Wow, and it seems so many species live there!
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I once rescued an injured Calf. King snake when returning from a hike at Garin Park (east Bay Area ). It was alive, but had it’s tail amputated. Knowing it was harmless, I lifted it into my lunch bag and drove to the closest wildlife rescue center. Sadly, they could only humanely euthanize it. At least, it suffered less.
I’ve seen rattlesnakes at close range numerous times. Just as everyone says, they were quite mellow, so we gave them their space and walked around them.
Just this month, I was tickled to find a gopher snake on my patio.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/115223252
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I did herp outreach and education for quite a few years and I think you did the right thing, @nickcarlson. Like others have said, in the moment you don’t really know the full impact of your interaction. But you showed people that not everyone is scared of snakes and that knowledge and curiosity are ally fantastic things.
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I’ve been in a very similar situation years ago.
One time during a walk on the beach I saw the lifeguard walking while pointing a stick at the ground, and a big crowd of people closely following him and taking peeks over his shoulders.
My first thought was that he was using a metal detector, but once I got close I noticed that he was clumsily trying to chase a grass snake (Natrix helvetica) away from the beach.
Fearing for the snake’s safety I picked it up and took it to the bushes, away from the recreational areas of the beach. People were utterly baffled, they looked at me like I did something irresponsible and extreme.
I had everyone’s attention so I would have liked to give the crowd a speech about snakes like you did, but I chose not to partly because of shyness, partly because it feels somewhat pointless.
Most people tend to have very extreme emotional reactions to snakes and have little interest in trying to understand and accept them as part of our habitat.
Deep down they don’t trust science and feel like killing snakes and dismantling their habitats is safer than learning how to identify and handle them.
It’s an obsolete, domatic, emotion-based approach that will always be prevalent unless culture changes as a whole.
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Meanwhile back on iNat I have just IDed another snake. Dead.
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And, they had a pleasant experience of you; you likely came off as someone who was intelligent, willing to share knowledge, and an “animal lover” - should they or friends of theirs need help with a herp or something else, they know they can turn to you for advice without judgement. “you wouldn’t believe this Nick dude, he knows so much!” Win/win!
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Welcome to the forum!
I see very few snakes where I live, dead or alive. I like snakes!
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Other than the one in my long-vacant house, all the Hispaniolan Boas I have seen have been dead, slain by the locals. This species is nonvenomous and doesn’t grow big enough to harm a human; about the only rationale I can think of for why people kill them is that maybe they think that they are protecting their chickens.
Then again, maybe they don’t have a rationale. Maybe it’s just as you say: an emotional reaction and nothing more.
The rats that these snakes would eat are more dangerous to the chickens than the snakes are.
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See a few here in Australia (at least one per year) - I prefer them alive!
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Having been a middle & HS science teacher for exactly those types of people, I would encourage you to never stop teaching the way you did. You planted a seed, and it could grow in ways you wouldn’t anticipate. It’s okay if you never find out how.
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Thanks for the welcome!
I live in the Arizona desert, a rather rural place. I’ve seen plenty of Western diamondback rattlers, one Mojave green, a coralsnake and just the other day a CA kingsnake. This is becoming a habit!
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Was a kid present? You changed their view.
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Today I received a text photo of a snake from my sister, asking if the pictured snake was poisonous. It was a gopher snake with it’s head bashed in. I have tried to convince my sister and her family to not kill snakes, non-poisonous or poisonous, but to no avail. Can’t figure out why she even asked. But now I am working on my four-year old granddaughter and 1 yr 9 mo old grandson about snakes and bugs and stuff. They love them, almost to the point that they want to pick up everything, which scares me some.
There is hope.
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Stay with the young hope. That is our future.
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I’m a recovering spider phobic. Still give me the creeps, but I try to recognize the variety. Sometimes I can resist the impulse to squash them in the house, but I admit not always. (I like snakes…)
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My mom had an overwhelming fear of snakes. She couldn’t bear to look at even a photo of one. Fortunately, she never passed that fear on to me. I grew playing with the many garter snakes that would visit our property.
Decades later when dementia/Alzheimer’s took over my mom’s faculties, a Zoo-to-You program visited the nursing home where she was living. They had a corn snake and allowed the residents to hold the snake. As the snake was passed to my mom, she showed no fear at all. In fact, she ended up enjoying the experience. Dementia is terrible but in this case, it let her finally appreciate something that had terrified her for her entire life.
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What I summarise from the thread, so far, is you (@nickcarlson ) have probably lit a fire in some one. And many wishes that you keep (en)lighting such sparks and fires.
When i went for my post graduate programme, and the Indian city of Bhopal, I was a nature “lover” but had a fear of snakes, Bhopal (and our campus) along with being the host of the big four Indian Venomous snakes is also hosted to bunch of other venomous and non venomous snakes . Here a senior of mine introduced me to snakes, encouraged me to read and once even let me handle a “not dangerous” snake. This helped a great deal - knowledge conquers fear.
Today I am not actively pursuing snakes (bad bad) but I don’t shy away from rescues, or passing on knowledge.
These days I live in a Big Four free area so my primeval instincts of jump back and yell are back but some what tempered by knowing what is around us.
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Thanks for sharing
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