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I recently went to visit longtime friends of mine, Heyward, Sharon and Ted Clamp in Edisto Island South Carolina. After the opening of the Serpentarium in 1999 I have found it still to this day, the nicest Serpentarium I have ever visited.
This wall holds photographs of Heyward when he worked for Bill Haast in his younger days. Other photos included Heyward and Teds first alligator, field collecting photos, and other memorable times.
This is a wall shot of one side of the indoor exhibits..note the atrium in the center…
In the atrium open air exhibit, Emerald Tree Boas and Redtailed Boas roamed freely. Can you see the three Emeralds in the tree?

Two Redtails…

And a fat happy Emerald…

The ceiling… Outdoors led me to this female Alligator guarding her soon to be nest…
And proud Papas eyes up close…I was about four feet away. Ted assured me he was puppy dog tame. And he was.
And on to the snake habitats…
The enclosures are open top and are planted with native plants and trees…
Eastern Diamondbacks sharing the basking area with a large Canebrake…notice the two snakes laying together?
The Canebrake and the Eastern were breeding when I first noticed them. I had to go get my camera and when I returned they had separated a little.
There were some very impressive sized Easterns in the enclosure, and all were healthy and robust.


What the???? Oh, it’s just two snakes in the same hiding spot. I did a double take the first time.
Heyward checking out some Canebrakes, there was six on this trunk basking…

And some Copperheads and Canebrakes basking nearby…

And a real nice striped Copperhead…
 

It was a “treat” to help out with a few chores and I enjoyed the day to the fullest. The Clamp family is one of the finest in the South.

First up the snakes needed feeding, so pre-killed rats and cut up fish were on the menu in the colubrid habitat.
Here a Red Bellied watersnake enjoys it’s third piece of fish…

Iguanas enjoyed fresh cut salads in the hot sun. It was around 87 that day.

After lunch some snakes got a little frisky… Hey get a room.

Interacial? Just kidding.

Getula six feet off the ground cruising in a tree…

And a Canebrake five feet up in a small tree sleeping…

Okay you will never see this again, a albino Eastern Box turtle, basking on the top of a 150lb Alligator Snapping turtle with a Yellow Bellied slider. 



Later that night Heyward and I went out looking for snakes. It was raining lightly and we walked a very old graveyard and actually found two Copperheads crawling among the stones! Creepy but very exciting! A first for me, but definately will do it again.

I can’t wait until I go back, I strongly recommend the trip to Edisto Island to see the Serpentarium before the Fall when they close down for the season. Here is their website for more information. Tell them that I sent you.
http://www.edistoserpentarium.com/

Heyward with a very large Eastern Diamondback taken in 1995 by Sharon Clamp.

And yet another giant…

Heyward with a big female Eastern back in 1972.