>>The Wildlife Center of Virginia is one of the world's leading teaching and research hospitals for wildlife and conservation medicine.

Each year the center provides state of the art veterinary and rehabilitative care for nearly 3,000 wild animals with one goal in mind, returning the animal to its natural habitat.

(dramatic music) >>There are many creatures in this world that inspire fear in people, some of them small and creepy crawly, like spiders or ticks or other types of insects, centipedes, millipedes, flying insects, like bees, wasps, hornets, mammals like bats, all invoke some level of fear in some people.

But there is no family of animals that evokes more sheer terror in more people than snakes.

Now, why is it so, who knows.

But for a lot of people, that fear of snakes goes way beyond to a true, irrational phobia, a reaction from the gut.

Now, we don't really know why, but modern researchers have suggested that perhaps it's a residual instinct from early humans that actually had to recognize and reactively avoid snakes in their primitive lives.

And perhaps that still a trace left in our genes.

But we don't really know.

But we know it's been around for a long time.

If you consider the book of Genesis in the Bible, who represents Satan in the Garden of Eden?

The poor old serpent, the snake in the garden.

Now, I happen to think the snake was the victim in that case, but for a lot of people, even today, snakes are considered to be evil creatures and somehow related to the devil.

There is an entire community of fundamentalist churches that handle venomous snakes as a way to demonstrate their faith, having faith that God will protect them from the serpent from the garden, and see them safely home.

Well, not my cup of tea, I'll tell you, but it's just not fair that so many people have such an irrational, and often destructive, fear of snakes.

For way too many people, the one and only reaction they have when they see a snake is to kill it.

And that's so unfortunate because all snakes are beneficial.

And very, very few snakes are actually venomous.

But people are people.

And all we can try to do is teach them to do better.

Now here at the Wildlife Center of Virginia we're a hospital for wildlife, but most of the calls that we get about snakes aren't about injured snakes.

They're about snake identification.

People who may not be in love with snakes, but they don't want to hurt them.

And especially not the harmless ones.

They want to know what type of snake they're dealing with.

>>Hello.

>>Hi, this is Maggie calling from the Wildlife Center pf Virginia, I received the photos you sent over the snake in your yard and I've identified it for you.

>>What is it?

>>Yes, it's actually a juvenile Eastern rat snake.

It's a really common species.

They're nonvenomous, and they're really not dangerous in any way to people.

But they do tend to be attracted to open structures like sheds and barns, and they feed on rodents and also chicken eggs.

So if you have any of those things on your property, there's a good chance you'll continue to have snakes around.

>>So it's eating the mice?

>>Yes, I think there's a good chance he's feeding on those mice.

It's best to just let him be, if that's something you're comfortable with.

>>Well, if he's eating the mice that's fine with me.

>>Great, that's wonderful.

Let us know if you have any further questions, bye.

In the warmer months, the Wildlife Center of Virginia receives a lot of calls for identification of various types of snakes.

Most of these snakes turn out to be Eastern rat snakes, also called black rat snakes.

And when they're young black rat snakes have a very distinct pattern that causes them to be frequently misidentified as venomous snakes.

There are over 30 species of snakes in Virginia, but only three of those species are venomous.

Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, people's fear of snakes outweighs their respect for them, and they don't ask us to identify the animal until after they've killed it.

Any animal that feels threatened is going to try to defend itself.

It's not unheard of for snakes to bite people.

But typically this happens if the snake is being harassed, provoked or frightened.

(gentle music) >>Worldwide, we have more than 3,000 species of snakes.

And they range in size from tiny little snakes that are about the size of a pencil or even smaller, all the way to the giant anaconda of South America, also known as the green anaconda.

They average 17 feet in length, but can reach lengths of over 30 feet can you imagine, and weights over 500 pounds.

That's a big snake.

Here in North America we have about 50 species of snakes.

And they are found in almost all states.

There are none in Alaska, only one species on Hawaii, and one known species naturally occurring in Maine.

But there are snakes spread through the rest of the states in great diversity.

The greatest concentration of snakes can be found in the southern Appalachian mountains, where we have more diversity, more species of snakes, probably because we also have very, very diverse habitat, and it's just a perfect place for them.

Now of our 50 species of snakes, only 20 in North America are venomous, and that includes 16 species of rattlesnakes.

That includes two species of the beautiful little coral snake, the copperhead, and the cottonmouth water moccasin.

And while those snakes are venomous, they're not really considered deadly.

Yes, it's possible to die from a snake bite from one of those species, but it's very unusual.

Every year in the United States between seven and 8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes, and of those people that are bitten, you can count the deaths on one hand.

Fewer than five people die every year.

And often that is associated with an anaphylactic shock, an allergic reaction of some sort, or because of a weak heart that is challenged by the bite and the experience itself, as well as the venom.

Now if you should be bitten by a venomous snake, don't do things the cowboy way.

We've all seen it on TV, they pull out their hunting knife, cut Xs over the bite wounds, suck out the poison and save their partner's life.

Well, that's pretty good way to kill your partner if you really want to know the truth.

Today, modern medicine says put the knife away, don't use a tourniquet and forget about sucking out the poison.

For the victim who has been bitten by a venomous snake, keep them calm.

Don't let them move around.

Let them rest and keep their heart rate down.

And if they've been bitten on a hand or a leg, lower that leg below the level of the heart to keep that venom from entering the bloodstream and passing up to the heart.

Don't use ice, don't use tourniquets, don't use water to keep it cool.

Remove any jewelry that may be on the hand or the arm that was bitten, because there's going to be a lot of pain and a lot of swelling.

But nearly everyone will survive that experience.

Just do the right thing.

>>All snakes play an important role in the ecosystem.

They're very specialized animals and they're fascinating to understand.

Many even serve important purposes that help people, like rodent control.

It's worrying when members of the public approach snakes to kill them.

When someone goes towards a snake to kill it they're putting themselves within striking distance of an understandably defensive and frightened animal.

It's encouraging to talk with receptive homeowners about the benefits of having snakes out in nature.

Unfortunately, we're not going to be able to convince everyone to love snakes as much as we do here at the Wildlife Center, but we hope to provide enough education to foster a tolerance for these species.

(gentle music) >>At the Wildlife Center of Virginia, we have a team of education snakes and their job is to help us introduce people to snakes that are native to Virginia, and talk to people about the important role that snakes play in our ecosystem.

We have about seven education snakes of different species.

This is Severus, he is an Eastern rat snake.

They are a very common species of snake that we see in Virginia.

When I'm talking about snakes, I like to make them relatable to people.

And one of my favorite things about Eastern rat snakes is that they are excellent tree climbers.

They are semi-arboreal, which means they spend part of their time up in the trees.

So when I talk to kids in particular about snakes, they find this really exciting.

In fact, most of the time when kids meet snakes they're not inherently afraid of them, they're excited to meet then.

It's something that we learn later on to be a little bit afraid of snakes.

So I like to introduce snakes to kids early on, so they have a chance to appreciate them rather than fear them.

Severus was found in someone's basement, and instead of just releasing him back into the wild, the people that found him decided to keep him as a pet, which was not a very nice thing to do to Severus.

He was passed around to a few different homes.

And eventually the people that had him realized they couldn't take care of them anymore.

Snakes, and reptiles in general, are really difficult to keep as pets.

And it's important that when you keep a reptile as a pet, you never release them back into the wild.

Snakes that are bred to be pets, or snakes that are taken care of by humans for a long period of time, can never return to the wild for a number of reasons.

But one of them is snakes live in the same territory for their whole lives.

And if they're moved away from their home range, they have a really hard time surviving.

So if we just released Severus out into the wild right now he may not have the skills necessary to survive.

And he'd be unfamiliar with that habitat, with that home range.

So if you do keep a snake as a pet, do not release them into the wild.

But more importantly, never take a wild snake and keep them as a pet.

When I asked people what makes them feel afraid of snakes often they say that it's the way that they move.

They're a little unnerved by the fact that snakes are able to move without any arms or legs.

But for me, that's one of the coolest things about snakes, is the fact that they're able to climb trees and slither and move pretty quickly without any arms or legs.

And right now, Severus is demonstrating how he is able to climb up or down a tree using just the really strong muscles throughout his body.

And Eastern rat snakes like Severus, in particular are constrictors, which means they are especially muscular snakes.

This is Elliot, he is a Western hog nosed snake.

When most people think of snakes they picture something more like Severus, the Eastern rat snake.

It's hard for some people to believe that Severus and Elliot are both snakes, they're the same kind of animal.

Elliot is much smaller, and he occupies an entirely different niche in our ecosystem.

When I'm introducing people to snakes, I often like to start with a small snake just like Elliot, because it's not what people think of when they think of snakes usually.

And Elliot is much less intimidating than a large snake like Severus.

He's small and pretty unthreatening.

So as a Western hog nosed snake, Elliot would eat something that most people wouldn't expect.

He would eat frogs and toads in the wild, which is very different than Severus Eastern rat snake who eats mostly rodents.

>>Fortunately, a lot of people are learning about snakes, and we're finding more and more people that want to coexist with them, that enjoy having them around their homes.

This is especially true for farmers who love having black snakes or black rat snakes in their barns because their voracious appetite for mice and rats makes them an extremely good partner and really lowers the damage that nuisance rodents can do to a farmer's grain room or to seed stocks.

The black snake is very common species also around the hen house and there they sometimes get into a little trouble.

They are very frequently found to be eating eggs out in the wild, taking them out of a bird's nest.

So a hen house is like a buffet line for a big black snake.

They will go in literally crawling under the chicken, feel the warmth of the egg and they swallow that egg whole, literally disconnecting their jaws, stretching their mouth around, swallowing the egg.

Then with their powerful constriction muscles they crush the egg, dissolve it, and go on about their business.

But they sometimes get in trouble because a lot of people would chicken houses fool their chickens into staying on the nest by removing the eggs and putting in golf balls or wooden eggs under the hens.

Every couple of years we'll have a snake come in, brought by somebody with a chicken house full of hens.

And they all have a big black snake with a bump in the middle.

And on the x-ray we'll almost always find that that's a golf ball or a wooden egg.

Our veterinarians have to remove it, opening up the stomach, removing whatever it is that is indigestible, and certainly that they can't crush, and closing the snake back up and they heal very quickly.

So that's the good news, and we are able to turn them loose.

Almost always, the person with that hen house wants to come and get their snake and take it home.

They don't mind sharing an egg or two with the snakes because they are such effective control for nuisance rodents.

Here at the Wildlife Center we do actually get a lot of calls about injured snakes.

A lot of times they've been hit by cars, cut by a lawn mower as it passes over them.

They've been entangled in landscape netting because their skin, even though it's smooth and slick, does have scales so they can go into it, but they can't get back out.

That very fine mesh entangles in the scales.

And if you find a snake like that just cut out the whole piece of the netting, bring it all in together.

But the thing that we get all too frequently and frankly, I think it's one of the cruelest things that we see are, small snakes that are stuck in glue traps or glue boards that people use for nuisance animals.

(phone ringing) >>Wildlife Center of Virginia, this is Maggie, how can I help you?

>>I just found a glue trap in the basement that has a little garter snake stuck to it.

Can you help it?

>>Yes, you can bring the glue trap to us so that our vet stuff can remove the snake safely.

>>Just bring the whole trap?

>>Yes, if you can use some tissue or flour to stick to the exposed parts of the trap to help prevent the snake from getting even more stuck on the way here.

And then put the whole trap with the animal attached into a secure container and bring it to us.

>>Okay.

>>Okay, great, we'll see you soon.

>>Every year, the Wildlife Center of Virginia receive dozens of animals that are stuck in glue traps.

Unfortunately, glue traps cannot differentiate or discriminate between which animals they trap.

Sometimes they trap mice, bugs, but other times animals that they are not meant to target, like snakes.

Most of the times here at the Wildlife Center of Virginia we see small mammals or birds.

But other times we see snakes that were trying to eat those little bugs, mice, or birds that were stuck in the glue traps.

So what we do here at the Wildlife Center of Virginia, those snakes are trapped in those glue traps, unfortunately, they are in severe pain.

Because can you imagine yourself being glued in a trap where you cannot move.

You're trying to escape and every time that you are moving your skin is being tear apart.

Also your muscle is trying to be stretched out.

And unfortunately, sometimes you can have internal damage.

But the solution is kind of easy.

You just need some mineral oil to remove that glue from your body.

So that's what we do here at the Wildlife Center of Virginia, we just try to make sure that those animals are out of pain.

So we give pain meds.

We sometimes sedate those snakes, and then slowly with some mineral oil we start removing the glue from those snakes.

Slowly, slowly we remove the glue from the scales of that snake.

Sometimes the skin is so damaged that the snake will not be shedding properly.

And we need to remember that the shedding is really important in snakes.

And we'll talk later more about it.

Just remember that every time that a snake is glued in that glue trap, it is highly important to receive medical treatment.

We don't know if the damage is just in the skin or in the muscle, or the damage is also in the internal organs.

So remember to always bring those snakes to the Wildlife Center of Virginia or to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

The thing with glue trap that is a problem 100% preventable.

This is another big problem and threat for snakes that we can prevent, and that is landscape netting.

In summertime, we all like to be out in our garden and to protect our garden from some animal species that will maybe come to our garden and eat our flowers or the things that we're cultivating, like our lettuce or our peppers.

And we use net just to prevent those animals to come to our garden and destroy it.

Unfortunately, when we are putting those nets out there, or even when we sometimes store them improperly in our house the snakes can get trapped on it.

So landscape netting is a big threat for snakes.

And we see tons of snakes that come to the Wildlife Center of Virginia that they get tangled or trapped in landscape netting.

Sometimes when they get tangled on it they start moving around the net.

Unfortunately, what happens is once they get tangled, the snake tries to escape.

Every time the snake is pulling apart, the net gets more tight and tight into the body of the snake.

Can you imagine a string of nylon netting getting more and more tight in your body?

It starts stopping the circulation in your body.

And if that's in the tip of the tail is not a big deal.

But can you imagine if that happens in the middle of your body where your lungs or your heart are in there?

It's a really slow death for that snake.

It's a really, really severe painful and a slow cruel death for that snake.

So what we recommend is that you can prevent that.

It is good to put landscaping netting to prevent other animals to affect your gardens.

But if you're going to store this netting, you can store it properly and you can prevent the same as glue traps to affect the snakes.

What can you do?

It's simple as putting it in a plastic bin and then closing that plastic bin to prevent snakes or other animals to get into that netting and to get tangled on it.

So remember, always, always think that your individual actions can have a global impact.

And that snakes are a better way to prevent pests.

So better than glue traps, better than landscaping netting.

So always, always think that snakes are really important for environment, for you and your family.

Before we release any snake back into the wild, we need to make sure that his skin is completely healed.

Those animals can be ready to hunt and find food adequately.

And their wounds are completely good and they will not get infected.

One normal process that happens in snakes is shedding.

That is a changing of their skin or molting their skin.

The snakes are cold-blooded animals, that means that they depend on the environment temperature to do their normal processes or to heal their wounds.

Sometimes the snakes come really late on time or during the summer to our facility.

During that time, they can take months or weeks to heal properly their wounds.

And winter comes to the Center.

When that happens, normally snakes will be out into the wild or hibernating, or more properly bromating.

During that time, because the temperature will be so low, they will not be healing their wounds properly, so they will not be ready to be released.

So what we need to do here at the Wildlife Center of Virginia is keep them, overwinter them.

So what we simulate here is that the spring or the summer is still happening.

So we keep the temperature high and their wounds can continue healing.

Therefore, their skin can continue changing or can continue molting.

That is highly important in snakes.

Once the winter has passed, then we know that snakes will be active again into the wild.

So then that bromating process or hibernating process has ended.

Then the snakes will be ready to be released.

And that's what we do here at the Wildlife Center of Virginia.

Once there is a time to be released, it's the spring or summer, then we can take those animals out of our hospital and get them back into the wild.

>>Whenever there are folk tales that involve snakes, the snakes always end up being the bad guys.

And that goes back all the way to the book of Genesis, the serpent in the garden.

But there are more modern myths and legends surrounding snakes that are pretty outrageous if you stop and think about them.

When I was a boy, they told me to watch out for hoop snakes.

And when I asked what a hoop snake was they said, "Well, it's a long snake and when he's scared "he'll take his tail in his mouth, "form a circle like a hula hoop "and roll down the hill to get away from you."

Well, I'm still looking for hoop snake.

I also hear folklore about things like rattlesnakes breeding with black snakes, so that black snakes end up being venomous.

Well, that's biologically impossible.

Since black snakes lay eggs and rattlesnakes give birth to live young.

There are times, no matter how outrageous some of the myths are, that truth is stranger than legend.

And never was that more true than the day our state herpetologist called and said he was bringing us a two-headed snake.

Sure enough, he showed up with a baby copperhead that had two perfectly formed heads.

To heads, four eyes, two mouths, two tracheas, and they came together into a single set of internal organs.

Fascinating.

When we x-rayed it it was just unbelievable to see the way that skeleton had adapted.

But, as is often the case with such genetic oddities, that little guy could not survive.

(gentle music) You know, it's a shame that so many people are so afraid of snakes they don't fully enjoy the out of doors.

I had a friend that would only hike in the woods when the temperature was below freezing, because he was terrified that he would see a snake.

I don't know what he thought that snake might do to him because he was a pretty big guy, but he wouldn't go in the woods.

But there are lots of things that you can do to coexist with snakes, and share the outdoors with them.

First of all, learn about the snakes in your area.

If you'd like information on them, you can contact your state wildlife agency.

Almost all states have a state herpetological society, those who do research and studies of snakes, and many states have a guide to reptiles.

And that would be a handy tool to keep around.

But the other thing is make a decision that you're not going to kill snakes, because there's just no justification for that.

The snake can do you no harm if you simply respect it's space, leave it alone, and allow it to go on its way.

Now, if you happen to be one of those people that really like snakes, we don't encourage you to take native snakes as pets.

And that really speaks for itself.

And if you have exotic snakes as pets, never, never turn them loose in an alien habitat.

Once they become a pet they cannot be returned to the wild safely.

Now, the other thing that we really encourage people to do, if you just can't abide snakes, and we know that most folks will never really get to love snakes, but if you'd like to keep them away from your home, and do so without harming them or having them frighten you, keep your grass cut, keep it low, make your habitat around your home inhospitable to snakes.

Don't have the pile of firewood right against the house because that's one of their favorite places.

And they will crawl up in there, especially if it's covered with a tarp or any type of cover, a canvas perhaps, because it keeps it warm, it keeps it moist, and it keeps it dark, the perfect hiding place for a snake.

And really the thing we encourage people to do if you are one of those folks with a true phobia about snakes is recognize that that fear is not based in fact or logic.

And if you have that phobia, it's a real thing.

And it's something that a lot of people struggle with, but don't pass it on to your children.

Don't share your irrational fear of snakes, or anything else for that matter, with the next generation.

Because the truth is, there's plenty of room on this planet if we just make the decision to share it.

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