Snake show charms children

Ed Ferrer, also known as “Snakehead Ed,” showed a variety of critters at the “Snakes of Planet Earth: A Live Animal Show” one-day program on Tuesday at WonderLab Museum of Science, Health and Technology.

One girl exclaimed at the top of her voice when Ferrer pulled a corn snake out of a cotton bag.

“You guys are easy,” Ferrer said to the group of delighted children when he showed the first and smallest reptile.

Ferrer taught middle school science for 32 years and has been coming to WonderLab as a presenter for some time since his retirement.

“I love going back to school,” Ferrer said. “I don’t care whether it’s kinder-care, elementary, middle school or college classes.”

The last and largest of the snakes Ferrer showed, an albino Burmese python, weighed 100 pounds and required four people to hold it.

Most of the chairs were full, with kids sitting on mats around the front of the audience of roughly 80 people.

It was a typical turnout for a live animal show at the museum, said Karen Jepson-Innes, associate director of WonderLab.

But this time of year is especially busy for the science museum.

Last week was the busiest WonderLab has ever seen.

“We’ve had record attendance,” Jepson-Innes said. “We have families coming in all over the state and the region throughout pretty much the entire second half of March and the beginning of April.”

Each snake was kept in a breathable cotton bag with a rubber band tied around the top, or in the case of the two biggest reptiles, large coolers with duct tape securing the lid.

Snakes prefer the dark, Ferrer said.

Indiana is home to four venomous snakes, Ferrer said.

Two live in the area: copperheads, which Ferrer said are fairly common, and timber brown snakes, which are endangered.

Most venoms from snakes in the area can be treated easily with a trip to the hospital, Ferrer said.

The museum makes an effort to bring in a diversity of presenters.

It invites “Snakehead Ed” every one or two years.

The snakes are particularly popular, Jepson-Innes said.

“Live animals are a really popular way for people to engage with science and biology,” Jepson-Innes said.