Western diamondback rattlesnake (below), shakin’ its tail at me!

Black-throated monitor (below), resting on its buddy’s tail

Timber rattlesnake (below), apparently quite popular with members of serpent-handling churches

Black mamba (below)

Spectacled cobra (below)

Western green mamba (below)

Snoozin’ Siamese crocodile (below)

Nile monitor lizard (below)

Black-headed bushmaster (below); Dean Ripa, the serpentarium owner, is an expert on bushmasters and has experienced seven bushmaster bites

Cottonmouth (below), a snake for which I have a perhaps inexplicable fondness

White-nose viper (below)

Neotropical rattlesnake, or cascabel (below)

Cape cobras (below)

All photos copyright Monique Bos, 2011-12