co-founders

Co-founder of Ophidiata, Dr. G’han Ruth Singh is a certified mindfulness meditation practitioner and serpent-assisted meditation coach with more than three decades of experience living and working with snakes.

In truth, the journey that led her to co-found Ophidiata began many years ago, during the summer of 1966, when her parents purchased a ninety-two-acre parcel of land in upstate New York. 

It was, and is, a singularly beautiful place, ripe with thick green woodlands, glassy mountain streams, and sun-soaked fields flush with timothy and wildflowers. Profoundly transformative, the  purchase was a life-defining event for her, placing the wisdom of the land and the restorative energy of nature intimately within her 14-year-old grasp.

A lifelong lover of snakes large and small, Dr. Singh has always held a profound respect for them as sentient, curious, intelligent and gentle souls with highly developed intuitions and complex inner lives. 

Amid the rigors of life and research, she has further come to know these ancient creatures as powerful and empathic communicators of the earth’s restorative energies, fluent in the eloquent discourses of the planet and possessed of both the willingness and the capacity to assist as powerful adjuncts in our quest for human wellness.  

Helping others to achieve mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional balance through transformational experiences with these ancient and gifted emissaries of the natural world, Dr. Singh’s work focuses on enhancing clients’ bond with the vibrational energy of the earth via the interspecies communication that can occur within the serpent-human bond. At the core of that bond is the restorative power of the planet, the experience of which became so central to her life on her family’s precious ninety-two acres of land so many years ago.

As a lecturer, researcher, and mindfulness meditation specialist, and critically, as a two-time cancer survivor living and engaging with the giftedness of serpents throughout both of her recoveries, Dr. Singh was inspired to combine her understanding and lived experience of serpents with her knowledge of diverse cultural wisdoms and healing traditions, the ever-evolving sciences of human touch response, and the functionality of human mirror neurons in the work of Ophidiata, providing a pathway to increased mental, physical, emotional and spiritual renewal that’s nourished by our bond with the planet via the grace, wisdom and life force of serpents. 

Dr. Singh holds a doctorate in Communication Theory and has held teaching positions at the University of South Florida and at Springfield College. 

Now, as an elder in her tribes, she dedicates her professional energies to helping others on their path to wellbeing through the work, goals, and mission of Ophidiata.

Co-Founder of Ophidiata, R. Singh Anthony has been working in the field of veterinary care, animal welfare, husbandry, behavior and sentience for close to twenty-five years.

R. Singh has always considered it a moral imperative to do everything in her power to help ensure the holistic wellbeing and ethical treatment of members of all species, not only the individuals under her immediate protection or veterinary medical care. 

During her tenure in the field, R. Singh has held the position of Animal Researcher at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute and Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium as well as Animal Ambassador at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in addition to positions at other esteemed institutions. 

As a generative and vocal force in establishing new initiatives aimed at elevating industry practices in animal husbandry and enrichment, not limited to serpent housing and serpent learning and memory, R. Singh’s eloquent advocacy for enhanced understanding of animal sentience, combined with her tireless support of creative, new animal behavior and cognition protocols, and prioritizing the standards in exacting ethical animal-handling as a part of high quality of life practices are the non-negotiable principles that or the pulsing heart of her work. 

Working hands-on with a wide variety of zoological classes and species including species of rodents, raptors, and reptiles as well as endangered Florida panthers, bears, giraffes and sharks, R. Singh is also clinically trained in the field of individualized, strength-based mental health care.

Ms. Anthony worked in biomedical research for 10 years, holds a master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling and is the creator of a proven method that enhances cognitive behavioral therapy for adolescent boys with autism spectrum disorder based upon sensory integration therapy with adult corn snakes.

Proof that extreme longevity is not synonymous with diminished capacity, at 102 years old, Ruth A. Vernon brings acuity, creativity, and enthusiasm as well as bottomless reservoirs of experience and knowledge to all aspects of her work at Ophidiata. 

As a Jersey girl growing up in the 1920s, Ms. Vernon was quite unaware it would be in her future to advocate for the welfare of serpents and bear strong witness to their wisdom, sentience, and cognition. She was equally unaware that she would welcome them into her home, thoroughly enjoying the gentle, restorative nature of their company. And yet, so it has been for more than twenty-five years. 

With a rich tapestry of expertise gleaned over lengthy and successful careers in education, counseling, business, and administration, Ms. Vernon has been engaged in helping to contour the nature, depth and breadth of Ophidiata’s offerings since the company’s inception, and considers the later-in-life work she has taken on with Ophidiata to be some of the most rewarding, stimulating, and evocative of her professional life. 

Having been blessed with “good genes” and adhering to a healthful lifestyle are doubtlessly at the root of Ms. Vernon’s inspirational brand of longevity. Still, it's worth remembering that the ancient Greeks believed, in accordance with the teachings of the demi-god Asclepius, that frequent fraternizing with snakes accelerates healing and promotes long life.

An accomplished and esteemed alumna of Hunter College who holds a Master’s in education from Columbia University, Ms. Vernon remains an outspoken, eloquent editor and wordsmith who brings grace, humor, and an exacting critical perspective to Ophidiata’s purpose. 

Ms. Vernon's particular focus is on education as a tool for eradicating the socially-constructed fear, hatred, and generalized negativity directed at these extraordinary animals.