The image is old, antediluvian even. Woman and snake. Whenever the time and whatever the context, the pairing of feminine and reptilian has always been potent. There was Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden; the gorgon Medusa of Greek legend whose gaze turned men to stone; Richard Avedon's famous photo of a very naked Nastassja Kinski and python in intimate embrace; Britney Spears draped in albino reptile for her 2001 MTV Video Music Awards show. Maria Gara and her python, Fellatio, at Studio 54 every Tuesday.
Yep, you read that right. Meet Vegas' very own Snake Babe.
How many snakes do you own?
Currently, I have 24 snakes, but I only literally own about 12 of them. Twelve I keep permanently. I've had them all a long time, and those are the ones I use for magic shows, children shows and corporate events. The other snakes are the ones being cared for, nursed back to health, and eventually they get adopted out to a good home.
On top of snakes, do you have any other animals?
Oh, yes. All together, we have about 58. There are parrots. I have a big African tortoise. He's really cool. If you just take your arms and spread them out and touch your fingers, that's how big around he is. He's huge. Of course, I've got some Nevada desert tortoises that came to our place. Lots of lizards. I do mostly have reptiles.
Do you have a favorite out of all of them?
My favorite snakes would probably be my albino Burmese pythons. I have two of them. I'd say Sparkles is my favorite. He's about 11 feet long. He's just a big, dopey baby.
Sparkles, huh? What are the other names?
Oh, you don't want to know! Let's see, there's little Fellatio, there's Sixty-Nine, I've got Cunnilingus and Head, and actually Head is named Head because he's got a big head.
Is that your story?
That's my story. But, there's some normal names. I love sci-fi so I've got Mulder and Scully and Roswell. You start running out of naughty names after awhile.
So, you do snake handling--
Yes, I guess they still call it "snake charming."
OK, because I don't want to confuse it with the religion.
No! No, no, no, no. I don't worship them.
You do the cards and you eat fire. If you wore sleeves, what other tricks would you have up them?
I prefer stage shows, so most of my magic are illustions, and of course, a lot of comedy. I try and take a lot of old standards of magic that already exist and just put a sexier, naughtier twist on them. There's a card trick where a magician will predict a card that somebody picks and they'll make it appear in ashes on their arm. Well, I thought, You know what? How about taking the ashes and slapping them on a sexy girl's butt? Instead of calling it "Ashes to Ashes," I call it "Ashes to Asses." There's a trick called "Oragami." A girl gets folded up into a little coffin-shaped box, about a 12-inch-square box, and then you put swords through it. I call mine "Oragasm" instead of "Oragami," only because she gets a little bit nude inside the box.
Just a little nude?
A little nude. Just a little nude ... OK, she gets totally nude.
Were you ever one of those girls who ran away screaming from garter snakes?
I've always loved snakes. At 5 years old, I became allergic to fur. We got rid of the family dog, got rid of the stray cats I used to take in all the time. I was lucky enough to have parents who would let me have little lizards and stuff like that. Since I moved here, that's when the rescue part of it started. So we put together a childrens animal show. Once you start making the rounds with animal shows and kid shows, people know you have animals and they call you to give them to you.
How did the transition come about from doing the childrens shows to doing a more adult show?
That's hanging out with the wrong crowd! About 12 years ago, I started just pursuing modeling, and then I met a magician, and now he's my husband, of course, but I met him and he started sticking me in boxes and I'd be the girl getting the sword stuck through her and lit on fire and all that stuff. I was mostly his assistant for years and years, and then one day I just got a little greedy and said, "You know what, I want to be the one doing the magic!" He helped me put everything together and we decided to make it a sexier magic show.
What's the worst Snake Babe come-on line you've ever heard?
I've had probably a lot, but I think I'm just tired of certain ones. And the one I'm tired of is: "Hey, baby, why don't you hold my snake?" I must get that so often, you have no idea. And you know what, I say, "Only if yours is bigger," and they usually walk away. Because they think they're the first one to ever say that to me, especially after eight beers.
I understand you indulge men with foot fetishes?
Yeah, you know what, it almost started to be a fetish for me. I mean, what woman does not like her feet rubbed?
Why not? You've got grown men on their hands and knees, kissing your toes.
And these men know how to rub feet. These are guys who have been rubbing women's feet since they were teenagers. I'm sorry, it feels good. It's better than sex. OK, it's not better than sex. But my husband does not rub my feet as good as these guys do. I actually never realized how many people like feet. Because when I'm at Studio 54 and I wear open-toed shoes, I never realized how many guys actually stare at my feet. And guys will ask me where I got my shoes, my spiked heels. And I'm like, Oh, maybe they just want to get them for their girlfriend, or maybe they like to wear shoes themselves. I have no idea. But I'm thinking it's just more people have a little foot fetish thing going than you think.
Do you think the serpent in the Bible got a bad rap?
I don't think he got a bad rap; I think he got what he deserved. But because of that, snakes in the present get a bad rap. It all started with that Adam and Eve thing. Because of that, people view snakes as evil and slimy, and actually they're not. They're very dry to the touch. People are just amazed when they finally get to touch a snake. You'd be surprised how many people over 30 have never, ever touched a snake in their life. And they're just amazed when they do. Even if you don't like them, people are fascinated by them.
I understand you made an appearance at Celine Dion's wedding. Which is skinnier, Celine or one of your pythons.
Oh gosh, Celine definitely! You know, she looks thinner in person. But she was proportioned, she's very pretty. I've always been told, "You're so skinny; you're so thin." But that's just the way some of us are, and there's nothing we can do about it. I finally just hired a fitness trainer to try and gain weight, just so that I can look a little more toned. I want more tone in my body. I don't want to lose weight, but I wouldn't mind gaining some muscle weight. Some of us can't help it that that's the way we are. Don't hate us! Don't hate us because we're skinny.
To get Maria the Snake Babe to perform at your function, contact Jennifer Short at Area 51 Entertainment, 435-7354, www.area51entertainment.net.