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I was flipping through channels today and stopped at A&E! Billy the exterminator had a Diamond backed water snake-(NERODIA RHOMBIFER) held extremely tight behind the head.He was explaining with all his great knowledge that this snake was a Yellow bellied water snake-(NERODIA ERYTHROGASTER)----I have little use for ignorance in people that try to educate people with the wrong fact's! The reason I'm saying anything about this is for the simple fact that one other time I was watching him, he goes in to a house because of a reported snake on the loose, find's the snake and is confused on what it was when any 12 year old herper could have told him that the snake was a large Texas Rat Snake! Anyway I just had to vent to my fellow herper's what a complete IGNORANT MORON this guy is, and if I were beside him,I would have taking those stupid glasses off him and mashed them on the ground for putting a death grip on a harmless animal like that! Oh yeah,one more thing! He said that even though this snake was not venomous that it's saliva could cause really bad infection's! Sorry--I have been bit by every North American nerodia in existence darn near and never ever never have I ever, had a even a slight infection from it! You would have to have a severe immune deficiency to have any complication's from said bite!Anyway have a good one and happy herping!!

Every single time I see that stupid show I get pissed-off at how ridiculously IGNORANT he is!. Just today he found a young Ball python in a ladies house. He then acts like it's venomous for the dumb TV audience to get all excited over, then grabs it with his long tongs, and can't really decide what to think of it. Then he says ...I know it's harmless because it has "ROUND" pupils, so it must be harmless..LOL!

Sorry Billy!, python's do NOT have "round" pupils my friend, they are eliptical!..HAHAA!!. So he then goes on to tell the lady that these things can get 23 feet long for chrissakes........sure thing Billy the "expert"..LOL!

Another episode there was an absolutely text-book cornsnake minding it's own business in a ladies flower bed. So he gets all worked up saying he thinks it's a freakin copperhead of all things..LOL!. He then grabs it with the tongs, shakes it around a bit and acts like he is struggling with it as if it is giving him a real hard time or something.

It;s just like ANY other show on TV. Just as soon as the word "SNAKE" comes into play, it immediately has to turn into a three ring circus for some reason......*sigh*

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yeah he done the same thing with the Texas rat snake in the peoples house. He grabbed it with his tong's like it was a black mamba or something. The snake was also in opaque, so it's eyes were clouded and no telling what temporary damage he caused to the developing skin underneath with his improper handling techniques. I would like to grab him around the neck with those tong's and explain to people that i'm going to relocate him to another country because he might be a dangerous meth head! How does a tool like this get on t.v??? I think the majority of people, that know nothing about snakes, would be far more impressed if that WUSS would just reach down and pick the snakes up!! It's hard to get people to stop killing snakes when you have some ignorant jerk like this falsely educating his viewers!! I think A&E should discontinue his show be cause he suck's!!!
Ward Standish
lampro-king

I fully agree!. Unfortunately A&E WANTS the audience to get all worked up over absolutely NOTHING!. Because if I were on the show, people would plainly see just how HARMLESS they are and that snakes are absolutely nothing to be feared. These clowns want them to be loathed and feared so people gasp and ooh and ahh over his silly BS. That of course is the reality of the TV shows and the general public, and what gets me so damn irritated every time I watch a TV show about snakes.......ALWAYS!..

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

One of the biggest douchebags on TV!!! I was him call the corn snake a copperhead... also saw him run screaming out of a shed when he saw a 10 ft burmese python laying on the floor...didnt even strike at him. I emailed A&E.... never got any response... they are idiots too!
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Don
www.donsgartersnakes.net

I'm surprised he hasn't become "Billy the Exterminated"...

Hey I saw that episode. Don't know if the producers are telling him to play upon the general audience perception that most snakes must be poisonous and the ones that aren't are still dangerous to have in your huge property well away from your house.

What irks me is how humans have become big babies. A bite from a watersnake is not that bad, any kid would survive. A knee scrape is a bigger deal. But today, one scratch it makes news.
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Mark