The Lizard Lady
"GET THAT SNAKE OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!", was a phrase that would often be heard coming from Teressa's childhood home. Teressa had loved reptiles from the start. She grew up in the San Joaquin Valley where her favorite ritual of spring was braving the slippery mud slopes of the levees to go "frogging" with the neighborhood boys. She was the only girl and would undauntedly trade her frogs, lizards and garter snakes for baseball cards, marbles and cinnamon toothpicks, (such a Tomboy).
In 1969 she moved to Carmel, California to pursue a career as a ballet dancer. Living away from home she was free to have whatever snake she wanted, and her friends and family would "cringe" at the sight of her timid corn snake "Sunny". "After all, this IS my house." she would say to them. As her adult life unfolded she became a professional dancer, dance teacher, mother and later in life, a preschool teacher. Her daughter Rainia grew up with an assortment of reptiles... "My mom's pets." Teressa's best friend from childhood, Melanie Pickrell, would baby-sit Teressa's reptiles when she had to be out of town. After baby-sitting for Teressa so much, Melanie caught the "reptile bug" and began to collect reptiles herself. Later, Melanie founded "Lizard Lady's Reptiles" quite by accident in Hollywood, California in 1985. Melanie decided to take her small collection of reptiles to her son's preschool. Experienced as a preschool teacher herself, she did |
a little presentation and gave the children the opportunity to pet the reptiles.
The show was a smash hit, and a small business was born. Melanie's background as a teacher, being a single mother of two, plus struggling as an actress blended together to create an educational, interactive and kid-pleasing show.
The Lizard Lady was soon sought after by Hollywood stars like Chevy Chase, Bette Midler and Michael Keaton to present her show for their children's birthdays. Bette Midler was so impressed that she even mentioned it on one of her appearances on "The Johnny Carson Show".
In 1990, Melanie retired from her "Lizard Lady" business to pursue a career in fine arts. Teressa decided to continue the program in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her goal was to refine and expand the show beyond just birthday parties to preschool, libraries, classroom and corporate events. She also wanted to include enviromental issues and awareness to the problems faced by vanishing species of reptiles from the Rainforest. Teressa contributes to the "Rainforest Action Network" a percentage of her proceeds from the shows. "I feel very lucky, I love to live with and care for reptiles," says Teressa, "I've been doing so for 30 years. Reptiles are such ancient and interesting creatures, and their stories touch young lives. I see the wonder in children's eyes and wonder if a future "Lizard Lady", Herpologist, Crocodile Hunter or Enviromentalist is looking back at me through those wide eyes." |
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