By Katey Khaos

Snakes and spiders inhabit many people’s fears and nightmares ~ but not those of Rob Christian. He’s embraced the cold-blooded and the creepy-crawly and has even removed the fear of these animals for others.

Christian’s interest in reptiles and arachnids began when he was a kid.

“My mom has been keeping tarantulas for 30-plus years, and she always kept them when I was growing up. While she was cleaning their cages, my sister and I would walk around the house with the tarantulas on our shoulders. As a kid, I would go out and look for creepy-crawlies in my yard, and I would catch snakes. That’s where my passion for reptiles started,” Christian explained.

While tarantulas were completely acceptable in the Christian household, snakes weren’t nearly as welcome. “I was never allowed to keep snakes when I was younger because my father is terrified of them. I was only allowed to get my first snake when I started high school.”

Christian’s first snake was a ball python, cleverly and affectionately named Monty. Monty is still alive and well at the age of 10 and still has a good 10 years ahead of him.

Since then, Christian’s collection has grown significantly ~ 31 at last check ~ including Borneo short-tailed pythons (his personal favorite), blood pythons, tiger rat snakes and Amazon tree boas.

Christian has always been willing to teach anyone about the animals he’s passionate about. Since kindergarten, Christian has been giving presentations to his classmates. After years of doing so, his teachers encouraged him and his mother to open an educational business ~ Radical Reptiles of Randolph (Mass.).

Opened in 2004, Radical Reptiles of Randolph was run by the mother-son duo, Rob and Bernadette Christian. Together, they did educational programs for schools, summer camps, birthday parties and more. They also did two free programs for a homeless shelter in Boston each year, and they booked programs at the Boston Public Library.

“I really enjoyed working with the animals and educating the public about reptiles and arachnids. Many people have gone into the programs with a solid fear of snakes, and after learning a little bit about them, I’ve had many people come up to me after a program asking where they could get their own pet snake,” Christian said.

Radical Reptiles of Randolph closed in 2011. With his mom moving to Arizona briefly and Christian in college full time, it was difficult for Christian to keep up with the business on his own. However, Christian is still willing to teach anyone about these seemingly scary critters.

Christian is currently working on his next endeavor with reptiles ~ he’ll be working at a friend’s reptile shop, HB Exotics, owned by Jasin Chapman. The store is set to open this spring in Scarborough, Maine. “It has always been my dream to work with reptiles and make a living at it. So getting the opportunity to turn my passion into a full-time job is a dream come true,” Christian said.

Photos by Katey Khaos