Snakes Newsletter
Snake Newsletter Draws Huge Audience
We have been using Facebook to give gardening, environmental, animal and other interesting bits of news to folks. The most popular ones in the past have generated as much as 40,000 views from different people. Well, the one we just did on snakes went into the stratosphere. I’ve known for a long time that snakes and spiders invoke a lot of emotion, but this response was amazing.
1,926,144 people reached; 18,466 shares; 532 comments
We thought it best to share this information with our newsletter audience of 100,000 that may have missed it on Facebook. This is what I posted along with all of the responses.
The Dallas Morning News just ran an interesting story on the heavy rains driving the snakes out. The photos are helpful for understanding the ID of the poisonous and non-poisonous ones.
Comments from Facebook: Click Here for Facebook
Cathy McCoy – we have copperheads & water snakes both – they look alike unless you flip them over & look at their bellies. I don’t stop to ask/check – just shoot. Anyone want to save ’em come and get ’em.
Jennifer Nelson – And they kill chickens, steal eggs, and kill rabbits that is all bad for my farm. We see a snake it is dead. I don’t care what kind it is.
Daryl Sprout – I really like this post and I’m so glad people are talking about it. Look carefully at the body shape of the cottonmouth, rattlesnake and copperhead. Wider in the middle than anywhere else. Rat snakes are fat but more evenly so the full length except for the taper at the neck and tail. Water snakes have big round pupils and clearly demarcated lip scales, while the cottonmouth has tiny facial scales so it’s harder to tell where exactly his mouth opens. Water snakes look like their mouths have been sewn shut.
Carrie DeBord – I hope people leave the snakes alone and not hurt them. The snakes will take care of the rodents that will also be coming to higher, dry ground.
Rachel Backes-Welch – Please don’t kill a snake just because it’s there. They remove vermin and are an important part of our ecosystem!
