Leapin’ Lizards

Jordan Vicars brought his reptiles to the library.

Cora, an albino Burmese python, views the crowded room at the Siuslaw Public Library on June 10, 2026.

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Written and photographed by Will Yurman

A hundred plus filled the chairs and lined the floor on a Wednesday afternoon to meet a tortoise, and an assortment of lizards and snakes at the Siuslaw Public Library.

Jordan Vicars of Molalla, Oregon brought boas, a python, a tortoise, a cobra and more, packed into plastic bins to entertain and occasionally scare a room full of children, all eager to touch, ok, mostly eager to touch and pet the reptiles.

Everyone who wanted to, got a chance to pet Rizzo, the monitor lizard.

Jordan Vicars introduces Elsa the corn snake to the audience. The ears of corn are just a joke. Corn snakes eat mice and rats, birds and lizards, not corn. But they do like to live in corn fields, hence the name.

Vicars does about 300 shows a year and also runs a reptile rescue service, he said. He began the business after five tours of duty in the military, including a combat tour in Afghanistan.

“When I got back from the military, I was a little messed up, and just didn’t really know what to do with my life.” Rich Ritchey, the Oregon Reptile Man, took Vicars out to lunch and told him he should start doing shows, performing with reptiles, something he had done a bit of before his five tours. Vicars told Ritchey he wasn’t the birthday clown kind of guy. “Turns out I am,” Vicars said.

First up was a tortoise, as Jordan Vicars presented his reptiles to more than 100 people at the Siuslaw Public Library on June 10, 2026. The morning show drew about 185 people.

Wednesday, he did two shows at the library. In the morning, 185 people crammed into the library’s Bromley Room. The afternoon session drew “just” 110 or so. Vicars has a showman’s patter. A mix of friendly reptile trivia, jokes and safety rules — if you don’t know what the snake is, stay away.

The kids, and their parents, yelled and shrieked, laughed and gasped as Vicars lifted the 15-foot boa and the venomous rattlesnake out of their boxes. But for Vicars, it’s a way to keep the PTSD at bay. He finds it calming to be around kids, he said.

José Atilano, 5, of Florence, meets Elsa, the albino corn snake.

Around 300 people, total, saw the reptiles at the Siuslaw Public Library on June 10, 2026.

Vicars needed nine volunteers to help show off Cora, a 15-foot albino Burmese python.

“I get to be and work around children all day. And it just brings me peace.” Vicars feels like he’s helping the kids, and loves it when they come up to ask questions or take photos. “It takes away all the dark stuff in the back of me and brings out all these awesome people that want to be a part of it,” Vicars said.