A Day In The Life Of A Traveling Reptile Show

DOWNERS GROVE, IL — As a kid growing up in Oak Lawn watching Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom,” Dave DiNaso wanted nothing more than to grow up working with wild animals.

For the past three decades, DiNaso’s “Traveling World of Reptiles Show” has appeared in thousands of classrooms, scout meetings, birthday parties, senior centers, private parties and libraries, using boxes of live snakes to teach the public, especially kids, about ecology.

“Reptiles have been a passion of mine since I was a young child,” said DiNaso, who lives in Downers Grove. “When I was a little kid, I would bring home salamanders and turtles. I wouldn’t keep them long and let them go where I caught them. Here I am in my 50s, doing what I wanted to do when I was five.”

Between DiNaso and his team – Jeremy Talby and Brendan Baker– they own hundreds of reptiles, from alligators and giant snakes, to monitor lizards and amphibians. DiNaso believes reptiles to be the most feared, persecuted and misunderstood creatures in the animal kingdom. Habitat loss, pollution, over collecting for the pet trade, or species killed out of fear and ignorance – like that garter snake slithering across your backyard – many species are facing extinction.

“Snakes are very polarizing,” he said. “People don’t realize how important snakes are to the environment. They can squeeze into a hole and eat every rodent they can find.”

Although DiNaso did not major in zoology in college, little did he know how handy his communications degree from Illinois State University would prepare him for his future career as a reptile showman.

“It helps because I get up in front of crowds and speak,” DiNaso said.

DiNaso’s company performs between 1,000 and 1,200 shows annually, which amounts to about three shows a day. Most of his private events at schools and churches are capacity limited, to keep it low-key for the animals. In the summer months, he and his fellow herpers appear at fests and county fairs throughout the Midwest. Occasionally, DiNaso gets asked by a teacher to feed a live mouse to a snake, so the class can witness nature in its wonderment.

“We don’t live-feed. It’s not nature,” DiNaso said. “In nature, an animal has a chance to get away. Nature isn’t four glass walls. For every student rooting for the snake, there are two or three in the back of the classroom who are mortified. The whole idea of my show is to respect the animals. I don’t throw rubber snakes at people.”

He’s also done shows for sports celebrities and movie stars, including the late Paul Newman, who really did have intense blue eyes.

“The first thing [Newman] said to me was, ‘son, what the [bleep] does that thing eat,” DiNaso said, who happened to be holding a 16-foot-long python at the time.

DiNaso maintains temperature- and humidity-controlled, micro habitats for his show animals, which include Boulder the Tortoise, Zainy the Monitor, the python Julius Squeezer, Sumo the pixie frog, the rainbow boa Prize, and Webster the tarantula, in his basement. He’s probably the only resident in Downers Grove who has a 5-foot-long alligator – Axl – swimming in his basement.

“I’m one of ten people in Illinois licensed to have an alligator,” DiNaso said.

His wife doesn’t like snakes. DiNaso’s 17-year-old son is into the animals, and his 13-year-old daughter’s interest is piqued.

“It’s either in you or it isn’t,” DiNaso said. “You either love snakes or you don’t.”

When he’s not unfolding the Julius Squeezer the python for a kindergarten class, DiNaso travels the world and photographs exotic reptiles for Reptiles Magazine. He’s headed to Southeast Asia later this month to photograph king cobras, blue coral snakes and equatorial spitting cobras among others. DiNaso also has a YouTube channel, Nature In Your Face.

At the end of the day, when he comes home from work, he prepares frozen gizzards and catfish nuggets for the menagerie in the basement before he does anything else.

“I make sure everyone is fed and clean something,” DiNaso said. “This is my livelihood.”

Stay in touch with the Traveling World of Reptiles on Facebook and Instagram. To book a show, call 888-SLITHER (888-754-8437).