Snapped: Snakes among us

When he’s not training at Octagon MMA gym in East Dallas, mixed martial arts master Klayton Mai spends his time charming snakes. He hand-raises up to 60 ball pythons at a time in his unassuming home. Pictured here is a piebald ball python, a native of Africa that carries a rare recessive gene that causes its graphic-print scales to be splotched with white. Don’t worry, ophiophobics, Mai’s slithering selection is sealed in a series of temperature-controlled boxes, so unlike cover-hog Eleanor Pigby, they aren’t going anywhere. Photo by Danny Fulgencio