A Museum Founded In 1990, In Albuquerque, That Is Dedicated To Educating The Public Of The Infamous Rattlesnake
The great Southwest…home to John Wayne Westerns, endless skies and plains…to historic gunfights and ghost towns… to the longhorn cattle, roadrunners, and, of course, rattlesnakes. While walking the ancient streets of the great Southwestern city of Albuquerque’s Old Town, amongst the Natives selling jewelry under the porches of adobe, Mexican mariachi bands, and knick-knack shops, is a museum like none other - a museum dedicated to the infamous rattlesnake…a snake that strikes fear on most all who hear the noise.
“There are a lot of misconceptions about snakes, especially from the movies, and my goal is to educate people on it,” says Bob Myers, curator, founder, and owner of the American International Rattlesnake Museum. “Snakes know innately that an interaction with a human will probably end badly for them [the snake]. Why would a 2-3 pound snake purposely try and attack a 150 pound human? That’s ridiculous.”
Founded in 1990 in historic Old Town, Myers has about 30 different varieties of live rattlesnakes, more than any other place in the world. Throughout the front gift shop and museum in the back, the space is riddled with signs and tons of reptile memorabilia. Myer’s goal is obvious - this is a museum of learning. “We have a lot of people come in that are scared to death of snakes, but are still curious.” ---
During daily interaction with snakes and going on hikes to observe snakes in the wild over the past few decades, Myers has been bit one time. “According to my bookkeeper, glass cutters have a more dangerous job than we do. We keep it safe and use tools. This is not a place where you want to make a mistake.” The one time he did get bit? “I was taking pictures with National Geographic and milking the snake for venom. I wasn’t giving the snake my full attention and, though I thought I was always extremely careful with handling them, I found there was room for improvement,” chuckles Myers, adding, “I don’t handle snakes for National Geographic anymore.”
Of course, Myers did not always have a museum. An Albuquerque native, Myers moved away to the swamp state of Florida, studied biology in college, and became a High School science teacher (No, his name is not ACTUALLY Walter White). Anyone who is used to the dry southwest and then experienced the climate of Florida can appreciate his situation. “Moving to Florida was a huge mistake for an Albuquerque kid,” Myers recalls, “it was flat, 12 feet above sea level instead of 5000. Not to mention humid!”
Needless to say, he made it back to Albuquerque, left the teaching field, and thought about his next career move. Always a lover of reptiles and wanting to a try a museum, he “decided to do his own thing.” He decided on rattlesnakes because “he always loved rattlesnakes, probably for the same reason why other people like rattlesnakes - the rattle.” His artifacts and snakes grew over the years, the museum doubling in size about 15 years ago, but now the museum is at capacity. Currently funded by ticket sales and gift shop sales, “we eventually hope to expand to 10 to 20 times the size of here,” Myers states, “with the help from a corporation like Intel or the city of Albuquerque.”
Myers claims that starting a museum was a hard decision due to his “lack of business sense,” however he has come up with some very creative ways of advertising. For example, the rattlesnake museum t-shirts are three dollars off if the customer wears the t-shirt out the door. It is isn’t enough to simply put it on over the clothes, people have to use the changing room in the museum to switch shirts. “We learned that the hard way. People would put the shirts on and then take them off the minute they got out the door. Still, in the summertime, 9 people out of 10 who buy a shirt go back and change. It’s great advertising.”
Though they have never had a snake escape or movie-like stories from the museum, nearly every person that comes into the museum comes in with a story, some that are completely off the wall. “We have a good-humored sign in here that says ‘yes, you can tell your snake story...but there is a $10 listening fee,” Myers says, “and some are so absurd, but they do believe them. One guy said that he chopped a rattlesnake in half and the two halves rejoined and it slithered away,” then added, “I don’t know what that guy was drinking, but that’s just not true.” About one time a month out of thousands of people that come in, Myers says a customer will tell him they were bitten by a snake. “You would think they would be more afraid of snakes, but it tends to go the other way. In the process of being treated, they tend to learn more about them and they get curious and go to reptile exhibits to understand more,” Myers states.
Whatever gets a person into the museum, they walk away with smiles and feeling good. From the smiling and friendly owner, Bob Myers, to the enchanting exhibits featuring snakes, reptilian postmarks, and snake license plates, the museum is certainly a worthy adventure.
Andrew Malo
A graduate of Northeastern Illinois University in Education, Andrew has taught for the past decade in Chicago, New Mexico, and Japan. He enjoys tinkering with trucks and motorcycles, woodworking, reading and computer programming.
Make Sure To Stay At:
Albuquerque KOA, conveniently located near a variety of restaurants, the aquarium, zoo, multiple museums and the fascinating Old Town shopping district. Includes a swimming pool, indoor hot tub, mini golf, playground, horseshoes and a huge park for pets.