Cuddly creatures, they're not.
But in Brevard County, 14 people and two establishments have permission from the state to keep some of the most exotic and dangerous pets around: venomous reptiles.
"Conservation, that's my key," said Mark Lucas, a building inspector and code-enforcement officer for the city of Melbourne who keeps a native 6-foot eastern diamondback rattlesnake and an eyelash viper as pets, along with a blue-eyed Australian shepherd. "I like to preserve them. They're heavily persecuted."
Experts say venomous snakes from the world's far-flung regions are some of nature's most beautiful and intriguing pets. Never far from that fascination, though, is respect for the inherent risks.
Snake handler Colin Plum, 35, last month was bitten on the crown of his head by a deadly black mamba at Snake Getters, a licensed organization set up in a home on McClain Drive in a residential area of West Melbourne. A pet store called Incredible Pets in Melbourne is the county's other organization with a venomous-reptile license, though the store doesn't currently handle any. No venomous snakes are kept at the Brevard Zoo.
Plum was flown to Miami for treatment and survived, but not before experiencing tingling in his hands, lips and fingers -- a sure sign the snake's toxins were having an effect, according to an incident report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Although Plum does not possess a venomous reptile license, he has more than the minimum amount of experience required by the state, Snake Getters' owner Tanith Tyrr-Hirai said. As long as the facility has a permit to handle the venomous snakes, a handler working at such a place under the supervision of a licensee is operating legally, she said.
Snake Getters is an informal network of herpetologists who focus on venomous snake research, rescue and rehabilitation, according to its Web site. The facility has an "Adopt a Mamba" program, through which donors are kept updated with pictures and progress reports of their reptilian adoptee. The facility receives about 20 mambas a year; most come injured and battered, with fractured jaws and ribs, through the wildlife trade, Tyrr-Hirai said.
"This is not a case of playing with the animal. The animal had been handled very frequently. It rehabilitated into full health," she said. "They're beautiful, magnificent creatures that deserve protection."
Marjorie Moe, who lives two houses down from Snake Getters, seems unfazed.
"I don't have a problem, except if there's a hurricane and they escape," she said. "I'm a little queasy if they ever get loose . . ."
Nancy Duggan also lives nearby and, unlike her neighbors, she does has a problem.
"I think they should be illegal. They're pretty scary. Just the thought of having a venomous snake around . . . everyone around here has children," she said. "I think anybody who keeps them as a pet should be fined. Put them in the zoo."
'Learn each other'
Such a hard line almost took effect in 1994.
Lucas went head-to-head with the city of Melbourne when officials considered outlawing captive venomous snakes within the city limits. The measure never went through.
Today, he enjoys the company of his 15-year-old rattlesnake, Fat Momma, named by his two daughters. She's a docile and well-behaved pet, Lucas said, as she slithered around her cage. Lucas hopes dwindling diamondbacks, which are native to Florida and the South, are recognized as a species of special concern.
Fat Momma gets special treats, but not the doggie-treat kind. She gets showered with a hose from time to time, her cage-on-wheels is moved to the sunny side of the porch during mornings and an elevated high-box is placed inside her cage.
It's like a security blanket for a snake, Lucas said.
"She flattens herself like a pancake in the sun," said Lucas' wife, Cheryl, who thinks it's cute when the rattlesnake "sneezes," and its forked tongue vibrates.
"You learn each other. When you're around them 24/7, you'll understand their moods," Lucas said, referring to his pets.
He's learned that his 9-year-old eyelash viper, native to Central America and South America, is a saucy snake. Raised scales above Gringo's eyes, like tiny horns, have the appearance of eyelashes on its diminutive body.
Lucas and his snakes amuse neighbor Flor Ricardo.
"The snake is like a dog. I love watching them because you can tell the snake recognizes Mark," she said.
Macho owners
Beyond the love of animals or scientific curiosity is another reason for keeping venomous snakes.
Shawn Heflick, a field biologist who hosts eco-venture trips in Peru and who owns a handful of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, concedes, "There are some people who are more in it for the bravado than for the love."
Pat Cerasale, a licensed snake handler and wildlife educator at Erna Nixon Park in West Melbourne, agrees.
"For some people, there's a mystique to keeping something that's dangerous," she said. "Yes, I have no doubt there are unlicensed people who possess them."
Among irresponsible snake owners, "there's a common denominator: a six pack of beer and couple quarts of testosterone," said Bill "Gator" Robb, a licensed venomous snake handler and alligator trapper.
Big responsibility
Wildlife regulators say reptile escapes are rare and injuries to outsiders virtually non-existent.
"People who own snakes are often the only persons bitten," said Lt. Rick Brown, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
License applicants must demonstrate stringent qualifications. Wildlife officers inspect appropriate caging for the snakes at the proposed location and make random checks before gaining approval. License holders who move must notify the state so the random checks may continue.
Miami-Dade's Antivenin Unit, which helped when Plum was bitten, responds to calls throughout Florida and in other states. In 2004, it dealt with 80 snakebites, said Capt. Al Cruz. He estimates there are about 200 cases in Florida each year. The majority, by far, are from native snakes in the wild. Most bites occur when someone attempts to capture or kill a snake.
"They don't get an even break. People don't understand them, and they fear them," Robb said. "They're just quick to make sausages out of them."
Field biologist Heflick also has owned hundreds of cobras and mambas, and he doesn't consider any of them pets, he said. A former Brevard Zoo curator, Heflick conducts sensory system research and breeds rattlesnakes with a rare genetic albino mutation.
"This becomes sensationalized because it's such an oddity, but if you go back and look at statistics, very few people get bitten," he said. "My neighbors are all excited about it; they know my background. I'm a biologist. I'm not getting drunk and taking my venomous snakes for a walk."
Kevin Earley, a captain with Brevard Animal Services and Enforcement, has owned cobras but currently only keeps a Gila monster, a venomous lizard.
Handling snakes like cobras would be too much of a risk, he said. But he maintains his license so he can deal with venomous snake calls on the job, he said.
"There's a huge responsibility when it comes to keeping them," Earley said, "These are more like tropical fish, you look at them. They're not pets, period."
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