Chris Hartmann – Venomous Snakes

Chris Hartmann, a former member at large of the Jacksonville Herpetological Society, has held a passion for herpetofauna his entire life. He graduated from Santa Fe College with a degree in zoology and from the University of FL with degrees in natural resource conservation and wildlife ecology and conservation so that he could further his knowledge and spread his passion for reptiles.

Chris interned at the Museum of Science and History and used his connections through the JHS to become employed as an assistant curator of Natural Science. He was in charge of the living collections and routinely performed at outreach events.

At the age of 18, he acquired a venomous reptile of concern permit. Over the years, Chris has kept many different species of snake both venomous and non-venomous and has maintained a superb safety record with no bites or escapes. He took his experience to a pet store (Hogtown Reptiles) that specialized in reptiles and amphibians. He ran the store for much of this time and gained experience caring for thousands of species.

Once Chris Graduated from the university of FL, he worked as a research assistant collecting data on tree frogs and other species native to the Ocala National Forest. He also spent 2 summers in the wilds of Belize in Central America first as a student abroad then as a teaching/ research assistant where he helped with studies on jaguars and Moreletts crocodiles.

Currently, Chris is a regional director and acting biologist at a nuisance wildlife control company. Although his collection of reptiles has been reduced due to his active life, he still maintains a colony of eyelash vipers and a Texas indigo snake. He enjoys searching for and photographing wild snakes any chance he gets as well.