When I was about five years old I encountered my first snake. My uncle was building a house and as they laid the cinderblock, I walked through the bushes to reach the foundation and nearly stepped on a Copperhead. I yelled and ran simultaneously. One of dad’s cousins came over and killed the snake with a hoe. I still remember how startled I was to be that close to that snake. The adults were not as alarmed as I and handled the situation as if it were a normal occurrence. I guess their attitude caused me to not develop a major fear of snakes. Today, while I exercise caution around them, I have respect for their value and don’t suffer any major panic attacks when I encounter one.
While growing up there was a Rat Snake that was allowed to stay in the barn for mice and rat control. On several occasions, I encountered him. It always startled me to find myself face to face with this guy, but he was pretty docile and just laid around minding his own business.
I remember one time when I came up on a Copperhead in my back field. It was not quite full grown. The snake coiled up in the middle of the path I was using. There weren’t any dogs with me so I didn’t have to worry about them getting bit. I looked around and found three pretty good sized rocks. I threw the first one and missed slightly to the right. Then the second flew a little to the left. Not believing that I could miss at this close range, I took careful aim on the third rock and missed in front. The rocks were too close to the snake to retrieve so I walked off and told the snake that this was his lucky day.
Today, folks bring me snakes to identify. Some are dead, some in buckets, alive and some stuck to glue boards. The people nearly panic when I take the non-poisonous ones out behind the building and turn them loose. I like buckets and boxes better than glue boards. I spent thirty minutes trying to get a Rat Snake off of a glue board and he was not happy about it. When I turned him loose, he coiled up and struck at me. I told him that he better pay closer attention to who his friends are.
If you need a snake identified keep in mind, I prefer pictures. Or, you can google Snakes of South Carolina and Georgia. All the snakes are named and as you scroll down through the list, a picture of the snake appears. This makes identifying them much easier.
Many of my clientele are deathly afraid of snakes. I can understand that to some degree, but when a sign in the park that simply says “watch for snakes” scares them and causes them to refuse to come into the garden; I have problems sympathizing to that degree. I wonder if they have ever been outside. If you encounter a snake, leave it alone. You are too big for it to eat and it therefore prefers not to waste it’s time on you. If it is poisonous it can be killed, all others are protected. My experience has shown that life is the same after you see a snake as it was before. Don’t panic, you might scare the snake.
