Reptiles for reading: Fan-favorite snake show returns for summer program at library

It was the reptiles’ time to shine, and the crowd was not disappointed. 

The Laurens County Library hosted a reptile show as an event for the Summer Reading Program. It featured Jason Clark from Southeastern Reptile Rescue, and the event took place on Wednesday, June 11.

The show featured several different types of snakes ranging from Kingsnakes to Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes. There were even fake snakes that popped out of one of the containers at one point as a joke to scare one of the adults that volunteered. The program consisted of Clark sharing how reading got him even more interested into the world of reptiles and, more specifically, snakes. He got one of the children to volunteer, and they got to hold the black rat snake that Clark brought to the show.

“I remember when I was a kid I came to the Summer Reading Program, and they didn’t have anything like this when I was a kid as far as the snake stuff, I would have loved that,” Clark says. “Having that, being able to provide that for the kids is really cool, because it gets to show them that there are different kinds of jobs out there then just what they normally see in everyday life.”

He also made sure to keep it entertaining in other ways than simply showing off the reptiles and giving facts about them. He would slip in jokes or comedic movements into the show to keep the children’s attention, and he also did surprising things that made the audience members jump. That being said, he also stressed that everyone follow the rules for their own safety and the snakes’ safety. He made sure that all of the audience understood that they should not try to catch or kills snakes at home, and that if they leave the snakes alone, the snakes will do the same for them. 

Clark emphasizes that leaders are readers. He said he used to read as many books about reptiles as he could, and eventually when he was in seventh grade he called the police department to offer them his services. 

He says that snakes and alligators are his favorite types of reptiles to work with, but his position requires extensive knowledge of all types of reptiles. He mainly works with venomous snakes that are native to the southeastern United States. 

He also talked extensively about not trusting rumors about animals just because people have heard them their whole life. Throughout the show, he would get the audience members to answer questions that were commonly associated with false answers that have been passed down through generations. He used these false answers to show the truth about the snakes and reptiles and how important they are to medicine, healthcare and the ecosystems of the world. 

“Any subject that you are looking at, don’t just go on what you’ve always heard. Because if you go on what you always heard, as you saw today, most of what people have heard about snakes, most of it is false,” Clark says. “And that can be true about a lot of things, especially things that are scary. So just because you’ve always heard something doesn’t mean there is any truth to it.”

The next event at the library will be the dance group La Candela Flamenco with “The Colors of Flamenco” on Wednesday, June 18, at 2 p.m. People planning to attend are encouraged to show up slightly early to secure a parking spot, as they fill up quickly on event days.