A MOBILE SNAKE EXPOSITION IN FRANCE

I could barely escape the fact during my last holiday, that on August 28 and 29 of this year there was a exposition with living reptiles in the North-French city of Péronne. In the city itself and in its surroundings bright coloured posters made this obviously clear. Thus on the 28st I looked up the Parc du Sipe, where I found a number of yolk-coloured semi-trailers. The texts on these semi-trailers made clear to me, that it was not just a snake exposition, but that I was visiting a large Palais des reptiles with des reptiles vivants. After paying € 7,- entry, the terrariums appeared  to be in the semi-trailers, where I found the most pitiful collection of reptiles which I have ever seen.

It started with the terrariums. I saw more than one terrarium, of which was obvious that no-one had cleaned it in the previous month. Large heaps of faeces covered the floor, almost more than the original bedding. In nearly every terrarium was evidence of shredding. Those could have been left intentionally as interesting, educational material - like Walter Getreuer in Serpo does with complete skin shredding - but I could not relate with this, for the same reason that in the terrarium was everywhere faeces, because of idleness and lack of concern. That was my first impression.

All too soon I saw that the occupants of the terrariums were not much better. Many snakes were not well finished with shredding and saw a little frayed. That could be caused by insufficient humidity, but could also be an indication of lack of vitamin A and therefore possibly bad feeding. That was not yet everything. What had initially not been noticeable to me with the other snakes appeared obvious on an  albino python. I saw colonies of blood mites marching over the pathetic animal. Once this contamination was observed, it was not difficult to see the mites in the other terrariums too.

I pointed this problem out to a young lady, who shrugged off my observation with the apology that the albino animal  was privately owned and didn’t belong to the organisation. When I showed her the infestation in the other terrariums, she shrugged her shoulders and hurried away to make a photo of a snake draped around the neck of a visitor for € 8,-.

The top point of pity was when I found a python laying in a terrarium with a wound in its mouth. The left lip of this animal was open, exposing a bloody jaw bone. Instead of caring for this animal and placing it in the sickbay, it was left panting painfully in its terrarium, supposedly waiting for its end to come.

Two days later the snake exposition - which they dare to call numéro 1 en Europe - left Péronne. I doubt if there has been time between all activities to change and disinfect, feed and look after the animals properly. It is incomprehensible how nonchalantly and uninterested these ‘professionals’ handle their cost of living.
The collection counted mainly giant snakes. These are snakes which are known to produce large clusters of eggs. Snake lovers buy these kind of snakes easily, but because of their size they are easily given away too after course of time. If you can get these sort of out-casts as a travelling reptile palace for free, you don’t have to bother yourself with the health of individual animals. Understandable, but also destable.

I regretted my visit, not only because the quantity and variety of snakes were disappointing, but also because I had contributed with my € 7,- to the maintenance of an exposition which must disappear as rapidly as possible.

Published in Litteratura Serpentium 24 (2004).