Why do snakes get so much hate? (rabbit, Florida, mice)
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Nothing to do with religion, or not understanding them. They creep me out, same way spiders do. Both critters can be in your home/yard, and you don't see them. Its the sneaky factor, and not knowing what type it is on sight. Will it bite, is it poisonous? My son had one in our home as a pet, and no matter how hard he tried, I'd never touch it. I didn't hate her and always made sure she had food and water, but I didn't "like" her.
Odd I didn't fear black widows in CA. They stayed outside and were very slow. I'd spray water under the motorhome to make them drop, and squish them with flip flops on. lol Brave or dumb, but I'd never try that on a snake. I'd just run screaming.
We all fear what we fear, and see beauty where we see it. I fear snakes and just cant see their beauty.
I love snakes. What's funny to me is that the same people who are terrified of them are terrified of the mice, rats and bugs that the snakes keep well under control.
If you are a parent you do not want to look out your window to see your five year old playing with a Diamondback. Maybe you do love snakes - but the protection of your young and our survival instinct kicks in.
Today most snakes, including poisionous snakes, are highly protected in most states. In PA we used to have snake hunts and roundups; but the new laws have basically stoped all of that activity. Now rattlesanke hunters can take only one rattlesnake or copperhead each year and that is with a permit. The old snake hunt days are mostly gone.
I belong to a camp and we are seeing more and more rattlesnakes. Many times they are basking in the sun on our front steps. I agree that they usually want nothing to do with humans. But we still have to watch were we step and many do not think about the next step.
Nature is about balance. I can easilly picture where these new 'protection' laws can lead us in the years to come. Especially since we know of nothing except expansion - our ecconomy is based on expansion (more people, more houses, more of everything).
I'm not a huge fan of snakes, primarily because I can't tell on sight which ones are venomous and which ones aren't; so I'd just as soon avoid them all. I've encountered a couple of foot-long ones in the garage, and what I do is put a stick up to them so they'll wrap themselves up on it, then carry them outside and leave them in the woods. (I do think it's kind of amusing, watching them flick their tongues; it's like they're sticking their tongues out at me.) And one time, I moved a gutter drain so I could mow the area it covered, and there was a snake curled up underneath; I have to admit that I was startled and jumped back.
If you like snakes, and like The Simpsons, you would surely enjoy the episode "Whacking Day" (fourth season, 20th episode). Though the initial plot might turn you off (it concerns a Springfield "holiday" in which snakes are rounded up and clubbed to death), in the end the people have a change of heart and come to appreciate the creatures.
Nature is all about checks and balances. An equilibrium established between hunted and prey,
The prey are nearly always herbivores and crop destroyers.
The old snake hunts would disrupt the balance and the result being an excess of crop destroyers. Often with devastating effects
It also has a very unexpected rebound. Because of the excess prey the surviving snakes grow and mltiply at an abnormally fast rate the result being you sometimes end up with even more snakes.
Today most snakes, including poisionous snakes, are highly protected in most states. In PA we used to have snake hunts and roundups; but the new laws have basically stoped all of that activity. Now rattlesanke hunters can take only one rattlesnake or copperhead each year and that is with a permit. The old snake hunt days are mostly gone.
There's what the law "allows", and there is the practicality of what people actually do when they find a rattlesnake living under their porch (or as I found in El Paso, the neighborhood play park swing-set).
When I lived in Texas a Diamondback took up residency in my chicken coop. Stayed for about a year. Never hurt any chickens but kept the rat and mouse population at zero.
Never once did it act aggressive. It usually stayed behind the feed box. We sort of had a relationship of mutual respect and nobody got hurt
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