|
1-6 of 6 messages
|
Page 1 of 1
|
|
Good Story to Share
|
Reply
|
|
by pitbulllady on October 10, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Remember awhile back when we had a topic on "stupid" people vs. "ignorant" people? This really illustrates that difference, perfectly.
My next-door neighbor is an elderly Black man who has lived around my family since he himself was a child. Like most Black people growing up in the rural, pre-Civil Rights era South, he never went to school, and cannot read, write or do basic math. He also grew up being told horror stories about how terrible and evil and dangerous snakes were, and he's really scared of them. He is, however, also quite curious about them, and loves to ask me questions about them, and does not question my knowledge or doubt that I'm telling him anything but the truth, even if it contradicts everything he was always taught about snakes previously. He does not wish to touch a snake, but at least he had learned to respect them and not hurt them, although living around my grandfather, who was very protective of "his" Rat Snake population, helped instill that!
Anyway, today, when I got home from a horrific day at work, I found the five-gallon bucket I usually use to carry dog food in while feeding the dogs sitting under the carport with a sheet of plywood on top, held down by a cinder block, with a small stick wedged between the plywood and the bucket's edge. I figured right away that SOMEBODY must have caught SOMETHING and put it in the bucket while I was at work, but I didn't know WHAT I'd find in the bucket. My neighbor had been watching out for my return, and came outside, to warn me to "be careful and not let the snake get out", so at least I knew it was a snake inside. When I asked him who brought it over and put it in the bucket, figuring it was the guy who does paint-and-body work on my Studebakers, since he does catch snakes, I was really surprised when he told me that HE had caught the snake himself, in the front yard between our two houses! He had no idea what kind of snake it was, but after spotting it when he went to the mailbox, he promptly went into my backyard and got one of my snake hooks from under the garage, and used it to pick up the snake just like he'd seen me use it. After putting the "lid" on(plywood and cinder block), he'd gotten worried that the snake would suffocate before I got home, so he raised the plywood up and put that stick in there to create a space for air to enter! After lifting the plywood, I found one of the most gorgeous Corn Snakes I've ever seen, a three-foot female, inside. She's a fine example of a South Carolina Coastal Plains Corn if I've ever seen one, with good weight, too. I was really pleased and proud that this old guy had caught the snake all by himself, without hurting the snake! He told me, laughing, that his first inclination upon seeing that snake stretched out on the ground was to find something and kill it and just not tell me about it, but as he put it, he was "scared Mr. Joe(my late grandfather)would come back from the grave and whup me for killin' a snake", lol! My grandfather might not have been a "herper", but one of the few things that would put this normally-passive man in a fighting mood was for someone to kill one of the resident Rat or King Snakes, which he valued as rodent controllers here on the farm. Everyone who worked for him when he still farmed quickly learned that killing a snake was not tolerated! After my neighbor caught the snake, and it didn't try to hurt or attack him as he'd always been taught snakes would do, he got worried about its air supply and had kept going back to check up on her, until I got home. That was just such a great example of someone with no education at all, but who is still willing and able to learn about snakes, to put aside old wives' tales, and control his own fear to be able to do something he never dreamed he'd ever do-catch a live snake. It worried me a bit that it could have been a venomous snake, but the old guy seems to have a pretty good "command" of a snake hook and I don't think he'd take a real chance of being close enough to get bitten; he wasn't trying to show off any bravado, and since he had no idea what kind of snake this was, he was going on the assumption that it WAS dangerous.
Here's the snake, after I got her in a tank: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/pitbulllady/Snake%20Photos/DSCF7144.jpg .
|
| |
|
RE: Good Story to Share
|
Reply
|
|
by Cro on October 10, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
That is a beautiful corn snake !
Just goes to show that folks can be reached on a one to one basis, and educated about how usefull snakes can be.
Thanks for sharing the story.
Best Regards John Z
|
| |
|
RE: Good Story to Share
|
Reply
|
|
by Venomjunkie on October 10, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
Wow, that is truly amazing to me. Speaking from my personal experiences with non-herpers and their views on snakes, I quite often lose any faith I've ever had in the human race. It's people like this man, however, that renew that faith (for the time being anyway). Thanks for sharing.
|
| |
|
RE: Good Story to Share
|
Reply
|
|
by viandy on October 11, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
WOW -- that is a BEAUTIFUL snake. Be sure to let your neighbor know that people you told about it were impressed that he didn't hurt it. He sounds like the kind of neighbor I wish I had!
|
| |
|
RE: Good Story to Share
|
Reply
|
|
by FSB on October 14, 2008
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Funny how the most awesome snakes often seem to be found by people who'd rather not be finding them... It's terrible to think what might have happened to this beautiful snake had it been found by someone else (as the chances are great it wouldn't be one of us!). I really hope something wonderful happens to that man soon... we need people to believe that being nice to snakes brings good luck!
I managed to converted a neighbor of mine from being a snake-killer to a snake-catcher, and it's really paid off well. He started putting them in buckets for me instead of whacking them, and I've ended up with a very nice eastern milk with a very red pattern and two beautiful young timber rattlesnakes as a result. He still doesn't really like them, but I think he gets a kick out of seeing my enthusiastic reaction. He's a pretty tough old bird, and not about to be afraid of anything!
|
| |
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this topic.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
Check our help page for help using
, or send questions, comments, or suggestions to the
Manager.
|
