'SLIMY AND COOL' REPTILES, AMPHIBIANS DELIGHT CHILDREN AT EXHIBITION.

Byline: Candice Choi Staff Writer

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Frog-lover Julie Weise had her eye on the blue poison dart frog Saturday at the Reptile and Amphibian Exhibit.

``It's slimy and cool,'' said Weise, a second-grader from Valley Village, who wanted to name the frog ``Bluey'' and keep it as a pet.

The frog - a native of Central and South America - was just one of the hundreds of lizards, turtles and other not-so-cuddly critters on display at the North Hollywood Recreation Center as part of a two-day exhibit sponsored by the Southwestern Herpetologists Society.

Visitors were invited to touch and hold giant snakes and watch turtles crawl around in their glass aquariums. Educational materials on the county's native squirrels and snakes were also on display.

Children and adults alike often know little about reptiles, said Julie Bastian, an officer with the county's Animal Care and Control Department who was on hand at the educational fair. The agency gets calls on snakes every day, but, Bastian said, few people can properly identify a rattlesnake.

Rattlesnakes are the only venomous snakes commonly found in the San Fernando Valley, she said.

When encountering a rattler, Animal Care Officer Troy Boswell said, people should keep in mind that the snakes ``aren't out to get them.''

``The best thing to do is back away slowly and let them go on their way,'' Boswell said. A garden hose is usually a good way to shoo away snakes.

Unless people have pets or children, it's not even necessary to have snakes taken away, said John Steiner, a representative with the Herpetologists Society, which sponsored the fair.

Some of the spectators milling about the reptiles already knew all about them.

Five-year-old Jake Dean was on the lookout for an Australian spiked lizard he learned about in his preschool class. He said he'd like one as a pet but said his parents weren't having it. < ``They don't want it in the house,'' he said.

Eighth-grader Jessie Buth grew up around snakes and has plenty as pets. When her friends come over, she lets them hold her rosy boa to help them overcome any fears they might have, she said.

Her father, Don Buth, raised corn snakes when she was little. The baby snakes didn't scare her, but they did frighten her older brother.

``He's two years older than her - but he screamed and ran out of the house,'' Don Buth said.

Candice Choi, [phone]

candice.choi(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) It took five men to show support for Lilith, a Burmese python, at the Reptile and Amphibian Exhibition on Saturday.

(2) Tim Capps of SnakesOnline.com lets kids pet a 13-foot python.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News