A reptile-loving father has no problem allowing his three young children to play with his 19-foot-long python and huge collection of lizard. This is despite the fact that his kids have been already bitten in the past.
New York Post reported that Eric LeBlanc, a 43-year-old reptile aficionado who owns a number of snakes and lizards, does not mind permitting his children Erica, three, Larry, four, and Katie, seven, to play with his slithery pets.
He revealed that he is trying to raise his children to have no fear of reptiles as these pets live with them. LeBlanc had to move hundreds of apex predators into his home after a fire broke out his reptile store.
LeBlanc, however, admitted that his children were already bitten by some of the reptiles in the past. "The worst bite my daughter got was from a bearded dragon," Eric disclosed.
"My son got bit in the forehead one time by a ball python when he was around two-years-old," LeBlanc narrated. "He opened one of the tubs after me and basically startled it - the python jumped up and bit him on the nose."
Despite posing dangers to his children, LeBlanc insisted that reptiles make great pets. "They don't have fleas and are low maintenance so you don't have to take them to a vet regularly like a dog or a cat."
Defending his actions, LeBlanc told the Mirror that his children are completely safe as he would never leave them unsupervised. He also added that his children know how to handle the animals.
"My children have been taught how to approach them and can definitely tell if one of the animals is agitated. They're really learning and know the difference between lots of different pythons and different kind of rattlesnakes - they absorb everything," LeBlanc stated.
"In this country everybody has an opinion. Some people think it's safe for kids to shoot guns," LeBlanc explained. "I won't let my kids shoot guns but I'm comfortable with them being around reptiles - I guess we're all pretty individual in how we bring our children up."
