Gartersnake misconception!
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Herp Humor Forum ]
Posted by anuraanman on February 14, 2003 at 18:07:26:
Last summer I was out in the Vermont woodlands with some of my friends. One of my friends, Mike, thought that the frogs were cool and all, it was the snakes he didn't want to look at. We went along catching some Gray Treefrogs and even had the chance to get a close up look at the state endangered Five Lined skink. He drew the lines at snakes. I told him that any snake you catch around here is about as harmful as a rose bush. I finally confinced him to come take a close look at a female garter I had just caught. I decided to showhim just how harmless they are by waving my pinky finger infront of it's nose. Maybe it was the tenderness look of my finger that caught it's attention, or maybe it was the strong odor of frog. Either way, I had no way of predicting what was to happen next. The snake took a lunge at my finger ant latched on. I had been itten by a few gartersnakes in the past but this was the first one not to let go. Mike ran off screaming, leaving me to deal with the determined snake. I didn't really want to hurt it but with only one hand available for the task it was becoming aparent that the snake was there to stay. I could feel the teeth slowly shifting position until finally my other friend Justin came along. With out three hands together we finally got the thing off and released it back to the wild. I began to admire the several rows of teeth marks on my hand when it started to bleed uncontrolably. Finally Mike came back to see if I was ok but ran off again when he saw the blood running off my finger.
I showed off the teeth marks to some other herper frineds later that week. As for mike, he has yet to set foot in the woods with out a bashing stick. It's sad but ignorance is ignorance and some people just aren't willing to confront their fears.
Follow Ups:
