Spiders and snakes
Corbin Maxey, the ‘Reptile Guy,’ helps kick off Payette reading program
By Jeff Ward
Argus Observer
Tuesday, July 1, 2008 10:37 AM PDT
PAYETTE — Scooter and his pals made quite an impression on a crowd of Payette children recently.
Scooter and his friends are part of the reptile show “The good, the bad and the ugly,” put on by Corbin Maxey, also known as the “Reptile Guy.”
“I’ve been doing this since I was 12, and I’m 18 now,” Maxey told the crowd of nearly 200 people at the Payette City Library during its inaugural summer reading program last month.
“I love doing these shows. The kids really get into the animals, and everyone learns something along the way,” he said.
Maxey has appeared on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” several times.
The show started with Scooter, a green iguana. Maxey told the crowd how he found Scooter.
“He was won at a carnival, and his previous owners fed him all kinds of stuff, wheat bread to ice cream, none of which is good for a green iguana,” Maxey said. “They eat fruits and vegetables. He had parasites and was so skinny we didn’t think he would make it. But Scooter just celebrated turning 5 feet long, which is a big deal for iguanas, and we have had him for four years.”
Humphrey, the snapping turtle, came out next with his neck stretching out as far as it could. Irwin, the Solomon Island skink, came out for a quick demonstration of how it holds on with its tail by wrapping it around Maxey’s arm. Pulling a volunteer out of the audience to help him hold the next reptile, Maxey, brought out Sidney, a Woma python. Next came the only critter with fur — a rose-haired tarantula named Charlotte — who decided it was a good time to shoot webs up Maxey’s arm.
Then came Junior, a monitor lizard.
“When we got Junior four years ago, we were told that we would never be able to use him in our show because of their aggressive behavior,” Maxey said. “Monitors can be very aggressive. They will eat anything and have been known to attack people. However, after some work with Junior and making sure that we have everyone stay seated, Junior has been part of our show for the past year and has been very well behaved.”
The star of the show required four volunteers and Maxey to hold him.
“Sherakahn is a Burmese albino python and weighs around 100 pounds,” Maxey told the crowd and his volunteers, who by this time had eyes as wide as dinner plates. “Albino pythons are not found in the wild. In the wild, they are brown and gold.” Maxey said.
The gathered crowd was invited to stick around for lunch for the children and to touch Sherakahn.
