Twenty-seven-year-old Katie Scaramozzino has a thing for reptiles. She has what she calls a “collection” and shares it with others through Critter Club, her business, which showcases unexpected creatures at schools, birthday parties and other events.

“I currently have 13 reptiles,” she says. “Most are rescues or have come from friends. I have five different snake species totaling six snakes, five lizard or gecko species, and two red-footed tortoises.” During Critter Club sessions, Scaramozzino shows off her animals and shares information about each species and how they are beneficial to humans.

“I hear from a lot of people that the only good snake is a dead snake, but they are so important to our ecosystem,” she says. “Do you like mice and rats in your house? No? You want a snake around. I have a huge passion for educating people about reptiles. If you think about it, there’s no such thing as an aggressive snake, just a defensive one. If you come across one on the ground, you’re towering above it and it’s scary.”

Scaramozzino found her passion for reptiles while attending high school in Massachusetts. The curriculum at the school focused on agriculture and Scaramozzino studied natural resource management. “In school, I did what was called head-starting turtles,” she says. “Up north, when turtles are born and the cold weather comes, they haven’t had long to grow. So we’d raise them in a greenhouse for a year and, by then, they would be the size of 5-year-old turtles.”

That project ignited Scaramozzino’s imagination, but she quickly realized that if she wanted to go into the environmental field, she’d mostly be surrounded by men. “​​There were a handful of other girls [in high school], but when we met with professional environmentalists, it became clear that it was a male-dominated industry,” she says. “When I went on to work at a zoo, I had one other female friend who worked with the reptiles. Everyone else was a man.”

Scaramozzino moved to Florida in 2017. At the time, her aunt was a teacher at Sarasota’s Community Day School, and Scaramozzino started Critter Club as an after-school program there. “I’d bring my reptiles to show the kids, we’d do a little craft and talk about what we learned,” she says. “It’s grown ever since.”

Scarazmozzino says that her tortoises Radish and Sprout earn some of the most positive responses at events. But Spaghetti, her 5-foot-long boa constrictor, is the star of the show. “He has an awesome personality,” she says. “He climbs the white boards at school shows. He makes a great necklace. He wants to explore the world and see what’s up. Seeing his personality and that he’s a big snake, he’s a hit.”

Scaramozzino wants to continue to grow her collection of reptiles and takes any speaking opportunity she can get, so she can bring more understanding to creatures many people consider creepy. “I love public speaking and telling people about my passions,” Scaramozzino says. “I hope that they have learned when they leave. I’m lucky to be where I am now.”