Slither into the reptilian world of the Edisto Serpentarium for an up-close education about South Carolina’s fascinating wildlife.
Photo by Mic Smith
With a corn snake curled around his left hand and a copperhead wrapped around a snake hook in his right, unfazed zookeeper Blake Milburn continues his educational snake talk at the Edisto Serpentarium by spitting out wisdom about venom.
Many people believe the best way to tell a nonvenomous snake from a venomous one is to stare into the snake’s eyes. It’s not a safe or a foolproof method, but as a general rule of thumb, nonvenomous snakes have round pupils and venomous snakes have vertical pupils “like a cat’s eyes,” he says. “But I don’t suggest you get that close to a snake if you don’t know what it is.”
More than 50 snake-obsessed and wide-eyed kids and their parents burst into laughter. Milburn’s talk seems to confirm a universal truth—not much else in the world, with the possible exception of animation and sugar, can quite capture a kid’s attention like a snake.
When it’s question and answer time, the kids, brimming with inquisitiveness, nod excitedly as their hands shoot up in the air. The first one called on points out a caterpillar inching its way along a railing where the harmless corn snake now rests.
“My money’s on the snake,” Milburn jokes, and the crowd erupts into even more laughter.
In fact, it’s that exact blend of education and good humor that’s at the cold-blooded heart of the Edisto Serpentarium, the only facility in South Carolina dedicated exclusively to reptiles—the snakes, lizards, alligators and crocodiles that fill us with equal parts awe and fear, but which it turns out are essential to our livelihoods.
“Snakes are very important to our ecosystem,” says the Serpentarium’s head zookeeper, Jessica Clamp McNeill. “They eat lots of things that need their population to be regulated—mice and rats, in particular. Snakes eat those things that can cause humans to get sick.”
“But the other reason it’s important to have a knowledge of snakes is because there’s a lot of research when it comes to venom. They have been studying venom for years and years now for medical purposes. We’re big on that here.”
She cites the fact that cottonmouth venom was once used to clot blood for hemophiliacs, and that all antivenom used to treat snake bites comes from the venom itself. She relates these snake-facts while standing in the middle of the Tropical Atrium—a perpetually toasty room that houses local venomous snakes (copperheads, cottonmouths, canebrake rattlesnakes, etc.), local nonvenomous snakes (corn snakes, black racers, etc.) and exotic species not found in South Carolina (Mojave rattlesnakes, ball pythons, reticulated pythons, etc.). It’s the first stop visitors can peruse after paying admission in the gift shop, and for most kids, it’s like stepping into a dream world.
“What’s that?” asks one kid, pointing to a huge snake lounging in a human-made river inside the atrium.
“That’s a green anaconda,” McNeill answers.
“Is it real?”
“Everything you see in there is real.”
“Is it alive?”
“Yep,” she laughs. Then sensing another education opportunity, she strikes: “The green anaconda is a species of boa. But we can’t put pythons in here because they don’t live in the same part of the world, so they don’t get along. You have to keep them separate. They call it the rule of old world versus new world.”
Indeed, if there’s one thing Jessica Clamp McNeill knows, it’s snakes. McNeill’s father and uncle—Teddy and Heyward Clamp—opened Edisto Serpentarium to the public in 1999 when they moved to Edisto from Salley to start a construction business and bring their love of the serpentine with them.
“Heyward was the snake guy, and Teddy was an alligator guy, and they wanted to educate people on what they loved,” she says of how they started the “family business” and built the entire facility themselves. “It was just their passion and their thing. There’s no way to recreate the knowledge unless they share it, and I just happened to be the kid lucky enough to receive it.”
Each day, the facility hosts special event programming, such as venom extractions, snake talks and alligator feedings. In fact, as she prepares for another demonstration in which kids have the ultimate chance to hold an alligator for photographs, she says, “The more people we can expand to and come see us and our cool snakes, the better we are for the future. Because we’re also trying to make sure people know why all these creatures are here and why they need to stay here.”
Over by the king cobra tank, she adds, “A lot of people are afraid of snakes and afraid of alligators, but to have an understanding of the cool stuff they’re around for? It’s awesome.”
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Get There
The Edisto Serpentarium is located at 1374 Highway 174 in Edisto Island.
Hours: Summer hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday—Saturday. Spring and fall season hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Admission: $16.50 for adults and $12.50 for children ages 4–12. Kids 3 and under are free.
Details: Visit edistoserpentarium.com or call (843) 869-1171 for showtimes and more information.
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Related Stories
Learn more about South Carolina’s 38 native species of snakes with these past stories from South Carolina Living.
Non-venomous snakes in S.C. – Ecologist Whit Gibbons explains how non-venomous reptiles benefit the state’s environment.
Venomous snakes in S.C. - Ecologist Whit Gibbons explains how reptiles — even the poisonous ones — play an important role in nature.