SCHOOLCHILDREN in Waterford got up close and personal with a range of exotic creatures yesterday at Waterford Institute of Technology. On display were snakes, spiders and other unusual animals. Dave Griffin of Dave’s Jungle in Tullow, Co Carlow, brought a python, tarantulas, a snapping turtle, a scorpion, iguanas and a water dragon, among other beasts. “At the start there would be a few [children] who would be a bit wary, but they all come around in the end and want to touch them and hold them.”