Kids explore snakes at Wonderlab

“Red touches yellow, kill a fellow. Red touches black, you’re OK, Jack,” said Snakehead Ed, otherwise known as Ed Ferrer, while holding a large snake and explaining how to tell a venomous snake from its nonvenomous counterparts.\nFerrer’s message was one of many about the legless reptiles during the “Red Before Black: A Live Snake Presentation” on Saturday at WonderLab.\nFerrer brought 10 of his 21 snakes to the science museum for three presentations this weekend. This event is one of three animal shows WonderLab is hosting this month.\n“It’s a passion I have because it’s my way of helping out nature,” Ferrer said. “We’re killing their natural habitat, and if I can do something to educate others so they’re aware that they need help, then I’ve done my job.”\nStaci Radford-Vincent, programs manager for WonderLab, said Ferrer was able to clear up a lot of misconceptions people have about snakes.\n“Ed’s very positive about the animals,” she said. “Yes, they can be dangerous, but it gives kids an opportunity to see someone handle snakes.”\nAs the presentation went on, Ferrer pulled bigger and bigger snakes out of bags. As he rolled a large red cooler duct-taped closed to the front of the room, he asked for three adult volunteers. Soon, Ferrer pulled out Melvin, an Albino Burmese Python that is 14 feet long and weighs 95 pounds.\n“It’s so hard to describe because it’s so heavy and it’s like this constantly moving bag of mice,” Bloomington resident Erin Fleser said, explaining what it was like to hold Melvin. “It was really amazing to hold something this large. It’s kind of like a football, but warm and moving.”\nFleser brings her two kids to WonderLab two to three times a month and has seen Snakehead Ed perform before at the Monroe County Public Library.\n“I love snakes,” said Ian Fleser, her 7-year-old son. “They should really have a chance to live, not just wipe them out.”\nFerrer has been doing presentations about snakes for about three years. In his previous job as a teacher, he had 18 snakes in his classroom to fuel his students’ interest in science. He now travels all around the state to schools, libraries, birthday parties and to Boy and Girl Scout troops. He has even brought his presentation to the The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Ferrer has 50 presentations scheduled for the next two months.\n“Teachers are normally good presenters,” Ferrer said. “The PTA groups at the middle school wanted me to come ... I’m trying to tell people what snakes are really like, otherwise they will think what they see in the movies (is real).”\nThis is WonderLab’s second animal presentation this month. It usually holds its animal presentations in the spring to give children and their families something to do during spring break, Radford-Vincent said. Last week, it brought in a bobcat from the Exotic Feline Rescue Center, and next week, WildCare Inc. will bring in a barred owl and an eastern cottontail rabbit to show predator-prey relationships.