"Ever since I was little I was bringing home rattlesnakes and garter snakes," he said.

Born in Sydney, Mr Lowndes moved with his family to the United States at six months. At age 24, he and his family moved to St Helens.

"When I moved to Australia I had to give away all my reptiles," Mr Lowndes said. "I had Burmese pythons, boa constrictors, tortoises, but I had to let them go."

After years of working in hotel management, Mr Lowndes had a yearning to get back into his true passion of handling snakes.

For about two years he built and developed the Serpentarium on the outskirts of St Helens, all the while collecting a variety of constrictors from across the world.

Mr Lowndes said the facility provided a place for children to have a bit of fun when not at the beach.

"There's not much for children to do ... so I thought I'd build a bit of an indoor reptile exhibit that provides a place for people come and share in the reptile experience," he said.

The Serpentarium hosts snakes from as close as the mainland to as far as South and Central America. Particular slithering sensations include Mickey the green anaconda.

He is the first green anaconda ever to be in Tasmania, and is a member of the biggest snake species on the planet in terms of girth. Green anacondas grow to as long as 3 metres and can weigh up to more than 240 kilograms.

Mr Lowndes said it was about a two-year process to get the correct licensing and paperwork to get Mickey to Tasmania.

"I think that's a pretty big step for Tasmania," he said.

"We went though risk assessment, biosecurity clearance, a species management plan and then import paperwork.

"All the snakes are very rigorous health tested for internal and external parasites to protect Tasmania's biosecurity. It's a big deal and it's been a very big process."

Each snake has a themed enclosure based on their native homes - Mickey's Mayan themed enclosure hosts an authentic Quetzalcoatl statuette.

"That's actually an authentic statue from Mayan civilisation - it could be 2000 years. We want to get it dated, but it's hard to date stone," Mr Lowndes said.

Living next door to Mickey is reticulated python Raj.

Reticulated pythons hail from South-East Asia and are the longest snakes in the world, growing up to 10 metres in length.

Raj is one of Mr Lowndes' favourite snakes, with a familiarity established between the two.

"I can give him a pat and he won't bite me," Mr Lowndes said.

"He's a formidable snake - he's quite dangerous but quite intelligent. They associate with their keeper so I can go in there and feed him ... every time I come through the door he's expecting a feed.

"I can pat and cuddle with him ... sometimes he does get really moody and I can't even touch him."

Some of the reptiles, such as albino Darwin carpet python Citrus, were rescued by the Serpentarium after being confiscated by the Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Department.

"They've [DPIPWE] confiscated them from people without the appropriate license or paper work. You can't have any exotic pythons in Tasmania unless you're a zoological facility," Mr Lowndes said.

DPIPWE gave the Serpentarium five carpet pythons in total.

"They [DPIPWE] were really impressed and happy with our enclosures and what we're doing down here," Mr Lowndes said.

"It was either that or they'd have to put them down, so I was really happy to do that and reduce the number of snakes I had to go out and find."

Another Tasmania-first is the import of Indian star tortoises.

The tortoises are native to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and are on the endangered species list.

"Those are very special - they're the only tortoises in Tasmania," Mr Lowndes said.

"We're going to look at getting a male and breed them up and help the conservation of the tortoises."

There are more than 20 individual snakes, lizards, tortoises at the Serpentarium.

Most exhibits were sourced from zoos that couldn't house the creatures anymore.

Along with the other reptiles is a baby crocodile, which Mr Lowndes hopes to grow into a key attraction.

Rounding off the exhibits is the rather colourful and rambunctious blue and gold macaw Rio.

The Serpentarium also includes a guest research station complete with microscopes and educational books. Mr Lowndes, along with wife Jenefer, operate the attached cafe. Keeper Justin Gilbert also helps with the serpent-related activities, with the team growing quite close to their reptilian friends.

"I talk to all my snakes - even though they don't understand me they can sense my tone and vibration in my voice and that always keeps them calm," Mr Lowndes said.

"We love them and every creature we have here we handle and interact with."

Mr Lowndes said one of the key selling points of the Serpentarium was the opportunity for guests to get up close and personal with snakes.

"That's one of main themes here is that people can come and have a handle and interact with the snakes," he said.

Mr Lowndes said visitors shouldn't be scared of the park's serpentine showcases; all snakes are constrictors and are not venomous.

"I decided not to have any poisonous snakes here, they're all constrictors."

Another key point to the wildlife park was education, with Mr Lowndes giving daily keeper presentations at midday to teach guests about the various snakes and how to deal with one in the wild.

"When someone arrives for a keeper presentation, I talk to them about how to handle a snake, which are very different from our snakes in native snakes in Tasmania," he said.

"If you're heading out into the bush I suggest stamping on the ground because snakes pick up those ground vibrations and you should make noise and clap - that usually keeps the local snakes at bay."

Mr Lowndes hopes to educate guests to his Serpentarium about co-existing with snakes and breaking down the fear-inspiring stigmas.

"It's just good to see interactions and experiences with people and snakes because there is such a negative perception of snakes - that they're all aggressive and they all bite like the rattlesnakes but the pythons are completely different species," he said.