Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm not a snake keeper but I admire all wildlife, I watch wild animals, I photograph them, I enjoy them being near my home, and then I leave them be. I live on the outskirts of town where I see a huge variety of wild animals, that suits me just fine.
I thought you people might get a groan out of this story. You venomous keepers may be the only people who'll understand why I am so shocked by the ignorance of this.

My next door neighbors are nice people but when it comes to any type of wildlife they really don't know jack. They think they're experts but they really don't know anything. They told me this story last year but then brought it up again yesterday.
They actually believe this. The man told me that he met a Mennonite man in Seminole, TX who says that rattlesnakes are now breeding with prairie racers.. he says to me you know the snakes that eat rattlesnakes. I said you mean kings? I was ignored when I said do you mean king?

Yup it seems that being a Mennonite makes you a herpetologist because it's true that the kings or prairie racers (I dunno which) & rattlesnake are breeding so now even though we don't live in Seminole we have to watch out because they don't all have arrow shaped heads, so now you don't know which snake is poisonous & which one isn't.

OMG how do you fight that type of ignorance? I tried to tell them the truth in simple terms. I said egg laying snakes can't breed with live bearing snakes but they wouldn't listen to me, I'm not a Mennonite man. I have a degree in veterinary technology, I've kept reptiles since I was 6 years old, that's over 40 years, we have a large variety of pets here, but I couldn't possibly know anything at all about an animal.
I'm female, I think that's the problem. ::rolling eyes:::

Then the man complained about the woodrats that live at the edge of our property as if we're so clueless we didn't know they're there. Yes we know they are there. He said that rattlesnakes live with the rats & we need to get rid of those rats because we'll have rattlesnakes living on our property, with the rats. Oh Puh-Leaze!

I told him the rats used to be under our house and we ran them out from under there. Now they're way out on the edge of the property. As long as they aren't under the house I don't care where they are. If a rattlesnake goes in the rat den for a meal so be it.
After all we live in rattlesnake territory, that was our choice we can't make them leave.
Geeze how do you fight ignorance like this?

>>Geeze how do you fight ignorance like this?

All the best ways are illegal...

Usually it's bullsnakes and rattlers. I get a lot of visitors at our refuge that have heard stories like this, but to their credit most of them are already pretty sure thye can be used as fertilizer. Of the few that aren't sure, I've never had to deal with one that wasn't at least clueful enough to understand when I explain that one lays eggs, the other gives live birth and that's enough to make them incompatable.

The stories probably start with someone who sees a known harmless snake "rattling" it's tail in dry leaves and doesn't know that most snakes do this and probably have since 100 million years before there were rattlesnakes. You might try explaining that (and maybe demonstaring if you have a ratsnake handy) but he doesn't sound like the type to be persuaded by mere facts...

Wosten of all was them hoop snake spreadin adder snakes that bred with the flying snakes. Now they can land right on yer hayed and spit venom right inter yer ayes!
I swear I saw these two beer chuggin fishermen just outside the power plant turbines on Lake James in Burke County North Carolina skinning and barbequing a very large water snake that they swore was a copperhead, and therefore good eating. Snakes were a sign of the devil up there and you know that saying about an apple not falling far from the tree? Their family tree looked like a totem pole. These people really still exist in 2006! It is not just a joke, it is true. I think the only way to break the chain is to get really good reptile books into the school libraries and give kids a shot at learning before they get influenced by maw and paw.

What teh man said, Don mess with my gun, my dog, or my varmit stories...

Them's fightin words! (LOL)

Frank
-----
"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

What's sad is I've actually had a wildlife enforcement officer tell me about "poisonous ratsnakes." Seems they have heard that copperheads and ratsnakes breed and make ratsnake offspring that look 100% like a ratsnake but are venomous. We were doing survey work at the time for that area and we thought he was joking but he was serious. After the the 3 of us (2 masters students and a Ph.D professor of zoology) explained to him that it wasn't possible he seemed confused/disappointed.

Bet your neighbors $1000, $100, $20....whatever amount would seem reasonable and not just the "I bet you a million trillion dollars type of bet" for the first person that can show you one of these hybrid snakes.

If no one can produce one of these snakes...then anyone taking the bet has to pay you instead.

You can make the money payable to charity etc if that helps.

It's amazing how reasonable some irrational folks can become when they realize that they have to back it up with their hard earned cash.

This technique is great for dealing with delusional types...I usually employ it against football fans that I work with.

Gosh for a person who doesn't keep venomous snakes I just realized I've done a lot of talking to venomous keepers in the past. I remember being told that story about them thar scary hoopsnakes LOL.

I remember now too that ratsnakes will "rattle" their tails, thanks for reminding me of that fact.
I really like the idea of offering money to whoever can show me the first hybrid. That's something I'd never thought about, money talks.. it gets people's attention so I really like that idea a lot. I can offer any amount & safely know that I will never have to pay it.

My husband has said for a long time that we's rednecks but them neighbors is hillbillies!
Ah thank hay matt be raht about that thar. LOL

The sad thing is, this man won't hesitate to kill a snake. There is no good reason to kill one, I don't understand why people are so quick to do that. We've lived here since 1992, twice we've found a rattlesnake right next to our house, both times we caught them then relocated them. Both were very young, with just a nub on the end of the tail. Both times it was the fall season so we assumed they were just leaving their birthplace for the first time. So hopefully because they were young & probably didn't have territory established, they were ok. I read the thread here about relocating them, I hope we didn't cause them any harm but if we'd left them here & the idiot next door saw them they'd have been dead for sure.

Oh & about a wildlife officer being clueless. I know someone in West VA who found some sort of reptile eggs on her property.. her local wildlife officer told her they were rattlesnake eggs.
DOH!
And our local newspaper ran an article 3-4 years ago about the influx of rattlesnakes being found in residential areas.
It started out with this question:
"What are these spineless creatures doing here?"
SPINELESS?!?
I emailed the newspaper that day & told them how ridiculous that question was & why it's ridiculous. I didn't get a reply LOL!

You guys have been very helpful. Thank you so much!

Growing up in Maryland it was the same story except that it was black rats and copperheads. I even had a highschool teacher (that up until this point I really respected) that even swore she was bit by one of the hybrids and almost died. I think the story went that it was a lab experiment and like 15 of the snakes got loose or something.

It's one of my favorites... right up there with people telling me that they found a bunch of copperhead eggs. Gotta love it.

-Will