While some interesting and fun stuff has happened recently (ie, got a call from someone who found three black racers trapped in a wad of landscape netting, a local news station called me and wants to do a story on me helping out neighbors with snakes, etc.,) I still need to vent, and I know some of you will understand.
I've really put myself out there in the local community to 1) stop people from killing snakes, and 2) fight the snake hysteria and misinformation that we all now is so prevalant. I do it to help people and snakes, I don't ever take money. While many people are willing to learn, everytime I think I'm making progress, a new wave of stupidity hits.
- "There are water moccasins around here." (There aren't, and every time I've heard someone say that, it is actually a water snake.)
- "I saw a baby copperhead." (No, it's a Dekay's snake.)
- "There are pygmy rattlesnakes around here" (No, that's even more ridiculous than water moccasins.)
- "I'm thinking of buying a house and I really want a pool, but I'm scared it will attract snakes."
And then there are those people who seem to want to remain scared and ignorant. That's what bothers me the most. Some guy texted me today and asked me to come remove a snake from his yard. I asked him to send me a picture. He sends a picture, it's a 4 foot black rat snake. Rest of conversation:
Me: That's a black rat snake. It's totally harmless. If you just leave it alone it will go away on its own.
Him: I'm not scared of it, but it's been hanging around here for about a week.
[I always laugh when people who want me to move/relocate a snake say "I'm not scared of it"]
Me: Well, that may be a good thing. If it's hanging around, it could be because it's eating real pest animals like mice/rats.
Him: Well, I could put out traps for mice and rats. But my kids have to walk by the snake all the time now.
Me: [getting frustrated, but trying to keep my composure] So why is that a problem? They present no danger. Isn't it better to teach kids to NOT be scared of animals that are not dangerous and eat pests like mice/rats?
He stopped responding after that. Again, it always cracks me up when these tough guys call me, and then when I explain how silly it is to be scared of a snake, they always say, "Oh, it doesn't bother me, I'm just worried about my kids." Huh??
Anyway, thanks for reading. I was so frustrated today I actually created a simple website to address the stupidity. It applies to the area I live in, but feel free to use it:
natsamjosh.wixsite.com/insularboas