Reptile Rendezvous returns to MAS

Saturday’s Reptile Rendezvous at the Museum of Arts and Sciences aims to show people that snakes and other cold-blooded animals can be good to have around.

“Take a run-of-the-mill rat snake, for example, that tons of people have in their yard. They eat venomous snakes and keep down the populations of rodents and other bad things in the yard, but a lot of people take a shovel to them,” said Sherry Singleton, director of communications at the museum. “We really want to educate people that 9 times out of 10, it’s not a venomous snake and it’s important that they don’t kill it because it can help keep down the number of the venomous ones.”

Several organizations and specialists will be at the museum, along with a large variety of reptiles and amphibians. Animal Planet’s Jason Clark, owner of Southeastern Reptile Rescue and host of “SnakesKin,” will present a reptile show at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., according to a news release. Representatives from Dauset Trails Nature Center also will be on site, as well as the Geico Gecko.

Crafts, games, giveaways and a raffle will keep human visitors to the museum busy, and reptile-themed snacks will be available at the “Snake Snack Shack.”

This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Reptile Rendezvous returns to MAS."