HERALD-LEADER (Lexington, Kentucky) 25 August 08 Snakes beautiful, amazing to herpetologist (Jim Warren)
The first book report David Frost wrote in fourth grade was about the Australian death adder.
When he was 7 and attending church camp, Frost rescued some garter snakes that camp maintenance workers were about to kill, stuffing the reptiles into his Bible bag.
Today, snakes still are his hobby and his passion. Frost, 37, keeps more than a dozen snakes at his Lexington home, he runs a small sideline business raising and selling non-venomous snakes as pets, and he gives educational presentations about snakes to Boy Scouts and other groups.
”I honestly think snakes are the most amazing, beautiful animals on the planet,“ he said. ”It amazes me that anybody would ever want to kill them.“
Frost has a state permit to deal in snakes, he follows the rules, and he handles only harmless, captive-bred species that are permitted under Kentucky state law.
”I keep some snakes, but nothing that’s venomous and nothing in the boa or python families,“ he said. ”I just don’t think the average person is knowledgeable or careful enough to deal with them. And when people break the law it just makes the rest of us look bad.“
The later comment was a reference to last month’s sting operation in which Kentucky wildlife officers arrested 10 people on snake-trafficking charges and confiscated more than 100 venomous snakes. Authorities say the illegal trade in reptiles flourishes largely because of a few over-enthusiastic collectors who are willing to skirt the law to obtain large, exotic or dangerous snakes.
”I think that some of the people who break the law really don’t even like snakes,“ Frost said. ”They just want the attention they can get from having one, or they want to freak people out.
”When irresponsible people abuse the law, the government is going to step in sooner or later, which could ruin things for the rest of us. It’s very discouraging.“
Frost, who makes his living working in sales, says his small snake business is more about having fun than about making money.
He specializes in king snakes and milk snakes, which are popular as pets. Frost usually buys young snakes from breeders, raises them and then sells them at reptile shows. This year he plans to breed some of his own snakes for sale.
”I only buy captive-raised snakes from other breeders; I don’t take snakes out of the wild and keep them,“ he said. ”Mostly, what I like to do is educate people about snakes.“
Large numbers of people are horrified of snakes, but Frost thinks most of that fear stems from ignorance. Once they learn the facts, their fears usually subside.
And even people who are afraid of snakes often are curious about them.
Frost noted that when he recently threw a birthday party for his daughter, all of the kids and most of the adults who attended eventually wanted to see his snakes and learn about them.
”What gets me is that in Kentucky you’ll still see drivers deliberately swerve off the road to hit a snake,“ Frost said. ”What they don’t realize is that snakes are part of that natural life cycle for that particular area. When someone goes out of their way to kill a harmless snake they’re harming the whole ecosystem.“
Snakes beautiful, amazing to herpetologist