SNAKES haven't had a great press. From "Snakes alive!" as an expression of distaste, to the serpent who seduced Adam and Eve and the description of journalists as "reptiles", there's a strong suggestion that there's something wrong with the creatures St Patrick is supposed to have expelled from Ireland.

Well, whether he did or not, there are those in the country today determined to resurrect the respectability of the serpentine, and who are actively engaged in re introducing snakes into the land.

For today the stock, as it were, of the reptile is rising. There is the interest generated in recent years by what one might call the Jurrasic Park factor the upsurge of films, TV and magazines devoted to human interaction, real or imagined, with the reptilian world. What a generation ago might have resulted in automatic repulsion represents today a source of fascination, especially for the younger generation.

Thomas McElheron, the captive breeding adviser of the Irish Herpetological Society (HSI) (herpetological - that's the correct name for a society interested in snakes and other reptiles) says over the past 10 years his attitude to reptiles has gone from horror to acceptance through knowledge.

"I was the Biblical syndrome - Adam and Eve, the identification of the snake as the bringer of evil. It was the major factor of Catholicism in their lives, the St Patrick syndrome," he says of his parents' initial attitude to his keeping of snakes in the family home. "Now, I keep snakes at home with my two young children aged nine months and four and a half years respectively, and allow the older one to handle them, with parental supervision."

Ben Lyons, chairman of the society, suggests that in present circumstances the snake has an appeal for young people which reaches out to feelings of alienation in the contemporary adolescent.

"The snake is the outsider in the world of pets. They don't have the big brown eyes of `cuddly' pets. They don't give or receive affection, generally speaking."

Ben, too, remembers that his mother also had what he calls a "phobia" of snakes. Now the good Mrs Lyons keeps, if not snakes, then four lizards under her son's direction.

"She has to explain to neighbours why in the winter she is to be found in the garden looking under rocks for woodlice to feed them, when there is a shortage of crickets," he says.

Ben and Thomas, who operate a reptile and exotic animal outlet in Dublin's Mother Redcap's Market at the weekends Friday to Sunday inclusive strongly defend the sale of captive bred - as distinct from caught in the wild - reptiles, as a means of preserving species worldwide, and of encouraging good husbandry and general care among owners.

"The snake or other reptile in the wild is often very stressed out, parasitised and subject to diseases," says Thomas. "This is particularly true when they are caught together by a trapper in the wild in a Third World country, and often kept together in pits for a long period while the price for a particular reptile reaches an acceptable level."

In captivity, however, there is a guarantee in the right hands of good hygiene and appropriate food, they maintain.

BOTH Thomas and a spokesman for the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, confirm that snakes from captive environments are almost invariably in better health and show better body tone than those brought in from the wild (Thomas's example) or found after escaping (the DSPCA example).

"The point is that captivity offers opportunities - not necessarily always availed of - for the better treatment of reptiles," says Thomas.

Given the bad press of reptiles, though, what is their peculiar attraction for the serious reptile keeper? The thought of the slimy serpent is deeply embedded in our culture, so how is this to be overcome?

"First of all," says Thomas, "the snake is not a slimy creature, it is in fact the driest of creatures, being obliged to adapt to its environment normally a desert or other such place where moisture is not in continuous supply by preserving as much moisture as possible. It is, in consequence, he says, very dry indeed.

"In fact," says Ben Lyons, "the snake does not even urinate. It secretes uric acid in a solid form, in order to preserve moisture." So much for sliminess: the snakes in Ben and Thomas's shop are cool, but dry to handle, leaving no feeling of oiliness on contact.

"It is extremely satisfying to see snakes thrive, and you have great pleasure in watching them breed," says Ben, who explains that during this year, he and Thomas hope to breed at least 200 eggs spread over the 30 or so species of snake they keep at the shop and their inner city homes.

But does feeding them, considering that they are carnivores, produce further ethical problems?

"We feed them de frosted rodents - mice and rats and while some people object to this, sometimes they will be the kind of people who pen a letter to the paper on the subject, and then get up, put it in their best leather jacket and go out to post it, says Ben, highlighting the ironies inherent in our everyday attitudes to animal welfare.

"Based on our association's approved ethics, few would feed live food to their pets," says Ben, who points out that snakes, like most wildlife, are opportunistic feeders in the wild, In countries with large rodent populations, snakes play an important part in preventing the spread of rodent carried diseases.

The HSI is strongly in favour of greater regulation in the business of selling reptiles, and indeed other exotic pets.

AT PRESENT, all that is required for the legal importation of exotic pets is a licence from the Office of Public Works. This, says Thomas, is inadequate.

"We are seeking in the HSI to bring in proper legislation pertaining to the keeping of exotic species. It is absolutely wrong to be able to do what you like."

Consequently, he says, pet shop owners should be careful to whom they sell snakes and other exotic pets. He outlines his and Ben's own shop policy.

"We have turned down people who have large families of small children, and who wanted large snakes. We don't encourage impulse purchasing; we get people who express an interest to join the society first. We will sell snakes - small ones - to the under 12s and to teenagers who clearly demonstrate a level of maturity," says Ben, who makes the point that several of the HSI's active members are in this age group and are quite knowledgeable.

Thomas, who has two young children of his own under the age of five, adds: "If you ask me, I'd prefer to have my children around snakes than around dogs. If you look at some kids these days walking around with American pit bull terriers, or driving their fathers' cars, it makes you think."

John Bainbridge, a Dublin based veterinary surgeon interviewed for this article, who has experience in his practice of treating many exotic pets, says that the HSI "would tend to represent fairly skilled reptile keepers. The association is doing all it can to improve the keeping of reptiles. If reptiles are to be kept in captivity, it's well that they are kept properly."