Cobras in His Garden~ that Bill autographed for me for my 14th birthday in 1974. I loved going to that place,....man, it was awesome when he broke out those huge King Cobras,....one was around 11 ft., and the other about 14 ft. in length!.

I also remember seeing that huge estuarine crocodile that years later killed that boy when he fell into the pit. I think it's name was "Stumpy", or something like that, because he had a huge portion of his tail missing that he bit off HIMSELF!. That thing was a giant monster probably near 4 ft. across!

Glad you had some good memories of the old Serpentarium as well.

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Great stuff Doug. Amazing how the old fella keeps up -- he's doing something right. Piggybacking on the whole pioneer thing, I went back to the Staten Island Zoo last year after many many years, and snapped some pics of the great Carl Kauffeld's office intact just as it was wayyy back then in the 60's and early 70's. Lots of memoirs are on display such as journal entries, photos, preserved specimens in jars, and even his home-made snake hooks. One of the best rattlesnake collections in a single zoo (which is painfully small by the way. The highlight IS the reptile house, lol).

Jerry Kruse

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Hey Jerry!,.......that's cool stuff as well!, Carl was another "old-timer" that really knew his way around snakes.

As to your question about Bill,....I think I heard from someone that he no longer milks the snakes himself, due to his hands not being what they once were. They are pretty messed up from all those bites he took over the years. But I think he still runs his facility.

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Hey Doug,

Good morning! I recall seeing Bill's hands in numerous documentaries that featured the Serpentarium, and I often wondered if his hands were more a result of the trauma he'd endured from multiple envenomations versus becoming more aged. Either way, I'm sure he lives the kind of life many of us would want -- making a decent living while in the company of herps day in/day out. I've often had that closet fantasy, lol. Anyway, I think it's a nice thread so far and hope that more of us can share some kind of experience or expression regarding the men/women that preceded many and had an impact on the industry/hobby that leads us to where we are today. Could be captive breeding efforts, conservation endeavors, research initiatives, you name it.

Jerry Kruse

It's funny you mentioned all that, because as a kid growing up, I too always wanted to do what he did. Obviously, that never materialized for me..LOL!, but I can say snakes have ALWAYS been a big, pleasurable part of my life, so not all was lost. It's funny, I couldn't even imagine life without a room full of snakes!

best regards, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Great post....The Nature program on PBS did a show about venom not too long ago and it featured Bill Haast in the first part of it...I show it to my students every year and tell them about Haast...they are fascinated by this guy. As a kid, like a lot of us old guys, I read all of Kaffelds books. Many years later I found an old copy of Snakes and Snake Hunting in a old book store for $2.oo. I have a quote from the book on my site covering Okeetee Corns.
Scott John Reptiles