Cape Fear Serpentarium

This year, on our way down to the beach, we stopped in Wilmington NC to visit the Cape Fear Serpentarium.  Before we arrived I pictured in my mind that they may have a few snakes and that would be about it.  I had too many lame zoo snake exhibits in my brain.  I was wrong!  There were TONS of snakes.  And most of them were poisonous!!!  Eeeek!  We even got to watch a few crocs as they moved around and such.  It was quite cool!

Here are some photos of the species we saw.  Sorry that I can't tell you what they all are - I didn't have any way to take notes! :)

 Here are 2 Emerald Tree Boas snuggled up together on the tree.  Their green color is so brilliant!

 Travis is hanging out with the anacondas.  They were massive.  We even saw the yellow one moving into the water where the brown one had decided to set up camp.

 Jake swears this guy is fake!  He didn't move at all, but I believe he was real!  The other 2 that we saw were moving all around, so why would they put an imposter in this cage???

 One of the rattle snakes.  

When we got to the top of the stairs to take a look at the 2nd floor exhibits, we kept hearing something.  I kind of thought it was static with the music or something.  Nope!  It was one of the Timber Rattlers cocked and ready to go.  He was perched under a piece of wood, coiled up, rattling and ready to pounce.  We don't know what spooked him, but he rattled for a pretty long time.  It was incredible!

 Here is the Eastern Green Mamba.  This is my fave of all of them.  I think I can attribute it to Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter!  He had a show where he taught about the black and green mambas and how fast and nimble they are.  These snakes are incredibly thing and move at speeds up to almost 25 mph.

 Here is the tail end of an Eastern Diamondback Rattler.  Can we say FAT???  This was the fattest snake I've ever seen!  It was about the size of one of the smaller pythons, but it's a rattlesnake.  I had to laugh at how its tail all of the sudden gets really small right before the rattle.

 A monitor lizard climbing the tree to hang out with his cage mate.

 A copperhead.  Did you know that most copperhead bites on adults do not need anti-venom?  That's what the literature said about them.  I don't know that I believe it though.  Copperheads are the most abundant poisonous snake in our area!  I know, that's not very comforting.

So now you probably think I'm some snake lover.  No way!  I can appreciate their characteristics and some of their beauty, but overall I do not like snakes!