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There is an unfortunate shortage of ophiophilists in this world. What is an ophiophilist, you ask? Well, Ophio- is a Greek prefix meaning "serpent." And philist is derived from "philia," which means a love for something (as in hydrophilia—a love of water). A hydrophilist is someone who loves water, so an ophiophilist is someone who loves snakes (pronounced oh-fee-OFF-uh-list).
I, of course, am a proud ophiophilist. Unfortunately, we are in short supply. Perhaps the main reason for this shortage is ophidiophobia. You guessed it—the fear of snakes. Astoundingly, about one third of all adult humans have a fear of snakes (though only about 3% of adults have a clinically severe fear of snakes).
It's not difficult to figure out the evolutionary roots of this fear. Ancient humans lived in places where venomous snakes were common. So, there was a survival advantage in being quick to avoid any venomous snake. Unfortunately, many harmless snakes resemble venomous snakes, and so humans and other animals evolved a general avoidance behavior for any snake.
And it hasn't helped that snakes have been vilified in books (including the Bible) and stories for thousands of years, and this continues today with movies and TV shows.
In today's world, where people have easy access to educational resources that can teach them to identify the various snake species that live in their area, the fear of snakes should be a thing of the past. But the fear persists because many folks are uninterested or unwilling to learn about snakes.
Anyway, I've been fascinated by snakes for as long as I can remember. I get excited whenever I find one. Trish is the same way. In fact, for our honeymoon trip, we went herping (snake hunting... basically, an activity where you hike for miles trying to find snakes, not to harm them but to admire and photograph them). We still search for them everywhere we go.
Here are a few snakes we have encountered recently.
FIRST PHOTO - As we were hiking a trail in Washington a few weeks ago, we came across this pair of valley gartersnakes (a subspecies of the common gartersnake) chilling out on a rotting log beside the trail.
Notice that these two gartersnakes (which are harmless, by the way) are quite different in color. This gartersnake species is notorious for being widely variable in appearance. Gartersnakes are opportunistic predators, which means they will catch and swallow just about any small live animal they can handle, such as frogs, salamanders, insects, fish, and even small rodents.
SECOND PHOTO - The other day, Trish was blowing leaves out of a rock garden beside the house, and she shouted at me to come see something. She had found this copperhead sunning itself comfortably next to a little stone hedgehog.
Copperheads are venomous and should be respected, but that doesn't mean they should be hated. They are common around here, but I have found that they are not aggressive. Sure, they might strike if you step on one or try to pick it up, but this one didn't even strike when I wrangled it into a bucket—with a snake noose, not with my hands—and relocated it safely into the forest about a hundred meters from the house. Copperheads are truly beautiful snakes. At least 90% of their diet is rodents (mice and voles).
THIRD PHOTO - While on a family "herping" trip that included eight of us (our son Ryan's family, and daughter Katie's family), we found this beautiful eastern milksnake. These are among my favorites, and I'm always thrilled to see one. Milksnakes are harmless and usually docile when you handle them. They eat lizards, small rodents, and other snakes. If the prey animal is small, they will just snarf it down alive, but they kill larger prey by constriction before swallowing. I feel lucky that these snakes live near our home.
If you are afraid of snakes, I recommend learning more about them. Learn to identify the species that live in your area. The more you understand them, the less you will fear them. The world needs more ophiophilists!
Photo Credits:
All photos - Stan C. Smith