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Winding through the “crooked and steep” roads of the Ozarks near Berryville, Arkansas, it would have been easy to miss the intriguing and very colorful hand painted sign on the side of the road, but Veronica caught a glimpse of it. “Did that sign say Snake World?” We hit the brakes and HAD to turn around. |
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Lucky for us, Dale Ertel was standing in the front yard of the dilapidated dwelling that houses the exhibition. Dale and his family originally cohabitated with the snakes and he bragged that his fifteen year old son used to sleep with two cobras on his headboard. But as the menagerie expanded, new human living quarters |
had to be rolled in. He now shares the lot in an adjacent
trailer home.
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Mr. Ertel The |
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In its favor, the exhibits are intriguing and Dale is so enthusiastic in his presentation that it was hard not to be taken in. He sped from one exhibit to the next with a very informative, yet downhome spiel about each reptile. We had to wonder how much of it was fact and how much mere folklore. |
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“Heres a 15 foot python that weighs 130 pounds, they get big enough to eat a donkey, here, look at this picture, this is a local pygmy rattler, just 15 inches, now hell put you in the hospital for a few days, but you wont die.” Helpful hill country rhymes like “Red touch yellow – Kill a fellow – Red touch black – Venom lack” to distinguish the venomous coral snake from the bite-friendly milk snake are included at no extra charge. Dales |
incubator to
process them. He then “sells them for dirt cheap,” telling
the buyers “dont feed them too much or youll
have a too big snake on your hands.”
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In addition Many |
you gonna
call? Snake Busters!). When asked where he gets his non Arkansas
snakes he informed us that he “horse trades with reptile
people all over the states.”
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Dale David & |
Cohabitating with cobras? Gives me chills just thinking about it. Interesting experience, minus the roaches.
>I see you have a Dale Ertel, better known as Snakeworld. Located on hwy. 62 west Berryville, AK between Eureka Springs and Berryville. Great guided tour,Dale really knows his snakes. A very interesting place to stop by. To just get away from all the things that Eureka Springs are well these days for.Very educational. A must see.
>Um, er, no. Nuh-uh. Nyet. Not. And no, on so many levels. Roaches for kids?! Seriously? I might have nightmares tonight. There must be a law about living conditions, even for snakes. Or not. Ew.