MONROE COUNTY CLARION (Columbia, Illinois) 29 March 08 Kinder College hosts snakes (Kevin Darr)
The snakes were slithering March 18 when Columbia Kinder College hosted reptile expert Larry Wurth and his traveling circus of serpents.
Forty seven children from 18 months to 5 years old witnessed the wide array of snakes Wurth had on display.
"It was a wonderful and amazing program," CKC director Karen Schlemmer said. "Larry was so good with the snakes and explaining and presenting them to the kids."
While ophidiophobes—or those afraid of snakes—were probably far away from the CKC, many of the children got over their fears rather quickly.
"In the beginning, a lot of the kids wouldn’t even pet them," Schlemmer said. "But by the end, many of them were holding the snakes."
With more than 20 snakes in his care, Wurth had plenty of material for the kids. One of his showstoppers was a 12 foot long Burmese python.
But besides the visual element of the presentation, Wurth was there to educate the children on what snakes live in the area and what to do when approaching them. He also taught the children the basics of snakes, like why they shed, how they lay eggs and the purpose of their fangs.
Schlemmer said she tries to have a program like this every other month for the students.
"It is a good change from the usual order of things," Schlemmer said. "They seemed to enjoy themselves and hopefully we can have more events like this in the future."
Kinder College hosts snakes