Teaching people about reptiles can be challenging. Ophidiophobia - fear of snakes - is one of the most widespread fears across the world's population.
Michael Shwedick, 52, has risen to that challenge in front of more than 10,000 audiences with the alligators, snakes and turtles that populate his Reptile World. On Saturday and Sunday, as part of the Holiday Craft Show at Cayuga Community College, Shwedick will introduce that world to the public.
“I'll be teaching the audience what makes them different from birds and mammals, and how they're important in the natural world,” Shwedick said.
Shwedick will be bringing a 150-pound alligator snapping turtle with whom he has lived more than 30 years. He will also show audiences an American alligator, an African Nile crocodile and a collection of snakes that includes a copperhead, timber rattlesnake, Indian cobra and an albino rock python.
“I introduce each one and tell everyone a little about them, and what part of the world they're from,” Shwedick said.
The snakes Shwedick showcases on stage will be as dangerous as their bretheren in the African deserts or Brazilian jungles.
Neither their venom glands nor fangs have been removed. Shwedick finds it silly to extract their venom in a procedure otherwise known as “milking.”
“I've seen snakes have their venom collected 28 times in a row, only to bite something and release so much more venom than was just collected,” Shwedick said.
Shwedick has felt the fangs of his friends four times at his home in Annapolis, Md. However, he is quick to place the blame for the bites on himself.
“It's only happened when I made a careless mistake,” he said.
While assisting a female cobra shed her skin, he loosened his grip to avoid hurting her and she escaped his grasp on her head to bite him. An Egyptian cobra bit Shwedick on the thumb while he was feeding it a mouse because the forceps he was using to lower the mouse were too short to keep his hand out of the deadly reptile's reach.
Each time Shwedick has been bitten, he brought his antivenom to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where it was carefully administered to avoid side effects.
Despite the injuries he has suffered while working with snakes, Shwedick believes the fear associated with them and other reptiles has become a barrier to better understanding them.
“The subject of reptiles is so overhyped, people should just relax and enjoy learning about it,” Shwedick said.
In addition to college campuses, festivals and theme parks, Shwedick has taken his quest for reptile enlightenment to television. Throughout the 1970s he made many guest appearances on “People are Talking,” a morning television show in Baltimore.
His appearances acquainted him with a young Oprah Winfrey, the show's host.
“She was not a great snake enthusiast,” Shwedick said.
Lately Shwedick has traded his TV appearances for a packed calendar of live appearances.
Norman Lee, director of student activities at the college, believes Shwedick's next appearance comes at a time of heightened national awareness of the importance of wildlife education.
“He's like the American Steve Irwin - in fact, this whole show is kind of a tribute to him,” Lee said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be
contacted at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
If you go
What: Reptile World, at the Holiday Craft Show
When: 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: College Theatre, Cayuga Community College
Cost: Free (donations to Make-a-Wish Foundation can be made at the door)
For details: Call 255-1743
“I'll be teaching the audience what makes them different from birds and mammals, and how they're important in the natural world,” Shwedick said.
Shwedick will be bringing a 150-pound alligator snapping turtle with whom he has lived more than 30 years. He will also show audiences an American alligator, an African Nile crocodile and a collection of snakes that includes a copperhead, timber rattlesnake, Indian cobra and an albino rock python.
“I introduce each one and tell everyone a little about them, and what part of the world they're from,” Shwedick said.
The snakes Shwedick showcases on stage will be as dangerous as their bretheren in the African deserts or Brazilian jungles.
Neither their venom glands nor fangs have been removed. Shwedick finds it silly to extract their venom in a procedure otherwise known as “milking.”
“I've seen snakes have their venom collected 28 times in a row, only to bite something and release so much more venom than was just collected,” Shwedick said.
Shwedick has felt the fangs of his friends four times at his home in Annapolis, Md. However, he is quick to place the blame for the bites on himself.
“It's only happened when I made a careless mistake,” he said.
While assisting a female cobra shed her skin, he loosened his grip to avoid hurting her and she escaped his grasp on her head to bite him. An Egyptian cobra bit Shwedick on the thumb while he was feeding it a mouse because the forceps he was using to lower the mouse were too short to keep his hand out of the deadly reptile's reach.
Each time Shwedick has been bitten, he brought his antivenom to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where it was carefully administered to avoid side effects.
Despite the injuries he has suffered while working with snakes, Shwedick believes the fear associated with them and other reptiles has become a barrier to better understanding them.
“The subject of reptiles is so overhyped, people should just relax and enjoy learning about it,” Shwedick said.
In addition to college campuses, festivals and theme parks, Shwedick has taken his quest for reptile enlightenment to television. Throughout the 1970s he made many guest appearances on “People are Talking,” a morning television show in Baltimore.
His appearances acquainted him with a young Oprah Winfrey, the show's host.
“She was not a great snake enthusiast,” Shwedick said.
Lately Shwedick has traded his TV appearances for a packed calendar of live appearances.
Norman Lee, director of student activities at the college, believes Shwedick's next appearance comes at a time of heightened national awareness of the importance of wildlife education.
“He's like the American Steve Irwin - in fact, this whole show is kind of a tribute to him,” Lee said.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be
contacted at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
If you go
What: Reptile World, at the Holiday Craft Show
When: 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: College Theatre, Cayuga Community College
Cost: Free (donations to Make-a-Wish Foundation can be made at the door)
For details: Call 255-1743
The Citizens' Say
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