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Africa-Viper collector says he has ‘special connec
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by tigers9 on January 24, 2009
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How can he remember what happened to him when he was 6 months old??/ That is bizarre...
Z
http://www.weekendpost.co.za/main/2009/01/17/life/lf03_17012009.htm
Viper collector says he has ‘special connection‘
Yolandé Hayward
IT all began in infancy for a Port Elizabeth snake lover. Graeme Eagle-Claw was only six months old when he had his first encounter with a snake and now, 34 years later, he is a passionate viper collector with about 100 pet snakes in his collection – a large clan that he prefers to think of as “family”.
Eagle-Claw, from Walmer Downs, said his love for reptiles began one day under a tree in Zimbabwe.
He was only six months old at the time and was lying in his pram when a snake “approached” him.
He said he immediately connected with the snake.
“As soon as I was able to walk, I started collecting lizards and spiders and so on.”
His love for these creatures did not go down well with his family at first, but “they accepted it after a while”.
It was only later on in his life that he started collecting snakes and these days he mainly focuses on venomous ones.
He has about 100 in his collection and, because it is now breeding season, he is expecting to have close to 200 in the near future.
Eagle-Claw said his love for snakes had to do with a “special connection” he shared with the reptiles.
“I connect better with snakes than I do with people. They (the snakes) are the reason I get up in the morning.”
The reason most people did not share his love of the of snakes and other slithery reptiles, was because the creatures were mightily “misunderstood”.
People perpetuated the fear through their attitudes, he said. “Parents drive the fear of snakes into their children with horror stories about them.”
The key to changing people‘s opinions about snakes, according to Eagle-Claw, was education.
His plans for the future include exactly this.
He said he would like to share the knowledge that he had acquired over the years through self-study and interaction with snakes, with others.
Eagle-Claw admits his interaction with snakes has not always been problem-free.
He has been bitten a few times by agitated snakes and, on occasion, ended up in hospital. This, however, has not been enough to dent his love of the reptiles.
“I don‘t see snakes as my pets, they are more like my family.”
Eagle-Claw also found it very difficult to choose his favourite snake.
“I do like the spotted bush snake as it changes its colour like a chameleon. I also like the anchitae cobra, because it does not back down from a fight.”
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RE: Africa-Viper collector says he has ‘special co
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by FSB on January 26, 2009
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The article could be misleading... perhaps someone else, like his parents, related the incident to him. I had much the same type of experience. We have some old 8mm home movies of myself as a toddler playing with an enormous black rat snake named Atlas who was a family pet. And on a family trip to New Hampshire when I was 3, my father had to intervene in a tug-of-war between myself and a timber rattlesnake that was, fortunately, trying to get down a hole. I reportedly had a very delighted grip on the buzzing tail. My parents laugh about it... now.
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