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Hernando Today

Snake Enthusiast Calls For Public Education

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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: October 21, 2008

SPRING HILL - Florida's critters are harder to come by as urban sprawl sterilizes the landscape.
But don't be fooled into thinking that they're not around, says Jim Mendenhall.
Mendenhall, 65, is the go-to guy for first responders when they encounter anything bigger than a black racer or a common variety garter snake.
In the past month, he has rescued rattlesnakes from under a porch on Neff Lake Road and from the upscale Silverthorn neighborhood. From his perspective, the snakes are only sharing their habitat with the intruders that invaded their territory.
But then, he would think that.
Mendenhall has been fooling around with snakes since he was a little boy growing up in Miami. His earliest experience was the day he picked up a 42 1/2-inch coral snake, stuffed it in his pocket and brought it home.
When his mom saw the snake — which has venom four times stronger than a cobra's — "she panicked," Mendenhall says laughing.
That day they delivered the snake to a local "serpentarium," where Mendenhall would later spend his teen-age years learning more about the reptiles. By age 14, he had a collection of 800 poisonous snakes.
While other kids were mowing lawns, he was earning his pocket change by milking snakes for anti-venom.
Over the years his reptile collection has fluctuated, but today he averages between 30 and 40 snakes. Many are animals he has rescued when cops or firefighters respond to an animal complaint and discover a venomous snake.
That was the case when he recently retrieved a 4-foot rattlesnake that was hiding under a work bench in a woman's garage. He's also rescued a 6 1/2-foot diamondback from under a woman's bed.
His hobby doesn't pay much, so Mendenhall has taught himself through the years how to treat and repair his snakes. One way he does that is by freezing the organs of his deceased snakes for later comparison to a snake killed on the road.
His purpose now is not to turn a profit, but to educate the public on how to identify poisonous snakes and their habits.
Snakes have been misunderstood and scorned for millennia, Mendenhall said. He cites a study that used a rubber snake and gopher tortoise to gauge how motorists would react to their presence on their road. People actually changed lanes to run over the animals, he said.
It's that kind of attitude he hopes to change when he takes his snakes on the road for educational shows. There are success stories. He recalls a woman who would not even look at a picture of a snake at the beginning of his presentation and was touching them by the time he left.
Better understanding will not only save snakes' lives, but humans' as well.
A snake's first instinct is to flee from human contact, but they will strike if they feel there is no other escape.
"They don't have arms to throw a rock at you," Mendenhall said. "Biting is their only defense."
His last bite came from a water moccasin that accidently fell on the floor. He compares the pain to someone repeatedly slamming a vault door on his finger. With anti-venom costing roughly $9,000 a vial, his hospital bill came out to $63,000.
Mendenhall shrugs it off as an acceptable hazard for doing what he loves.
"These animals are amazing," he said.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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