History of Snake Keeping

[YungRasputin]

this is an ongoing fascination of mine and i thought i could maybe drum up some new sources here but i am particularly fascinated about the history of modern snake keeping - which seems to extend to about 40-50 years in the sense of popular keeping of snakes within human society but i am also interested in finding earlier examples of the keeping of snakes whether it be private zoologists, private zoos, or who knows maybe even ancient rulers or something but if you have any sources on the keeping of snakes both in the modern sense and prior to the last 50 years most especially please post!

[YungRasputin]

my own source is the book i am currently reading about legendary zoologist and snake expert Raymond Ditmars - famous for both his discovery/work with bushmasters and also his documentaries/books - got his start by keeping wild caught snakes that he found around his boyhood home at about age 12 (source: Bushmaster: Raymond Ditmars and the Hunt for the World’s Largest Viper by Dan Eatherley) - which of course leads me to believe that this history is probably much older than 40-50 years since Ditmars died before the end of WW2 in 1942

[Bogertophis]

You might enjoy reading about Grace Olive Wiley- she was way outside the box (as bad examples go), but hey?

[YungRasputin]

You might enjoy reading about Grace Olive Wiley- she was way outside the box (as bad examples go), but hey?

just looked her up on wiki and ja i wouldn’t be bare handling mambas but she sounds like a hoot �� def want to find more about/from her!

[Bogertophis]

just looked her up on wiki and ja i wouldn’t be bare handling mambas but she sounds like a hoot �� def want to find more about/from her!

Just googling her name brings up many articles about her- I thought you'd enjoy- She was fired from her job as curator @ the Brookfield Zoo (Chicago); they said that letting her go was necessary as otherwise their insurance company would raise their rate well above her yearly salary. All things considered, it's impressive that she lived to age 65 doing that stuff, but yeah, I don't care to be cuddling mambas & such either. I have a strong inclination for pain aversion & self-preservation.

By the way, she started off NOT in snakes, but with a degree in entomology. What an interesting woman she was. I get a kick out of seeing her in photos- you'd never have guessed what she was into- it just shows you that appearances can be so deceiving.

[Bogertophis]

Here's another one: Dr. Karl Schmidt -felled by a boomslang in 1957, thought at the time to be fairly harmless. Oops. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEyjF2bNQOA

https://reptilesmagazine.com/the-dea...2027%2C%201957.

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And a few more notables to read up on-

Joseph Bruno Slowinski (November 15, 1962 – September 12, 2001) was an American herpetologist who worked extensively with elapid snakes.

Dieter Zorn- https://www.huffpost.com/entry/diete...bite_n_3478968

Robert Merten- ..."famed herpetologist Robert Merten documented his death by twig snake bite in his journal, which took 18 days to prove fatal. He wrote near the end that it was "the only appropriate demise for a herpetologist". Not sure I agree with that, lol.

[jmcrook]

Stolen World is a must read

[Bogertophis]

Stolen World is a must read

I'll second that, tks.

[paulh]

Raymond L. Ditmars: His Exciting Career With Reptiles, Insects and Animals by Laura Newbold Wood

People to check on:
Laurence Klauber (The Rattlesnakes), Clifford Pope (Snakes alive and how they live), H. B. "Bern" Bechtel (first bred amelanistic corns), Carl Kauffeld (Snakes and snake hunting), Ross Allen

Somewhere I read that the spotty distribution of aesculapian rat snakes in Europe could be correlated with temples to Aesculapius in the Roman Empire.

[paulh]

Men and snakes, by Desmond Morris, has stuff from centuries back and around the world.

The Chicago Herpetological Society, Northern Ohio Association of Herpetologists (NOAH) and other amateur groups were in existence and sending out newsletters 50+ years ago. Finding copies might be difficult, though.