Man taught himself to charm snakes
David Frolich is wrapped by a King Cobra. • Photos Submitted
By Tom Victoria
An average day for David Frolich is traipsing through the jungle picking up poisonous snakes with his bare hands.
Along with a passion for the misunderstood reptile, David has a message for people by demonstrating his uncanny ability to free handle the venomous creatures on his YouTube channel Davidsfeed.
“I just want to show snakes are not evil creatures out to get people,” he said.
The snake’s reputation has not been helped by fiction. From the beginning of moviemaking to Indiana Jones proclaiming “I hate snakes!” in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” to the Samuel Jackson film “Snakes on a Plane,” the snake is frequently cast as a threat to the hero.
According to David, 22, he is showing it is possible to handle venomous snakes because they are not hostile. However, he stressed other people should not follow his example.
“I actually discourage people from doing it,” David said.
He said extreme patience is needed to touch such snakes.
“No fast, harsh movements,” he said.
Free handling snakes also requires a person to not become too complacent, staying alert to their mood.
“You have to always be on your toes,” David said.
He said snakes much prefer to escape rather than attack something they fear may harm them.
Over the years, David has determined how close he can get to a snake without provoking it. He distracts the snake, often by bobbing his head back and forth in a rhythmic motion, to capture its attention, which enables him to pick it up carefully.
“Often, I use my head to distract or get the attention of a snake because they have evolved to recognize a face with eyes as a threat,” David said. “Their focus will stay on a face much better than it will on a hand or other object which doesn’t have the distinct features of a face.”
A preteen David no older than 7 holds an Eastern Garter Snake.
Teen David checks out a Clouded Monitor Lizard.
He said a traditional snake charmer does not rely on music to entrance the snake.
“Snake charming has nothing to do with the flute or the sound,” David said. “The snake is simply following the motions of the flute because it feels threatened by the movement. It would work just as well, if not better, with any other object, especially something with eyes or a face drawn onto it.”
David owns 30 snakes.
“I keep a variety of different cobras and vipers,” he said. “I don’t keep any nonvenomous snakes.”
Among David’s favorites are a King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) and a Blue Island Pit Viper (Trimeresurus insularis).
He has studied the animal, learning how to identify which of the numerous species of snake he encounters in the wild.
David explained how venomous snakes have warning systems for humans and other animals to be alerted they’re agitated. In addition to the literally named rattlesnake, other species make warning noises by using their tails to move ground debris, hissing or rubbing scales against each other.
In one of nature’s ironic twists, there are types of nonvenomous snakes that will feign attack by repeated strikes to the air.
“All of the African Egg Eater Snakes lack teeth, but will strike out viciously when threatened to seem scary,” David said. “In reality, their bite would inflict zero damage, so they always make sure to miss when they strike.”
David said people need to be most careful where there are snakes that instinctively remain still when sensing danger. He cited a viper that secretes itself under dead leaves.
David handles a Mangrove Snake in a raft in Thailand.
“Malayan Pit Vipers (Calloselasma rhodostoma) rely purely on camouflage to avoid predators and, as a result, are often accidentally stepped on,” David said. “They are nicknamed ‘venomous land mines’ in Southeast Asia because their bites would commonly cost people a leg before antivenom and good medical care was easily accessible.”
To avoid problems by accidentally stepping on a snake, David advises to never walk barefoot in such areas. He explained that is the reason for snake bites in such places as Thailand, where people walk around barefoot.
“Thick boots, long pants and never walking in the dark without a flashlight is the best way to avoid accidental bites,” David said.
Although currently taking college classes in Europe, David lives in Thailand.
However, it’s become impractical to travel back and forth to Thailand due to numerous travel restrictions imposed by governments in response to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
David’s parents are German. When they were residing in the United States, David was born. Spending his early years in Florida, David was exposed to the native animals, including lizards.
“There were all sorts of critters around,” he said.
When David’s family relocated to South Africa, his mother accidentally stepped on a Rhombic Night Adder (Causus rhombeatus), requiring a trip to the hospital.
The incident led David to become fascinated by the animal. He subsequently started looking for them while exploring the outdoors.
David only has been bitten twice by poisonous snakes.
The first time he was no older than 13. In South Africa, he found the same adder species outside, grabbing it behind the head.
“There was no sense of it attempting to struggle,” David said.
That quickly changed as the snake wiggled loose and turned. The reptile sank a fang into David’s thumb. However, David swore his friends to secrecy, so his parents would not discover what happened.
David eyes an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake.
Although there was swelling and pain in his wrist, the symptoms eventually subsided.
The second bite occurred in Thailand when David was 15. He was attempting to refill the water bowl for his Large-eyed Pit Viper when it struck.
“It was curled up,” David said. “I thought it was fast asleep. That was a mistake.”
His hand puffed up like a balloon. He postponed telling his parents, but the venom’s impact quickly spread.
“There was swelling all up my arm,” David said.
His parents rushed him to a hospital. The health care workers tested David’s blood to determine whether to give him anti-venom.
Since the testing established the effect was not life-threatening, David was only given morphine intravenously. He explained anti-venom is used sparingly due to people becoming allergic to it after repeated exposures.
Although David went home after a day, his lifestyle was impacted a little longer.
“The swelling lasted about a week,” he said. “I couldn’t let my arm hang.”
David said the fangs are too sharp to feel them puncture the skin.
“It’s really not painful at all,” he said.
David said it is the venom that stings, causing a burning sensation. Part of venom’s role is to help a snake digest prey, so it breaks down an organism’s cells.
After that bite, David has not forgotten to remove a snake before filling water bowls or making any changes to an enclosure.
Like other poisonous snake owners, David opposes the practice of de-venomizing the animals. The snake’s venom glands are removed, which can lead to infections, as the fangs only grow back when they are dislodged.
“There’s no way to justify doing it,” David said about removing a snake’s glands.
Snakes do not have a method for keeping their fangs razor sharp, so they periodically fall out and are replaced by new ones.
David's face is obscured by a Banded King Cobra.
David holds out a Canebrake Rattlesnake.
David said there are no classes for people wishing to own venomous snakes. Along with educating oneself on the topic, prospective owners typically find a mentor to instruct them on handling and care. Since David is self-taught, he did not have a mentor.
In addition to gland removal, David also disapproves of people, typically breeders, who keep snakes in tiny enclosures such as drawers. He said without sufficient room, snakes suffer from the lack of mobility with such symptoms as obesity.
Conversely, some venomous snake owners are not fond of those who free handle. David said that faction believes free handles jeopardize their legal right to own the snakes.
He said that assumption is false as his research indicate a public outcry and subsequent legislation only occurs when the pet snake escapes and causes harm to someone other than its owner or when is causes mass panic, costing the government money to locate the loose animal.
David did not set out to post videos of free handling.
“I was always quite a shy person,” he said.
He started showing some snakes on his Instagram account, which led his followers to suggest a YouTube channel. David subsequently started one a decade ago, before creating the Davidsfeed channel in 2015.
Last year, he partnered with Rupert Grassby-Lewis to produce the videos. Rupert films and narrates while David holds the snakes, educating the viewers on the respective species.
David said they don’t embellish their herping trips as some heavily edited television programs depict encounters in the wild.
“We try to keep them as the way it happened,” he said.
David palms a Waglers Viper.
The link to David’s YouTube channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMXp21fgHK-WEnDgc1f5abw