Qualified Venomous Snake Instructors
Our trainers prioritize safety in all of our courses.

Joe Ehrenberger

Joe was a Senior Keeper at Indianapolis Zoo, an AZA-accredited institution, as a Senior Zookeeper with a wide variety of venomous (e.g. adders, cobras and relatives, rattlesnakes, and a variety of arboreal vipers and rear-fanged species) and nonvenomous snake species from around the world. His experience over 16 years also included husbandry of arboreal pit vipers and rattlesnakes at Indiana State University, he provided snake training to agencies and industry staff, and he researched Prairie Rattlesnakes in their natural habitats which continues currently. In recent years, Joe traveled to Central and South America working with native herpetofauna, including venomous species like Bushmasters, Fer de Lance, Neotropical rattlesnakes, and Coral snakes. He is also experienced with Gila monsters and Mexican beaded lizards, both of which are venomous lizards.

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Bryon Shipley

​Byron spent 6 years at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. working in the Reptile House caring for a number of non-venomous and venomous snakes, in addition to Gila monsters, a venomous lizard.  He later moved to Denver, Colorado to work at the Denver Zoo and after 21 years, is still working with a large assortment of venomous and non-venomous reptiles.  While employed at the Denver Zoo, Bryon worked on several projects outside the Zoo involving Prairie rattlesnake research, including radio tracking and handling for data collection. 

Mark Khosravi

​Mark participated in trainings for venomous snake handling via Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo. He is a Naturalist with the Fairfax County Parks Authority and serves on the Animal ID Board for the Virginia Herpetological Society. His call to service and education includes responding to calls from residential communities for snake removal and relocation in northern Virginia. Mark does numerous presentations annually on snake safety for staff with local and Federal agencies. He participated with other professionals in an Adaptation-produced educational video designed to introduce the U.S. Navy and other military branch personnel to venomous snake handling techniques.

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Matt Cage

​Matt has a B.S. degree in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University. Matt has over 40 years of experience in field herpetology and venomous reptile manipulation.  Matt has conducted reptile photography and surveys all over the the world. As an accomplished photographer, Matt’s  photographs have been published in numerous books, magazines, and research papers. Matt has 22 years of law enforcement experience and is currently a Detective Sergeant for a metropolitan Denver police department. Matt also guides reptile tours to the Peruvian Amazon. See Matt’s photos here.