I’m afraid of snakes.

Make that terrified of snakes.

The thought of accidentally stumbling across something slithering two feet in front of my shoes scares the fire out of me.

I was scrolling through Facebook one day and saw a suggestion to join a Texas Snake Identification page.

This is a public group with over 126,000 members. Their goal is to “provide accurate information regarding snakes that are native to our Great State of Texas.”

There’s a few rules – no selling or buying of snakes and no abuse of members. They genuinely want to help people learn how to identify snakes.

Most people post where in Texas the snake was found and ask for identification. Mostly, they want to know if the snake can kill them.

Knowledge, as they say, is power.

Intrigued, I timidly hit the follow button.

The first post was a picture of a long, thick brown snake in someone’s back yard.

I backed away from the screen in horror and clicked away from the snake back to funny toddler videos.

But later, I returned to the site, telling myself these are only pictures, not real snakes. Instead of being afraid, perhaps I could learn about the different types of snakes.

Or I’d be traumatized for life.

The more I scrolled through the site, the more I learned. People post a lot of pictures every day. Folks genuinely want to know what kind of snake they found hiding near their back door or, horrors of horrors, in their laundry room.

Administrators usually post answers within minutes. They’ll identify the snake by a common name and then the scientific name. They also include whether the snake is harmless or venomous.

Knowledgeable herpetologists explain the different patterns and what the colors mean. They often point out the size and shape of the eyes and head. They even describe the different nose holes and dispel myths about snakes.

Someone posted that they thought poisonous snakes had triangular shaped heads. Even harmless snakes – yes, there are lots of those – can flatten their heads to appear venomous and dangerous.

I didn’t know snakes were clever.

Great, one more thing for my nightmares.

I’m amazed at people who get close to unfamiliar snakes to get a better picture. I cringed when someone posted that you can tell something about a snake if you look closely at its lips.

They have lips?

Oh Lord, no.

I’d never get close enough to a snake to check to see if it had lips or eyelids. To check for eyelids, you’d have to wait long enough to watch the snake blink.

Today, for the first time, I correctly identified a snake by looking at the picture. I remembered someone posted information about the coloration and designs on a rat snake and, yep, this was a beneficial rat snake.

Recently, I spotted a small coral snake on the road when I was riding my bike. I screamed bloody murder and pedaled as fast as I could to get around it.

But I knew what kind of snake it was.

I still laugh hysterically when someone’s relieved that a seven-foot-long slithering creature in their laundry room is a good thing.

But with the help of the Texas Snake Identification page, I’m discovering knowledge can help overcome fear.

Until I come face to face with another snake.

Then, knowledge or ignorance, it’s run for the hills.

 

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.