Columnist Susan Snyder: Museum has a case of the snakes

Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2005 | 8:06 a.m.

It's not that I hate snakes.

OK, I do.

But the Las Vegas Natural History Museum is a great place. So when Executive Director Marilyn Gillespie says she is excited about the pending homecoming of Bonnie and Clyde, the museum's Burmese pythons, the right thing to do is to be happy for her, the snakes and people who appreciate them.

Bonnie and Clyde should be returning home in about a week to enjoy completely new digs, built because the museum's new bathrooms now occupy the snakes' old spot.

"They've been vacationing at Mandalay Bay," Gillespie said Monday of the snakes' six-month hiatus.

One would assume -- or hope -- that means they were in some type of snake enclosure rather than wiggling around the hotel at random.

Eeesh.

So, what does your average python look for in an apartment?

Location, location, location. The climate has to be just right -- about 80 degrees year-round with the proper amount of humidity. Gillespie said museum officials have to make sure the new enclosure's temperature gauge is working properly before bringing home the pair of 14-foot pythons.

The museum acquired the pair about five years ago from their owner.

"They were unwanted pets, as happens a lot," Gillespie said. "To have these in a house, well I can't imagine how awful that would be."

Oh, but I can. Shook off the willies six times just talking about them over the telephone.

Bonnie and Clyde once preferred live rabbits, as they always had been fed. But gradually the museum's snake expert coaxed them into eating dead ones.

They're fed individually in an area separated from their living enclosure. This is to make sure they don't get the idea that it's supper time whenever a human enters the enclosure.

See, somebody has to go in there to empty and clean the swimming pool, and well, you get the idea. (Not enough money on the planet.)

Gillespie wasn't a snake person either, until she got to know them better at the museum.

"Their skin is very nice to touch," she said. "They're very calming when you hold them, because they move so slow."

(Note that she said "calming," not "clammy.")

There is no word to describe the sensation I just experienced. But it wasn't good.

Bonnie and Clyde will enjoy a new swimming pool, climbing areas that resemble a tree and rocks, along with more prominent placement just outside the museum's marine life room.

You don't have to look at the snakes if you don't want to (and, I don't want to). But you might want to check out the new exhibits coming this year to the museum, which drew a record 83,444 visitors in 2004, Gillespie announced Monday. It's the first time attendance has hit 80,000.

"Feathered Dinosaurs," opening this summer, explores a relatively new notion that some dinosaurs had feathers and are closer to birds than reptiles.

And starting at the end of March, museum patrons can see the world's largest ruby -- a softball-size stone weighing 3,500 carats.

A precious gem of that stature deserves the best security possible -- say, in the center of Bonnie and Clyde's enclosure.

Of course, I'd never see it there.