The Foul and the Loathsome

Red-bellied Snake. Tom Murray photo

I have no fear of snakes, so it isn’t uncommon for me to pick one up and let it crawl and wrap itself around my arms. And this is what I did, on a guided interpretive hike last week, when we unexpectedly came across a somewhat uncommon red-bellied snake. I picked it up. In turn, it squirted me with a foul smelling liquid from its scent gland that clung to me until well into the evening. I was always taught when on a guided hike to “seize the moment.” Obviously, I seized this moment with a bit too much enthusiasm. When snakes sense fear they use chemical warfare to repel their aggressor. It repelled not only me, but all the hikers that followed who remained a respectable distance behind me for the duration of the hike. One of my most vivid memories of this happening was some years ago when I received a call about a large milk snake that a Crofton resident had found in his flower garden. He appreciated snakes, but didn’t really want this fellow around to surprise him unexpectedly when he was weeding his petunias one morning. I volunteered to pick it up and introduce it to our own property on Big Island. I found the snake under a plastic rain barrel and it was obvious by its aggressiveness that he had developed an attitude about this hot, temporary home that he had been given. This was one of the largest milk snakes that I had even seen and he had a scent gland to match. When I placed him in a box in the back of the car, its odour filled the car within seconds. Intending to purchase a bag of milk at the store in Crofton, I asked my wife to make the purchase as I was too embarrassed to walk into a convenience store smelling like a bunch of sweaty, unwashed feet, just released from a dozen hot shoes. On the 16 km drive home, we did get a few curious looks as we motored along, our heads hanging out the open windows for anything even remotely resembling fresh air. I am thinking after these two experiences, perhaps I will insist that hikers on my tours enjoy these reptiles from a distance. Obviously I don’t have the same knack for handling snakes as the late herpetologist Tom Huff who was happiest when he had a snake around his neck. And I do have the habit of chewing my fingernails a lot between washings.