Reptile & Amphibian Forums

To say that I am overwhelmed by the response to "Snakes Alive" would be quite an understatement. I started receiving electronic letters yesterday, I had several more waiting on me when I arrived at my office today.

I am a snake enthusiast, and I've kept snakes -- mainly boas and pythons -- for the last 14 years. At the moment, I have two fairly large Burmese pythons (both males) and a small ball python someone gave me a few months ago. Don't know the sex on the ball python, but my guess is it's a male. I have never really kept venomous snakes, though I have had people call me to remove rattlesnakes and moccasins from their yards (most turn out to be gray rat snakes or water snakes). At various times, I have kept a few rattlesnakes, mainly diamondbacks and one juvenile pygmy.

I worked for public health in Georgia for three years, but the governor cut the funding for my position, so I had to find another line of work. I used to work in the newspaper business, and the opportunity came up to get back in. So I took a position as the editor of the Douglas Daily News, which is actually a new daily that started in March. I have always used my work as a way to educate people about snakes; when I was with public health, I used to do snake shows as a part of my duties there.

The "Snakes Alive" article came about for one simple reason: I wanted to take some photos of a rattlesnake. I had been on the lookout for a rattlesnake for several months. Someone captured a fairly large diamondback and brought it to me. We took some pictures, and I spoke with the ER doctor here in my hometown to learn about the snakebite protocols for our hospital.

I was worried about the story. I wanted to make sure that it cast venomous snakes in a positive light, and it wasn't full of the usual sensational "snakebite is certain death" kind of thing.

I'm not posting this here to draw any further attention to myself, or to toot my own horn about the article. I just wanted each of you to know that I have received your letters, and I appreciate them very much.

I also visit kingsnake.com, and I have been lurking here for a few years. I don't post often, and when I do, it's usually on the python forum. However, venomous snakes do interest me greatly, and I do lurk quite a bit on the various venomous forums.

Thanks again for the response.

Robert Preston, Jr.
Editor, Douglas Daily News

P.S. -- The title of the story was incredibly cheesey. I didn't want to use it, but deadline was looming and I couldn't think of anything else. Since March, this is the third reptile story we've done.

It's cool to hear that we have a herper in the news room. Keep em coming and like I said in my email to you, see if you can spread some of your wisdom to your fellow news reporters. Good job and keep it up!!

Chris

>>To say that I am overwhelmed by the response to "Snakes Alive" would be quite an understatement. I started receiving electronic letters yesterday, I had several more waiting on me when I arrived at my office today.
>>
>>I am a snake enthusiast, and I've kept snakes -- mainly boas and pythons -- for the last 14 years. At the moment, I have two fairly large Burmese pythons (both males) and a small ball python someone gave me a few months ago. Don't know the sex on the ball python, but my guess is it's a male. I have never really kept venomous snakes, though I have had people call me to remove rattlesnakes and moccasins from their yards (most turn out to be gray rat snakes or water snakes). At various times, I have kept a few rattlesnakes, mainly diamondbacks and one juvenile pygmy.
>>
>>I worked for public health in Georgia for three years, but the governor cut the funding for my position, so I had to find another line of work. I used to work in the newspaper business, and the opportunity came up to get back in. So I took a position as the editor of the Douglas Daily News, which is actually a new daily that started in March. I have always used my work as a way to educate people about snakes; when I was with public health, I used to do snake shows as a part of my duties there.
>>
>>The "Snakes Alive" article came about for one simple reason: I wanted to take some photos of a rattlesnake. I had been on the lookout for a rattlesnake for several months. Someone captured a fairly large diamondback and brought it to me. We took some pictures, and I spoke with the ER doctor here in my hometown to learn about the snakebite protocols for our hospital.
>>
>>I was worried about the story. I wanted to make sure that it cast venomous snakes in a positive light, and it wasn't full of the usual sensational "snakebite is certain death" kind of thing.
>>
>>I'm not posting this here to draw any further attention to myself, or to toot my own horn about the article. I just wanted each of you to know that I have received your letters, and I appreciate them very much.
>>
>>I also visit kingsnake.com, and I have been lurking here for a few years. I don't post often, and when I do, it's usually on the python forum. However, venomous snakes do interest me greatly, and I do lurk quite a bit on the various venomous forums.
>>
>>Thanks again for the response.
>>
>>Robert Preston, Jr.
>>Editor, Douglas Daily News
>>
>>P.S. -- The title of the story was incredibly cheesey. I didn't want to use it, but deadline was looming and I couldn't think of anything else. Since March, this is the third reptile story we've done.

Nicely done Robert, but how about the other possible stories we talked about? Conservation, medicinal derivations, habitat loss? Not as exciting but casts them in a good light and educates people on other issues as well.

Cheers
Brett

Dear Mr. Preston;

Sir;
I’d like to add my accolades to those of my hot-keeping peers.
I have some small experience with press items involving herps and herpers. And at the risk of ‘blowing smoke up your bottom’ (a good army phrase moderated for a public forum), I’d like to add my kudos to those letters already sent from my more articulate peers within this Forum. When comparing your article with some of the others that I see daily (about 11,000 pages by now), your unique attention to facts, details, tone and interpretation is a refreshing change compared to some of the ‘giant mutant rattler escapes roundup and chases down bus of schoolchildren’-offerings that we see.
My only ‘downer’ is that … you’re one of us (well, one of these guys’ really … I’m a newt keeper). As a herp-specific hobby or discipline, we’re indeed fortunate that we have a serious herper in a position of influence, but perhaps you’ll pardon me for wishing that … just this once … the article could have been written by a non-herper who took the time to research the facts and write a balanced, non-judgmental article. This might perhaps demonstrate that we’re getting through to the average anti-herp/rabidly anti-hot citizen.
Oh well, any good press in this discipline is excellent press, and thank you for taking the opportunity to educate your civic peers about the critters.
“Cheesy title”? You’re in good company … I was playing in my archive last night and came up with over a dozen identical titles over the last couple years. And I’ve noticed some other titles that appear frequently from time-to-time … I may do a top-10-list of common herp-article titles over in the Herp News forum.
At least the people of your area of Georgia appear to be well served when it comes to journalistic coverage of herp-related matters. I envy them.

And for the Forum; since Mr. Preston is much too modest to ‘toot his own horn’, We’ll have to do it for him. You can learn a bit more about our favourite journalist and his herping background at: http://www.douglasga.com/content/1/1573/Welcome Frankie.htm.

Resepcts,
Wes von Papineäu
(Forum Paperboy and President – Ottawa Amphibian & Reptile Association)

I didn't know that article was still around. It's almost a year old. There was a good photo with this article that didn't make the web. We also had a pretty cool picture of a diamondback with the "Snakes Alive" story that should have made the website. I had almost forgotten about the story about Frankie. He's still around, as is Murray.

RP

Herp or not, you did a helluva job on the article. Wtite more..please.

Take a look at the spurs on your P. regius. Males have larger spurs..they are easily noticeable..than do the females. Theirs are there, but quite small. If you have 2 of about the same size, & they happen to be opposite sexes, the spur difference will be abundantly clear. I think the males have a longer, thicker tail as well, but don't quote me on that.

If there is anything in my website that is of any use to you in future articles or anything else you do, please feel free to use it. Credit is appreciated, but certainly not necessary. The important thing is to get the information out there.

~~Greg~~
Florida's Venomous Snakes

Wes, is our own local hero who is a real magician when it come to pulling the generally obscure reptile news from around the globe out of the the "hat".

Cudo's Wes!!

Al
-----
"Fighting on the forums is like competing in the Special Olympics, even if you win, you're still retarded."

DH June 2005