Romulus Whitaker

“Luckily there were no venomous snakes around Hoosick, N.Y., so I amassed quite a collection of milk snakes, garters, ribbons and ring-necked snakes.”

“I'd like to make it very clear that getting bitten by a venomous snake is dumb, clumsy and nothing to be proud of.”

“I spent my childhood in northern New York State, and like many kids, bugs and other critters fascinated me.”

“Years ago, it was pretty hard to get people to empathize even a little bit with scaly, cold-blooded critters; now, thanks a lot to good PR from television, it is easier to get the message of reptile conservation and tolerance across. We have a lot to be thankful to reptiles for, not the least of which is their control of rodents.”