(triumphant music) - [Announcer] Live from your public broadcasting studios, it's the "State of Pennsylvania," the region's premier news and information program with WVIA President and CEO Bill Kelly and Correspondents Nancy Kman and Suzanne Kelly.

This is "State of Pennsylvania."

And now, WVIA President and CEO Bill Kelly.

(audience applauding) - Well, good evening, everyone.

Welcome to a first of a kind, and I mean it, first of a kind "State of Pennsylvania."

We've had some slithery, scary characters on this program in the past, but no one could have been called "slimy," maybe until now.

Now we're not talking about Clyde Peeling.

Personally, he's actually quite a regular guy, but you might think twice about inviting his friends into your house.

We thought about calling tonight's program "Snakes in the Theater," but realized maybe nobody would show up.

But tonight we do have an audience.

They don't know we just locked the doors, and they can't leave.

And they, like me, will have the chance to touch Clyde's less loved members of the animal kingdom in the next hour.

Clyde Peeling opened Reptiland in AllenWood near Williamsport in 1964.

His interest in reptiles began at age 12.

Since then, he's become nationally recognized from appearances on "The Today Show," Jay Leno, Regis, and Kathie Lee, nut tonight he really hit the big time right here.

Clyde pilots his own plane to lecture dates around the country and for decades has taken groups to primitive places around the world.

We'd love to have you be part of tonight's show.

Our phone number is 1-800-326-9842.

That's 1-800-326-9842.

We almost have a full theater audience.

I will be walking in that audience with a boa constrictor around my neck, and I've already gotten permission from the kids.

They promised not to be frightened.

So we'll be walking up there with the boa in just a little while.

We'll be walking through the audience asking for questions.

Clyde Peeling will also be taking some slithery things up in the audience.

And he's here to answer your questions.

Welcome.

- Well, thank you.

It's good to be here.

- [Bill] Known you for such a long time.

You're actually a celebrity.

- Well, I don't know.

- Are you comfortable with that?

- I think you live long enough, and you're an unusual business like this, people know your name.

- Tell us a little bit about Clyde Peeling, and how it all began, how you became the person you did.

Did you always know from your youngest years that you would be this?

- Yeah, I think from about 12 I knew I wanted to have my own zoo.

I was always interested in reptiles.

I went to work for a small reptile zoo when I was a teenager.

And through that connection, I met some people that were very influential in my life.

One man later invented the Nautilus exercise equipment, but in those days, he was in the reptile business, and subsequently made a lot of money.

And is now dead, but he was certainly kind of a, somebody I looked up to and wanted to emulate.

- Clyde, have you ever known anybody in this business, one or another form of it, who have been hurt, if not killed by one of these animal?

- Oh yes.

Oh yes.

Yeah, around 1970, a friend of mine near Corning, New York was bitten by a diamondback rattlesnake, and we're gonna look at one a little later, and he died within 20 minutes.

And I've certainly known a few other people that have died, and quite a number that have been bitten.

It's not something we aspire to.

- Of course.

- We do everything we can to avoid it.

And when we interview prospective employees, one of the things we ask them is, you know, "How do you feel about venomous snakes?"

Because the last thing I want to hear is, "I'm not afraid of 'em.

I love to handle 'em."

With that response, "We'll call you, don't call us."

(Bill chuckling) We want people to have great respect for 'em.

- I'm sure.

Have you ever been bitten?

- Yes, I'm ashamed to say, when I was a teenager, doing dumb, dangerous things, I had four rattlesnake bites and a copperhead bite.

But I had not- - How close together?

- The last bite was 1961.

(Bill chuckling) - You're gonna put a cobra on this table.

- Right.

- And a diamondback rattlesnake.

- That's correct.

- I know earlier when you arrived in our building and were just getting set up, a few of our folks were in the warehouse, and you had the rattlesnake on the floor, and it didn't like a big ladder back there (Clyde chuckles) and it started to rattle.

And nobody who's ever not heard a rattlesnake could possibly imagine they're so loud.

That's what I heard.

- Well, that snake, and we'll probably hear it when we take it out, is a Diamondback, and they're much larger than timber rattlesnakes found here in Pennsylvania.

And they do have a loud rattle.

Once you hear it, you'll never forget it.

- Do you have to do anything to make it rattle?

- Generally, they rattle because they're nervous.

The same reason your hand might begin to shake if you meet up with a rattlesnake.

And they aren't aware of the fact they're making a noise.

They're deaf.

- What are we gonna, I know you tell me with all the guests you brought, all your less loved friends, members of the animal kingdom, you said it's gonna be a tight hour- - It is.

- to get them all.

So why don't we get started?

The show is yours.

- Well, let me start out with something that's not a reptile.

Because Reptiland is opening a new exhibit next spring, next May 4th, and we're going to have a butterfly display, and we'll have hundreds of butterflies in the exhibit.

This is a monarch butterfly.

And see if we can get him to settle down here.

- [Bill] What are you doing?

- I'm just stroking.

(chuckles) Well, I guess that's... You notice he's waving his tail?

I think he likes that.

(both chuckling) But it'll run during the summer months only in a large netted greenhouse, and there'll be 15 species of butterflies, all of them native.

But this, of course, is a- - What's a native butterfly?

- Something indigenous or native to this area?

- To this area?

- Yeah.

Well, let me put him back, because I'm sure we all want to see the reptiles.

And the oldest group of reptiles still living on this planet are the turtles and the tortoises.

And my friend John will bring me a tortoise we'll take a look at.

This is one that comes from the Amazon rainforest, and it's called a yellowfoot tortoise.

And I see that he's got some shavings stuck to him.

But this happens to be a male, and the reason I know that, these animals have this high-domed shell.

And in order for a female and a male to get close enough to mate, the male has to have this concave shell, which allows him to balance on her back during copulation.

These clubbed feet are to disperse the weight, almost like wearing snow shoes on snow.

And these live a long time.

This animal, there's no way I can tell you it's age, but I will tell you that we know some tortoises have lived up to 150 years plus.

People who've studied the heartbeat of vertebrates or backbone animals have decided that most vertebrates live about the same number of heartbeats, whether it's a mouse, an elephant, or a tortoise.

Well, this is a very slow animal with a slow metabolism, and so they live a lot longer than than mammals.

- You know what I'm gonna ask you, and that's what this nice, you said this is a female?

- This is a male.

- This nice guy eats.

- [Clyde] He's primarily a vegetarian.

- [Bill] Oh, okay.

- Some aquatic turtles are fast swimmers, and they can catch aquatic insects and small minnows and things, or frogs, but that's about top speed right there.

So he's not going to- (all laughing) He's not going to chase very much that.

- We don't need to worry about him running up into the audience.

- No.

But they're very, very benign animals.

And we have some giant tortoises at Reptiland, but they're a little big to bring you into the studio.

- You have an alligator with you, I understand.

- I do.

Let's- - We don't have to run.

I'm not rushing you.

- No, that's fine.

Let's pass this guy back to John.

- How long have you had that guy?

- Oh, that particular animal, without looking at a record card, I can't tell you for sure, but a long time.

I think I may have actually brought that from an Amazon trip back in maybe the 1960s.

- Really?

- And it was an adult then.

In fact, if it is the same tortoise, and we have a number of them, so I'm not sure, but I was standing along the Amazon in a little town called Leticia, and the Indians were bringing their vegetables, and fish, and things.

They got to trade and sell to the villagers.

And in one of these dugout canoes was this tortoise with a stick jammed in the front, another stick in the back, and they were tying it up, and he couldn't move.

And they were gonna sell him for food.

And they simply turn 'em upside down.

They build a fire under them, and they cook them right in the shell.

So I saved him from the stewing pot.

- No kidding.

(all chuckling) Thank you.

We have something coming, something special here.

- This is a young American alligator.

There are 23 species of crocodilians in the world, which include alligators, crocodiles, caimans, and one strange looking crocodile from India called a gharial, which has a very long slender snout.

But this is the American alligator, and they get quite large.

- [Bill] What age are we looking at here?

- Oh, this animal's probably three and a half, four years old.

When they hatch from the egg, they're about eight inches.

They grow approximately a foot a year until they get maybe six or seven feet.

If it's a female, she's gonna taper off and never get much beyond nine feet.

If it's a male, they continue growing up to 12, 14 feet.

Supposedly, a guy named McIlhenny, whose family still makes the hot sauce down in Louisiana, and about 1900, he claims to have killed the largest one ever measured, 19' 2" long.

- Oh my.

Wow.

Do you want to take... You don't name these animals, do you?

- Well, we do, some of them.

Animals that have been around a long time, we do name them.

- This is unnamed so far?

- Yes.

- And this is- - They don't call each other by name.

(all laughing) - [Bill] Do you wanna take- - Absolutely, yep.

- [Bill] this fellow up in the audience?

- Sure, we'll do that.

- And I'll do the same.

And I'll take the microphone up there.

- Okay.

- And we'll see who would like to ask you a question.

(audience member faintly speaking) - Yeah.

- All right, lemme take you over here.

Oh, we know this guy.

- (chuckles) Yeah.

- Okay, Peter.

- He's bad actor.

- [Bill] Peter, go right ahead.

- Pete Chapla, South Scranton.

Clyde, you mentioned that you had a couple of close calls with bites.

What's the funniest incident you've ever experienced with one of your animals?

- Well, they're never funny at the time, but in retrospect, (all chuckling) I had a king cobra that an employee had boxed up and failed to lock the box.

And we were traveling through central Iowa about three in the morning, January night.

And my employee was driving, and I heard him say, "Whoa, snake, king cobra!"

(all chuckling) And the snake had come around his waist, and he reached thinking it was his seatbelt.

Well, at the time, it was not funny, but once we got it back in the box, we laughed for three hours out of nervousness, you know, so.

- Thank you.

- All right, come on with me if you will.

Clyde, we're gonna go up here.

I see a young lady who would like to ask a question.

We're gonna come over, Bev.

Tell us who you are and where you're from and touch the cute little animal.

- [Bev] Honey, you wanna touch it?

- Come on up here.

- Sure.

- [Bev] Feel it?

- We have to make sure a camera can see you.

Come on over here just a little bit.

There you go.

Can you tell us your name?

- Hannah.

- [Bev] Hannah.

- Hannah, you wanna touch the alligator?

Go ahead.

What's it feel like?

- Hard.

- [Bev] What does it feel like, Hannah?

- Hard.

- Nothing she's ever felt before, I'm sure.

(all chuckling) Bev, do you wanna ask something?

- Yeah, Clyde, we were down at your place a couple months ago, and you told me about the alligators, the two big ones you have down there, about feeding.

And I found that quite interesting.

If you wanna just tell everybody about the big ones, how often you feed them and when.

- Oh, well, in the wintertime, for example, from now till next April, they won't eat at all.

That building is, the temperatures lower to about 55 degrees in the winter, and they hibernate.

In the spring, when they start to warm up, and they develop an appetite, they'll eat about three times a week throughout the warm months.

- I find that interesting.

- And we feed them whole animals, but not alive.

- Oh, that's comforting.

(all chuckling) How about right here?

- Hi.

- Why don't you stand up for a second.

Tell us your name and where you're from.

- Hi, I'm Nelly, and I'm from Avoca.

- And you came up to see Clyde Peeling's animals, didn't you?

- Yeah.

- You ever been there?

- No, I haven't.

But my mom just told me about it a couple days ago, and I was really excited, days ago when I was really excited - [Bill] I hope so.

Do you want to touch this fellow?

- Yeah.

(audience members chuckling) - By the way- - Oh, it's cool.

- he's very rough.

And that's because every scale has a bone called an osteoderm, which protects him, almost like a turtle shell.

But on the under side, there are no osteoderms, and that's the part they use making shoes, handbags, and wallets.

Now, obviously, I've spent my whole life trying to keep these things alive, so I'm not in the business of farming them for the leather industry.

- Of course.

- However, that's not a bad thing because it takes the pressure off the wild animals.

And so, if they farm them for that purpose, I have no real argument with that.

- Tell us a little bit about the, This is an American alligator?

- American alligator.

You can tell the crocodile from the alligator by counting the fourth tooth on the lower jaw.

And when the mouth is closed on a crocodile, that lower tooth sticks out where you can see it.

On an alligator, it's hidden from view.

Now of course, if you get close enough to count the teeth, you may have a problem.

(Bill chuckles) One way I've always told audiences is that you don't even have to remember that, just jump in with them, and if they swim away from you, they're alligators, and if they're swimming after you, they're crocodiles.

(all laughing) There's some truth to that.

- Could you put your finger in his mouth?

- No, I'll put your finger.

- No.

Oh my God.

(all laughing) - Actually, I can because, let's see- Well, I'd rather have to do it- - You have a glove?

- with a pencil or something.

And I don't- - A pencil, okay.

- I have a piece of paper- - Is there an age- in my pocket.

- at which you could do that?

- As long as you don't touch anything.

But if you touch something- - Whoa.

(Clyde chuckles) (paper whooshes) (all laughing) Did you get that, David?

Just wanna make sure our camera catches this action.

- Now they have a lot of strength in chomping down, but they have very little strength in opening.

And I can hold, even an adult, one hand is basically all it takes.

Now these are not typically man-eaters.

We're leaving for Australia the day after tomorrow, and we're gonna interview some crocodile experts in Australia.

Those are big saltwater crocodiles, and they do kill and eat people.

- They do.

Before we take the crocodile back, anybody want to... We have to go over here, Clyde.

Why don't you go there, and I'll, any questions?

I know we have, we wanna do touching.

Clyde, you've got a microphone on.

So why don't you just converse with us.

- Okay, what's your question?

- [Child] I wanted to know how long crocodiles live.

- How long do they live?

That's a good question.

And the truth is nobody knows for sure, but we're pretty sure they live about the same longevity lifespan as a human, somewhere between 70 and 100 years.

They grow very rapidly early in their life, and then they taper off.

So our big one at Reptiland (mouth swishes) (all chuckling) is about 11 feet.

And I don't think that animal's, maybe 35 years old.

- Okay, let me get one over here, Clyde, if I may.

Your name and where you're from.

- I'm Joey and I'm from Avoca.

And I wanna know, is it illegal now to make stuff from alligator skin?

- No, you can buy legal alligator skin products that were raised in a farm.

But I would hope you would make sure that that's where it came from and not from an animal that was killed in the wild.

- [Bill] Anybody else before we go up?

Right, behind you, your little girl right there.

- Oh, okay.

Hi, do you have a question?

- Yeah, how do they like call their mother?

- That's a great question, "How do they call their mother?"

When a baby alligator is in danger?

They make a noise that sounds like this, (Clyde imitating alligator's distress call) That's called a distress call.

The female will hear that.

She'll come to the nest, protect the baby, and attack anything that's giving the baby a hard time.

- How far can they hear it?

- [Bill] Lemme get you.

Let me put you on microphone.

- How far can they hear it?

Well, I've called alligators and crocodiles using that sound, and I would say probably they were, oh, maybe 1/8 of a mile away.

- Wow.

Honey, what's your name and where you're from?

- [Kate] I'm Kate, and I'm from China.

- Really?

- Wow.

- [Bill] There's a story right there.

All right, what did we get you before?

No?

Okay, what's your name and where you're from?

- [Noah] I'm Noah, and I'm from Montoursville.

- [Bill] Okay, Noah, what's your question?

Clyde, we wanna look at that camera right behind you.

Go ahead, Noah.

What's your question?

- I just asking, how many teeth does it have?

- Oh, that's a good question.

They have approximately 80 teeth, and they keep losing their teeth and replacing them throughout their whole life.

- Okay, we're done with the alligator.

We'll go back.

You wanted to reach out and touch him.

(all laughing) (child speaking faintly) (Clyde chuckling) All right, Clyde, it's about a little bit after 22, 23 minutes after the hour, so we wanna stay on target here.

- All right, now as I said, there are 23 species of crocodilians, but the most plentiful of all the reptiles are the lizards and the snakes.

And where we used to say lizards were in a separate group from snakes, now we say snakes are just another kind of legless lizard.

So we're kind of going by the old taxonomy here when I say lizard.

And if you could bring me this iguana.

This is Bud.

And Bud is not the most friendly character.

We might wanna move our- - Yes, everything off the table.

The microphone.

You were telling me earlier, this is a rambunctious iguana - It is indeed.

- And it likes to bite, you said?

- [Clyde] Okay, see if we can... This is our rhinoceros iguana, which comes from Haiti and Dominican Republic.

And this group of lizards is in great danger of extinction.

And the reason is that Haiti has a lot of political problems.

People are hungry, they have killed them off and eaten them.

They've destroyed their habitat.

And so although they're breeding them in captivity, there aren't that many left in the wild state.

- [Bill] How much bigger will he get?

- This is an adult male and that's about as big as he's ever going to get.

He lost the end of his tail at some time in the past.

And although it kind of grew back a little knob, it never came back as attractive as the original.

By the way, the first one of these I ever had, it was sneezing, and I thought it had a cold.

And I had to leave for a trip to the Galapagos Islands like the next day, and so I asked my employees to kind of watch him and treat it for respiratory infection if necessary.

But while I was in the Galapagos, I was watching the Galapagos iguanas, and they looked very similar to these, and they sneeze continually.

And I knew why they did it, is because these animals don't sweat.

And if you're an animal that can't sweat, you have a problem because salt begins to build up in your cells, and it'll kill you.

You must have some mechanism, some adaptation to get rid of the salt.

Well, they simply collect salt water up near the nasal gland here, and every 20, 30 minutes, they sneeze and they blow out the excess salt.

So it occurred to me, "Huh, he's not sick."

You know, he was just regulating salt levels.

- Wow.

Is this this fellow, as rambunctious as he is- - Well, he's- - somebody we could take up into the audience.

- I would prefer not taking this one up.

- Sorry, folks.

(all laughing) - He's actually behaving remarkably well.

- This is well?

- Yes.

Because he put one of our keepers in the emergency room, and they came back with seven stitches one day.

- [Bill] Oh my goodness.

- So he can do a real job on you.

By the way, they have a third eye called an of a penial eye right there in the center of their forehead.

They have no means of focusing, but they have a retina, and so they can receive light to the brain, they studies seem to indicate it's used to regulate the exposure to the sun.

When he's had enough sunlight, this automatic photocell tells him it's time to get back into the shade.

Many, many lizards, leg lizards at least, have the third eye.

- We have an email on our website.

I'd like to ask you, this is from Horatio in Hazelton.

"What, if anything, is the difference between a tortoise and a turtle?"

- That's a good question.

In the United States, and I have to emphasize that, in the United States, a turtle generally is an aquatic chelonian, which- - Sneezing.

- generally would have a flat smooth shell, web feet.

A tortoise is a chelonian that lives on land, has a high dome shell.

The problem is, years ago, when they made combs and buttons outta tortoise shell, that really was made from sea turtle shell.

So it gets a little confusing.

In England, the definition is slightly different, but here, one's a land turtle, the other's an aquatic turtle.

- I wanna remind the audience here in the theater, I'll be going up with a boa constrictor very soon.

And we have a caller from Wilkes-Barre.

Andrew, go ahead.

- [Andrew] Hello, Clyde?

- Yes?

- [Andrew] Clyde, you're talking to an 85-year-old Navy veteran, okay?

- Okay.

- And I'm one of the few guys that still live in, that used to go up in the Outback in Queensland, Australia.

- Well, that's where we're heading the day after tomorrow, Queensland.

- [Andrew] Okay, I was there before Irwin was even born.

We used to go up to Gunggandji on Sunday afternoon, that was our only time off, and watched the crocodiles.

We carried our carbines and our weapons, but we never killed them, and we used to go way up into the Outback.

- Well, I'm looking forward to doing that myself.

(Bill chuckling) We're going to interview an old crocodile hunter that went from killing crocodiles back in the 1960s to catching them alive.

And he really is very fond of them.

He caught the biggest crocodiles anyone ever caught in history.

He has one now that's 19 feet plus.

- When you go on these safaris, for lack of a better term, do you go to acquire animals for your zoo?

- No, almost everything we get these days is captive born, somewhere in either a private collection or an institution.

- Tell me quickly about your, you've got your sons in your business, I think, don't you?

- Yeah, both of them.

- Tell us a little bit about that?

- Yeah, so in addition to Reptiland, we build traveling exhibitions that move about the country.

We have one in Miami now, one in New York City, and one in Wichita.

And I'm probably missing one.

(Bill chuckling) In any case, out of that, many institutions have decided they like our work, and they come to us and build, and have us build habitats for their own institutions.

So one son runs the shop and designs and fabricates, the other son is kind of into business and animals.

- [Bill] So your business has grown in many different ways.

What is the part of it these years later that you love the most?

- Hmm, that's a good question.

I probably like, as much as anything, I enjoy lecturing, I get tired of the travel, as anybody who does a lot of it, but I do love- - But you get to fly there.

You get to take your own plane.

- That's right.

(both chuckling) All right, we wanna get on with the show.

Could we have- - Absolutely.

- our next special guest?

Enter and sign in, please.

- You were a good boy.

(chuckles) - Anyway, we're coming up in the audience in a few moments, and what will we be taking up into the audience?

- Well, we're not gonna take the next two animals into the audience.

- (chuckles) I guess I know who they are.

- You know, there are somewhere around 4,000 species of lizards that have legs, or what we always called lizards.

And there are almost that many snakes.

And out of 3,000 some odd snakes, maybe 425 of them are highly venomous, and potentially dangerous, or potentially lethal if they were to bite a human.

- Lemme me see.

- So John's bringing me a box here, and here's one that I think everybody can recognize.

- Cool.

I see what's written on the box.

- One thing I will say, Bill, you don't wanna get too close, and- not for the obvious reason.

- Oh, you won't have to lecture me on that.

(Clyde laughing) - Not for the obvious reason.

This snake is a bluffer.

And if he comes up, and you'll see here in a moment, what he's saying to you is, "I'm big and bad, and I want you to stay over there."

Now if that doesn't work, and if you get too close, I had this one on "The Leno Show," and Jay is fearless.

And I told him during rehearsal, "Don't move in too close," but he did.

And instead of the snake staying in his hooded position, he shot toward the audience, and we almost had pandemonium.

But anyway, this is a Pakistan cobra.

- [Bill] Hey, you're moving back too, aren't you?

- And this snake has extremely deadly venom.

It attacks the nervous system, it paralyzes the motor nerves to the brain.

Now as I say, he's bluffing, and he didn't even open his mouth when he struck.

He hissed, he lunged.

He's feigning.

He's trying to convince me to just keep my distance.

So as long as I stay above- - [Bill] And you have a relationship with this animal.

(Clyde chuckling) - [Clyde] No, I just know his limitations and my limitations.

- By the way, let me mention to the audience, we're obviously not taking this wonderful, cuddly animal up into the theater, but if any of you wanna to ask a question, just come down here, and I'll give you the microphone.

So you have to be bold and courageous, but if you wanna come down, you can come down and ask Clyde anything you'd like.

So just- - Try not to stumble over each other.

- Okay, come on over here.

We have Notre Dame on the sweatshirt.

Just take that microphone, go where they can, if we can get a camera shot of this young man.

- [Catherine] Go ahead.

- Stay right there?

Okay, go ahead and ask your question.

- I just wanted to know like if one of these kinds of snakes that was extremely venomous bit you, then how would you treat the snakebite?

- We keep a fairly good supply of snakebite serum, anti-venom.

And every four or five years, it goes out of date, and we have to import some more.

In the case of this snake, we get serum from South Africa.

And the first thing we would do, though, we would not treat ourselves, we would head for a hospital, because the serum is made from horses' blood.

And surprisingly, most of us are, to one degree or another, allergic to horses.

And you can develop an allergy, go into anaphylactic shock from the serum.

So you need to have a doctor there to let fly with some epinephrine, or something to- - [Bill] How much time do you have?

- Well, you know, everybody imagines if you get bitten by cobra, you got a few seconds, you don't have time for your last supper or something.

(chuckles) But in fact, even if it's a lethal bite, unless there's a vein bite or something, you're probably gonna live, you know, half a day.

Now this is this is the snake charmer's snake, and in India, they'll put him in a basket, and they'll pop up like this.

And of course, they have a freshly caught snake, and they'll start to sway back and forth, and the snake will begin to follow the motion.

Now the trouble is this guy's been in captivity a long time, and it's kind of ho-hum.

He's eh... He's not going to follow me, but they're deaf to airborne sounds.

So you can play all the music you want, and the snake is oblivious to that.

So he's really dancing because he's following the motion.

- Following the motion.

- The reason I'm not taking him out is because- (all laughing) if I did, he would just wanna run, and then I have the problem of- - Catching him.

- Well, John has a problem of how to get him back in the box.

- Anybody else?

Come on, the place is open.

Come on right down.

Come on, Catherine will give you the microphone.

Here we have an Eagles shirt.

Tell us who you are and where you're from.

Can we get him in a picture, Catherine?

Can we get him- - Right there.

- Right there?

- I'm Joey, and I'm from Avoca, and I was wondering, what's the difference between reptiles and amphibians?

- Good question.

Amphibians have a permeable skin.

It's kind of a moist skin, because part of their respiration, or their breathing, occurs through their skin.

So any, a lung, for example, is slimy if you could reach down in and touch it.

And that's why a frog or a salamander feels slimy.

The surface of the skin is actually part of the breathing apparatus.

Amphibians were the first animals to leave the water, come on land.

The reptiles followed them, they developed dry, horny scales that make them kind of waterproof.

And it's a much better device to live on land if you have scales than if you have that moist skin.

Because a frog can't go out and bask in the sun.

A frog in the sunshine is probably only gonna be alive for 15 minutes before it dehydrates.

This guy can bask in the sun for quite a lengthy time.

- I'm so happy to hear that for his benefit.

Let's go to Chris in Shavertown.

Chris, thank you.

Go ahead.

- [Chris] Hi, my name's Chris.

I was just wondering, what's the difference between a warm-blooded and cold-blooded animal?

- Well, the question is, what's the difference between cold-blooded and warm-blooded?

Well, we're warm-blooded, and we generate heat by muscular contraction.

The disadvantage of being warm-blooded is that we burn up a lot of energy.

70% of everything we eat is just stoking the furnace.

This guy is cold-blooded.

He doesn't generate any of his own body heat.

He relies on the sun.

Consequently, he only eats maybe once every week or once every 10 days, which is why reptiles can go so much longer without food than we can.

- He's taking it all in, Clyde.

(chuckling) - I'm going to see if we can get the lid back on this fellow.

- Oh boy.

(lid thuds) Lorena in Williamsport.

Go ahead, Lorena.

- [Lorena] I actually have a two-part question.

I wanted to find out why Mr.

Peeling chose central Pennsylvania to put his wonderful zoo.

And second, how is it different when the kids come to visit the little, like all these kids from around the world?

- [Clyde] I didn't- - [Bill] I'm not sure I heard that question either.

Would you repeat that Lorena, a little slower?

- [Lorena] Sure, I'm sorry.

What made Clyde choose central Pennsylvania for a zoo?

- Okay, I often ask that question, too.

(all chuckling) Naivete.

I built Reptiland where it is now because I grew up in a little town near Muncy, Pennsylvania.

It seemed at the time when I went into business, I was 21 years old, and Route 15 already had had a reptile zoo, which had gone out of existence by the time I went into business.

But I thought the the highway could support it.

We've survived, and we've been there long enough now.

I think we're fairly well-established.

- So it wasn't easy in the beginning.

- No, it wasn't not.

- Not at all.

Let's go to Wellsboro.

Robin, go ahead.

- Hi, Clyde.

- Yes?

- [Robin] I would have a question about poisonous snakes.

After they milk them and remove the venom, if they bite you, is there still enough poison in there to do damage?

- Yes, when you extract the venom from a snake, you generally do it one of two ways.

You either apply pressure to the venom sacks alongside of the head and force the venom out, or you allow the snake to bite on a rubber membrane over a top of a glass.

And in both cases, you're not going to get all of the venom.

The snake will always withhold a little.

So while the bite probably wouldn't be nearly as dangerous because the snake has expended most of it's venom, you're still gonna have some veneration.

- We need our next special guest.

Let's go to the audience.

Will you tell us where you are and where are you from?

- Mr.

Peeling, hi.

My name is Russ Antalosky.

I'm from Frackville, Pennsylvania.

Big fan, coming to Repiland since 1990.

I've just been wondering, has there been any advances in the fight against the chytrid fungus against the, for the amphibians, and a lot of the poison dart frogs of South America?

- Wow.

John is actually a much better person to ask that question.

- And we didn't mic him.

- We didn't mic him.

(Bill chuckling) We can give him the hand mic if you just give us a second.

John says, yes, we haves ways of treating.

- There's your answer.

- [John] Thank you.

- John is a great asset to Reptiland.

He knows plants, he knows amphibians, he knows reptiles, he knows how to design exhibits.

(John faintly speaking) He's been there a long time.

Well, let's take a look at our friend here, the rattlesnake.

- I noticed John is not handing you the animal, He's handing you the box.

- Well, it's just easier, I think, if I lift him out.

From a snake's perspective, (Bill chuckling) having venom is a great advantage because it means he can bite his victim, his prey, and then let go and not take a chance on the animal biting him.

Cobras are a little bit of a disadvantage because they have very short fangs, and they'll grab hold of something and hang on momentarily and chew.

Whereas a rattlesnake is a viper, he can coil up, his mouth will open 180 degrees straight up and down.

His fangs are very long, they stand straight out.

He'll stab them into his victim, and then withdraw, and just wait until the venom does its work.

This is the largest species of a venomous snake in North America.

The eastern diamondback rattlesnake, which lives in Florida and southern Georgia, they get up to well over seven feet.

The record book say over eight feet.

- [Bill] Could somebody call him and get his attention away from me?

(audience laughing) - He's flicking his tongue, Bill.

He's testing the air, he is kind of tasting, smelling with his tongue, checking you out.

And as long as you don't smell like a rabbit, which would make up his normal diet- - Yeah, I've got a good high-size dog at home.

- I don't think that would be something he would normally eat.

Obviously, if a dog came too close to the snake, and they often do, snake's gonna protect himself, and a bite from a diamondback would almost certainly be lethal to a dog.

Although, dogs that get bitten by timber rattlesnakes in Pennsylvania, and our rattlesnake here is much smaller, very often the dog will just go bury himself in some mud somewhere, and reappear two weeks later much thinner and worse for the wear, but they survive it.

Well, this is the rattle we were talking about earlier, and he's, for whatever reason, not nervous at all - Yeah, well, he has to be rattled.

- (chuckles) That's right.

He has to be rattled.

But they add a new segment every time they shed their skin, and they shed maybe 3, 4, 5 times a year.

And then when it gets too long, it breaks off, it gets brittle loose.

It's like your fingernail, it's keratin.

Doesn't indicate the age.

All it means is that- (snake rattling) There we go.

- Oh, there we go on.

- Go on, keep it up.

(snake continues rattling) (all chuckling) You're not living up to your reputation here.

- [Bill] (chuckling) Yeah.

- Very, very dangerous snake.

Here in the United States, we have maybe three to six fatalities a year, and they're almost all from diamondback rattlesnakes.

- [Bill] If you wanted to, could you make a diamondback rattlesnake unvenomous?

- Yes, and I will be completely honest with you, I wouldn't be this cavalier if that had not been the case.

Now the cobra is still hot, we say, but I know the cobra has great limitations in the way he strikes.

A diamondback is one of the 10 most dangerous snakes in the world.

And I wouldn't have him this close to you.

- Thank you.

(laughing) But what we have done here, in this particular snake, and we don't do it to all of our snakes, but we simply had our veterinarian go in and sever the duct that leads from the venom sack to the fang and tie it off in two places and cut a little chunk out of the middle, tuck it back in.

He still has his fangs intact.

He still has the venom sacks, but he has no way to get the venom from here to here.

Now we still treat them with a great deal of respect because there's not no reason to believe that it wouldn't be possible for something to break loose and you get some venom trickling down, you know, through an opening in the gang teeth.

- I wanna compliment you, by the way.

We've never done a theater show like this before, obviously, but where we've invited audience members to stand up on their own with a microphone, and their interested in you says a lot.

Why don't you tell us who you are, and where you're from, and what your question is.

- My name's Louis Meyer, I'm from South Gibson, and I'm here with my robotics team.

And we're wondering if you have studied, if you studied local amphibian lost due to increasing traffic, and what types of weather might cause this phenomenon?

- I'm having a little bit of trouble hearing you.

I'm sorry.

- [Bill] Yeah, could we turn up the microphone in the theater to our production crew?

And put- (producer faintly speaks) - My name's Louis Meyer.

- That's better.

(audience chuckling) There you go.

- [Louis] And I'm here with my robotics team, and we're wondering if you have studied the effects increasing traffic is having upon local amphibian populations?

And also, what types of weather might be contributing to this phenomenon?

- I think I am following you.

You're asking if we've studied the cause of the decline of amphibian populations?

We haven't personally studied it.

And what they're finding, scientists are discovering that it's not just one simple source.

There are many things, and almost all of them appear to be created by human beings.

Obviously, amphibians, because they have this permeable skin, they are right on the front line of any effects from pollution.

And it's like the miners canary, if you see, approximately 1/3 of all living amphibians, I think, there's like 6,000 species.

About 1/3 of those are in danger of extinction.

But to be honest with you, we haven't personally, there's no one in my staff that studied the problem.

- Okay, let's move on.

Nancy, Mifflinburg.

Go ahead, Nancy.

- [Nancy] I was wondering if Clyde remembers a snake gave given to him about 20, 25 years ago named George?

- Well, what kind of snake was it?

- A boa constructor.

- Yeah.

Probably over the last 40 years, I would guess there's been a couple of hundred boas given to us, and I have to be honest and tell you, I do not remember.

And I doubt if the snake is at Reptiland anymore.

Boas live about 25 years, but the snakes that we have there now, I'm pretty sure none of them have been there as long as you're describing.

- Now, why do people give you boas?

They get them as pets and can't handle them?

- I think they get them as pets.

It sounds like a neat idea to have a large snake, and then when it gets large, and they have to supply it with a ongoing supply of dead rats or rabbits or whatever, and they require space, they look for a home.

And quite honestly, at this point, we very seldom accept a gift of boa or python because you can only have so many, and we have all we need.

- Sure.

- I'm very glad you told me about the, (chuckles) that this is not quite as scary a snake as I thought 'cause it.... If this snake just decided it didn't like me and took a shot, I mean, just like bit me, what would it feel like?

- Well, like two hypodermic needles sinking about a half inch or so into your flesh.

- [Bill] Even though it has no venom?

- Right, you would probably get a deep tissue infection just on the fang.

- Well, thank you for the hook there.

(all chuckling) I appreciate that.

I think we're, is it time for us to trade in here?

- We can do that, yes.

- We have a question in the theater.

Why don't you tell us who you are and where you're from, and try not to read your question.

- (chuckles) Okay, so I'm Naomi Romero, and I'm from to Tobyhanna, and I'm also with my robotics team.

And I just wanted to know, do you have an opinion on the extreme fluctuations on the weather in northeastern Pennsylvania and the effect it has on amphibians, especially frogs?

- Well, I'll tell you, I can't answer the question about Pennsylvania, but I have a friend who's studied amphibian frog populations in, I think, Madagascar.

What he's discovered is that a particular frog has evolved to live at a certain level on the mountain.

And as we've experienced global warming, he's finding that these frogs are continuing to go up the mountain to get to the right temperatures, and they're running outta mountain.

And so the population is absolutely doomed if global warming continues as it has been.

So, I don't know if it answers your question, but certainly, global warming is gonna have an impact on amphibians.

- Catherine, we have another question in the audience, if you just get the microphone over there.

Meanwhile, let's go to Matthew in Watsontown.

Hi, Matthew.

Go ahead.

- [Matthew] Hi, this is Matthew.

And I was wondering if you come across a poisonous snake, would it chase you or just leave it be?

- Oh, the best policy would probably be just to walk around the animal and not bother it.

No venomous snake in the United States will attack you.

Now when I say attack, I am saying that the animal will not leave its position to pursue you.

Now if you step close enough that the snake feels your threat, he'll strike you.

But he's not gonna move and chase you.

So the best policy, if you come upon a copperhead or rattlesnake, or if you don't know what it is, simply walk out around it.

- [Bill] Would you say around it?

Well, around it.

Just give it wide berth and avoid it.

- Okay, do a circle dance, and then leave.

(both chuckling) Here is Zach in Whitehhaven.

Zach?

- [Zack] Hi.

Hi, how you doing Clyde?

I was wondering if snakes are colorblind or certain visual things stimulate them.

Like are they attracted to colors, or certain smells, or sight, or anything like that?

- Well, they have fairly good eyesight.

They can, most snakes, I think, can see about 15 feet.

Reticulated pythons seem to be an anomaly.

They can see about twice that far.

Most predators can see color.

Do you know the answer to that, John?

No?

Okay.

But the other part of your question was- - [Bill] You wanna repeat it to us?

Zach, are you still there?

I think- - Or are they attracted to certain things, or visually, or otherwise?

Any other senses?

- Okay, I think the visual is part of the equation, but I think the bigger thing is the smell.

I'll tell you how sensitive the smell is.

When they strike an animal, and it runs off and dies, they've done some experiments where they take a dead mouse, and they'll leave a trail, and then a mouse that the snake has struck and leave another trail, and that snake with its tongue can determine which one he has envenomated, and he'll follow that trail and ignore the other one.

- Oh wow.

Here's Reese in Shavertown.

We're going to the theater in just a minute.

Reese Shavertown, go ahead.

Reese, are you still there?

- Yes.

- Okay, go ahead.

- [Reese] How would a rattlesnake kill its prey if it had no venom?

- Oh, excellent question.

In other words, we've performed a venom ductectomy on that rattlesnake.

So, how is it going to eat?

Well, first of all, we feed them only dead food in captivity, and that goes for almost everything in our collection.

They don't require a lot of food.

But secondly, venom is also an aid in digestion, but we find that they function quite well without having envenomated made the prey.

They still digest it fine with their gastric juices.

So in the wild, I think they would be handicapped.

But in captivity, they seem to do nicely.

- Like a declawed cat, except a lot worse.

- Right, yes.

- Okay, let's go to the theater, your name and where you're from?

- I'm Maureen from Avoca.

And Clyde, I was wondering if reptiles or amphibians ever recognize individuals, like a domesticated house pet might, or are we pretty much all the same to them?

- Well, people who keep snakes as pets, some of them swear their pet knows them.

However, I don't think anyone has ever been able to demonstrate that, with one exception.

People who work in zoos seem to think that king cobras are very aware and learn to recognize, if not recognize a keeper, recognize the way they're dressed or something.

And they'll act one way with their regular keeper and quite another way with a stranger.

But that's the only snake.

Now crocodilians, I think are capable.

They're very intelligent animals.

They probably can learn to identify.

- Okay, let me remind the audience that in just a few minutes, I'm coming up there with the boa constrictor.

You tell Clyde what you'd like him to bring up except for the venomous animals.

So we'll ask Clyde to call out to you what you'd like him, the alligator, or, but not the- - The rhinoceros iguana.

- (chuckles) Not the iguana, okay.

- We'd be testing our luck.

- Well, we don't wanna test our luck.

Tell us who you are and where you're from.

- I'm Jacob from Port Griffith, Jenkins Township.

I got a turtle about a year ago from about one, two inches long, and now it's about six, seven inches long.

I was wondering how big it gets and how old it can get.

- Do you know what kind of turtle?

- Red-eared?

- Oh, red-eared sliders get around 14, 15 inches.

Quite large, actually.

And we've got a pond full of them where people have brought them in when they outgrew their tank.

I'm not suggesting you bring yours.

I think we have all we need, but.

- What is the most rare animal you have at Reptiland?

- Hmm, the problem, the reason I'm having a little trouble is because almost everything we have is captive-born.

In the wild, Siamese crocodiles, and we have some young ones, they're almost biologically extinct, but they are being bred in captivity in crocodile farms.

We have two giant tortoises called Aldabra tortoises.

They're only found in one place in the entire world.

And if anything happens to that atoll, that island where they live, they're doomed.

- I've already said goodbye to most of my colleagues, by the way.

(all chuckling) Now can we get this up there?

Okay, would you like to tell Clyde what you'd like him to bring up?

Just yell it out loud.

- [Audience Members] Alligator!

- Alligator!

- Good.

- All right, he will be up there with the- John, my problem- - I was hoping you'd say that.

- John, my problem is that the boa has hung onto a part of the chair.

- Okay, we'll, (audience laughing) let's see.

These are constrictors, of course.

- Yeah, no kidding.

(chuckles) - He's afraid of falling.

That's the reason he's- - Well, so am I.

(chuckles) You want me go up here?

All right, we're going up here with the boa, and I'm just waiting for somebody to put your hand up.

Oh my goodness.

Let's start with you.

I wanna make sure, can they hear me?

The microphone coming through okay?

- Yes, we got you.

- All right, why don't you stand up?

You can touch him, you can touch this guy.

And tell me what your name is.

- Cameron.

- Cameron, have you ever touched a boa before?

- No.

- How would you like him on your shoulders?

I'm getting a little tired of this.

- I don't really think I want him on my shoulders.

- You don't want 'em on your shoulders?

- No, I just wanna feel him.

- [Bill] Do you have any questions for Mr.

Peeling over here with the boa?

I think he's speechless, actually.

(audience chuckling) - [Cameron] How heavy can they get?

- How heavy can they get?

- [Clyde] How heavy?

Well, boa's very seldom- - Bill, could you turn around?

- get more than 12 feet long, and I would think a 12 foot boa might weigh maybe 70 pounds, somewhere in that neighborhood.

Pythons get much larger, and anaconda is the heaviest of all snakes.

They sometimes exceed 400 pounds.

- Wow, how about that?

We're having a good time over here, Clyde.

- [Clyde] Great.

- [Child] Great job.

- [Bill] You know, if you would've told me a year ago I'd be doing this, I would've said you were crazy.

(Clyde chuckling) Here you go, hun.

What do you think?

- Wow, it's huge.

All right, come on.

- It's so scary.

- [Bill] Anybody have a question for Clyde?

This would be the time to ask Mr.

Peeling.

What's your question?

- How will snake get across the road without him get a car hit it, the snake?

- Would you repeat that for us?

- How does the snake get across the road without getting hit by a car?

- Did you hear that?

(laughs) - That's a good question.

A lot of them don't.

Very often in the summertime, I'm sure all of us have seen- - You wanna touch him?

- black snakes have been run over by cars.

It's a problem.

- This gentleman in front of me here- - Bill?

- Oh, I gotta wrap?

- Mm-hmm.

- Well that's our show.

(all chuckling) Clyde, thank you for a wonderful night.

to our audience here and all of you watching at home, good night.

(audience applauding) (triumphant music) (no audio) (no audio) (no audio)