Children mesmerized by snakes, charmer

SALISBURY — “I’ll tell you a secret about the corn snake,” Adam Harris said to a room full of small children and their parents.

“It doesn’t eat corn,” he continued in an exaggerated whisper.

As he was holding one, and it wasn’t eating corn, nobody disputed his claim.

Harris, from the Harris in Wonderland pet shop in Avon, brought several other snakes, plus a bearded dragon, a tree chameleon and a very large frog, to the Scoville Memorial Library on Saturday, Aug. 20.

It was the first event in the new children’s area in the lower level of the library, and extra chairs were needed to accommodate the crowd.

Harris, an energetic and engaging fellow, had the children’s attention from the outset.

Briskly informing them that the corn snake is partial to corn fields (hence the name) and does the farmer a favor by eating rodents, he then moved to a ball python, which curls itself into a ball when threatened.

The snake does this so well it’s hard to tell where its head is.

After a couple of attempts, Harris was able to coax the snake into assuming the position, more or less.

He took the opportunity to debunk the notion, popular among area fly-fishermen (among others) that snakes are evil aggressive creatures just waiting to feast on unwary humans.

“Snakes are shy creatures,” he said. “They’ll roll up in a ball, or run and hide. They are afraid of anything bigger than them.”

The bearded dragon, who could star in “The Creature from the Yellow Lagoon” if there were such a movie, is a native of the Australian desert. Harris said the dragon is used to temperatures well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the recent spell of 90-plus degree days didn’t impress it.

The dragon, perched on Harris’ arm, had a decidedly placid demeanor.

“Is it alive?” asked a little girl.

“Oh, he is alive,” replied Harris. “But I have him specially mesmerized.”

The tree chameleon was definitely alive. Not one of your thumb-sized specimens who occupy their time charging about in ponds, the tree chameleon, in profile, looked a bit like a horned dinosaur — until it hung from the handy stick by the prehensile tail, something you rarely see horned dinosaurs doing.

The tree chameleon changes color readily — but not for purposes of camouflage.

The color is indicative of the animal’s mood. Dark is bad, light is good.

When Harris removed the chameleon from the enclosure, it was a dark green.

But after a few minutes out and about, it assumed a summery lime green hue.

Patiently waiting its turn was an African bull frog.

In repose, it was about the size of a softball, with legs.

But the creature can blow itself up to volleyball size, as a way of discouraging predators.

“Anyone want to kiss him, see if he turns into a prince?”

There were no takers.

Nine times out of 10, demonstrations such as Harris’ elicit a chorus of “eww” from children.

This group, however, asked questions, such as the difference between reptiles and amphibians.

Nary an “eww” was uttered.