“It is a bit of a rush.”
HANDLING snakes is not a chore for Phill Schenberg – it is his passion.
Ever since he was a child, Phill has had a liking for reptiles and things he described as ‘different’.
He witnessed his first snake at a zoo as a child and since then he has always wanted a pet snake.
Now his dream has come true.
Phill has a collection of three snakes, which he says he loves almost as much as his own children.
Previously it was illegal for people to own snakes as pets in WA, but as soon as the law passed, Phill got straight onto buying his own snake.
His first snake was a carpet python called Quassi, which he still owns today.
Phill takes him to schools, Roche Park and the PCYC to educate children about snakes and other reptiles.
Quassi was hand reared so he is very docile and happy to be around children.
His other pet snakes include Fergie and Solomon.
Phill is not only a lover of snakes, but reptiles and animals in general.
At his home, visitors will find turtles, blue tongue lizards, frogs, rats, sheep and birds, to name a few.
One of his main ambitions is to educate people about reptiles.
Phill said he wanted to educate children from when they were young to respect snakes and understand they were not violent animals.
“I want to educate children so when they get older they do not have a fear for snakes like most adults do,” he said.
He first became involved with snake handling when he heard people were killing snakes on their land.
“I would rather catch and re-release them so they survive,” he said.
Phill said snakes were an integral part of the environment, but people had no respect for them because they thought they were violent.
“Only five percent of snake bites are accidental,” he said.
He said people were usually bitten because they tried to pick snakes up or kill them.
Phill said his major concern was that the carpet python was an endangered species, but many people did not look at the type of snake that had bitten them, and instead just killed them.
He does not charge people to remove snakes, but with the high cost of petrol and the fact that he has to drive 50 kilometres from town to re-locate them, Phill does ask for money to pay for fuel.
“I do not do it for the money – I do it because I love it,” he said.
“It is a bit of a rush.”
Phill said the job was sometimes difficult when people called him to relocate a snake, but they did not keep an eye on it.
They move very quickly and sometimes people are not quite sure where the snake has moved to by the time he arrives at their property.
Phill is registered through the Department for Environment and Conservation for snake handling, which is recognised Australia wide.
In the future, Phill is planning on building a shed at the back of his home to house a reptile park. He said it would be good for tourism and to show people that snakes were not threats.
When he is not handling snakes, Phill is also a security guard and works at the mechanical workshop at the PCYC.
He said if he opens a reptile park at home, he would be able to work with something he loves, rather than working as a security guard, dealing with people who had been drinking.
Phill lives in Cardiff with his partner Meg and their children Dannielle, Branndyn, Josh and Caleb.
Email a friend