REPTILE FANS SHOW OFF PETS CRITTERS SLITHER RIGHT INTO PEOPLE'S HEARTS.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

NEWHALL - A pair of bearded dragons clung to 3-year-old Sissy Pickett like an infant would grab hold of its mother.

In fact, the toddler relishes the role so much she sometimes pushes the lizards around in their own stroller at their Canyon Country home.

``They're not my lizards anymore,'' said Stacy Pickett, Sissy's mom, who got the lizards last year. ``I didn't know she would like them so much.''

Little Sissy's lizards joined some 35 other scaly crawlers and slithery snakes at Placerita Nature Center's annual Reptile Festival on Saturday. It included contests among creatures big and small for titles of cutest and ugliest pet, and their proud owners matched wits to be named most knowledgeable keeper.

The 27th annual event - always held near St. Patrick's Day - is intended to dispel the bad reputation snakes and their ilk acquired on their expulsion from the Emerald Isle's by its patron saint, said Ian Swift, a Los Angeles County park supervisor and head of the nature center.

``This looks to be one of our best years, even with the rain,'' he said. ``It's a great turnout. Reptiles are becoming really, really popular as pets. A lot of kids want to show them off.''

Swift believes pet lovers' search for something different is fueling recent interest in these scaly - and often misunderstood - creatures.

``There is a certain mystique to them,'' he said. ``And there's a certain beauty to them. They have a variety of colors and patterns. Some are bright red and yellow. There aren't any dogs out there that are bright firetruck red.

``They're intelligent animals, and they deserve just as much respect and conservation as cuter, fuzzier animals.''

Erik Garber, 12, of Castaic, brought along a menagerie of serpents, including his favorite - a red-tailed boa constrictor named Persephone. A snake keeper for about two years, he was a winner in the most knowledgeable owner contest and able to recite his snakes' scientific names from memory.

``I just kind of hang out with them,'' he said. ``I hold onto them when I watch TV or do my homework.''

Ryan O'Leary, 5, of Valencia, showed off a bearded dragon he received recently on his birthday. He knows the tiny lizard inside and out, having spent hours watching it.

``When he eats, he fidgets,'' Ryan said, squealing with delight.

With her pet dragon Spike in tow, Brittany Dauglash, 11, of Canyon Country showed reptiles aren't exclusively for boys.

``(It's) the extra skin on their necks that makes it look like a beard,'' she said, answering a question about why Spike is a ``bearded dragon.'' ``And when they're threatened, they puff up to make their head look bigger.''

Lizards are known to be mellow pets, but Spike sometimes plays games with Brittany.

``He usually takes it easy, but sometimes he runs around and he goes behind the TV,'' she said. ``We have to find him. We play hide and go seek.''

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color in SAC edition only -- ran in SAC, Valley and AV editions only) Sissy Pickett, 3, of Santa Clarita holds her bearded dragon lizards while attending Saturday's Reptile Festival.

(2 -- ran in SAC and AV editions only) Cody Okazaki, 13, of Northridge, holds Jaws, his water dragon, while displaying it at the 27th annual Reptile Festival at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center.

(3 -- 4 -- ran in AV edition only) Michelle Kummer, 7, sports a snake face painting, top, while Bill Webber of Santa Clarita goes nose to nose, above, with his Burmese python, Graham.

Even Yee/Staff Photographer