There's dumb, and then there's hopeless
As long as we're determined to test every child in the U.S., can we impart a bit of common-sense by making sure that they understand why the answer to the question, "It's okay to kiss your rattlesnake on the lips" is "False"?
What a moron. What a total idiot nutbag twit. As an amateur herpetologist, this guy sums up everything that drives me bananas about reptile ignorance. For starters, snakes are not ours to take from the wild, as this fellow did. There are hundreds of reputable breeders in the U.S. who sell only "captive-bred" animals - meaning, they started with wild stock way back when, but since then have selectively bred animals in captivity so as to satisfy the needs of pet owners without depleting the wild stock. There is absolutely NO reason to take a snake from the wild, and many reasons not to. Even if you're selfish enough not to care about the snake population in the wild, or about the stress on the snake of suddenly being taken from its natural environment and placed into an artificial one that may be sub-optimal, you should at least know that snakes can carry ticks, mites, and salmonella. Even a non-venomous snake can be detrimental to your health.
Taking snakes from the wild is dumb, but I'll give a free pass to every kid who ever brought home a harmless, pretty little garter snake. For a grown man to bring home a hot (i.e., venomous) snake from the wild is complete idiocy. I have zero respect for those who think it's "cool" to keep venomous snakes around. There are some serious collectors and breeders who are VERY careful with their snakes, but they are outnumbered by the bozos who consider a rattlesnake to be a status item.
Such people aren't a danger only to themselves. Southern Florida currently has a helicopter rescue team named Venom One that delivers a wide variety of anti-venom across Florida to victims of exotic poisonous snakes. Why was Venom One created? Because asshats with more money than sense thought it would be cool to import cobras and mambas and taipans to keep as pets. Snakes are escape artists, and exotic hot snakes that escape into Florida's swamps have plenty of heat, humidity, and warm-blooded critters to eat. And then they bite humans, and what do you know? Most U.S. hospitals don't keep antivenom on hand for snakes that aren't native to this country. Imagine that.
But this assratchet goes one step further. He doesn't wait for the wild hot snake he brought home to bite him - no, he has to prove to his friends that he can KISS IT. And the snakes kisses back.
If we teach kids nothing else in school, can we at least teach them that this is a really, really bad idea?