Snake Handling

By: Glenn Wilsey, Sr.

While growing up in the everglades, my friends and I would catch different kinds of non-venomous snakes. Catching and playing with snakes was just something we did for fun. Just like any kid would, who grew up in the swamp, I started out by playing with frogs and lizards. As my friends and I got older we stepped up to snakes and alligators. Baby alligators were fun to play with. I owned many different kinds of snakes, Scarlet King snakes, Red Rat snakes, Yellow Rat snakes but my favorite snake was the Florida King snake. These snakes all make great pets. I’ll tell people, "if you are going to buy a snake for a pet, pick something that will not get over 6 feet long." Snakes less that 6 feet long, are easier to handle and feed. Many people buy Boa Constrictors and Pythons. These snakes can get big and sometimes when these snakes get big, they get mean and can’t be safely handled anymore, because they don’t like to be touched. Then there is the problem of feeding them. A snake 6 feet or bigger will have to be fed big things like rabbits. Some people’s hearts are too big and they don’t want to feed the furry little bunnies to the big snake.

My parents never had a problem with me keeping non-venomous snakes. They knew that I would encounter venomous snakes while playing in the woods and made sure I knew the difference. I was warned to never play with or try to catch the venomous snakes.

My best friends were, Greg, Alex, Ross and Dennis. Greg and Alex were the oldest of the group and I was one of the youngest. The summer just before I turned 13, I started picking up pigmy rattlesnakes. They were small and I felt at ease picking them up. Being one of the youngest, I had to prove myself to the older kids. I started picking up the pigmy rattlesnakes to show the older kids that I could do it.

My mom would take us out to Loop Road and drop us off at Dennis’s grandfather’s place on the weekends. Dennis’s grandfather lived on Loop Road and owned Sullivan’s BBQ. In the summer we would spend half the summer at Grandpa Sullivan’s cabin. I got good at catching pigmy rattlesnakes and ventured on to other bigger venomous snakes. By the summer I turned 13 I was already catching Water Moccasins. By the end of that same summer I had even caught an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. The Eastern Diamondback was only 3 � feet long but it was my first one. My mom started hearing rumors about me catching venomous snakes. Mom sat down with me one night and asked me if it was true? I told her yes and explained to her that I was being careful. I told her how I would catch the snakes and then place them in a large trashcan we carried with us. The problem was I was good at catching snakes and began to get complacent. I got good at "tailing the snake" into the can. I would use my stick to get the snake out of its coiled strike position. The snake would start to slither away and I would grab it by the tail and pull it backwards. The force of being pulled backwards kept the snake from striking back at me. My parents always told me not to play with venomous snakes. I got bit because I was holding a pigmy rattlesnake, and as I was turning the snake lose, it turned and struck at me and grazed my finger. I had to tell my parents, they were upset but they knew someday it could happen. At that point mom asked, no, actually she ordered me not to do it anymore, but by then we’d discovered that we could make money by catching and selling venomous snakes. We could get $ 3.75 a foot for moccasins and $ 4.25 a foot for rattlesnakes. I was 15 in 1968 and that was good money for not having a job.

Greg, Alex, Ross and Dennis were all good at catching venomous snakes.

As the years passed things got in the way and the five of us grew apart.

Greg was the one we all looked up to and he passed away in 1982 and we still miss him.

Most of the gang moved around and live in other states. Alex and I still keep in touch and are still good friends.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I enjoy getting as close to animals as possible.

They say fruit does not fall far from the tree. I told my son never to play with venomous snakes, even though I knew how futile those words could be. I just had to say the words because that’s what parents do, and hope he didn’t get hurt when he ignored me, because that’s what sons do. One day, when Glenn Jr. was 15 years old, Florida Fish and Game officers drove up into my yard. I asked them what they wanted and they said that they were looking for my son. I called Glenn out to talk to the officers. Glenn had about 30 different snakes on our patio. The Officers told Glenn that a local snake dealer told them that Glenn had an Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake. The dealer said that, in conversation, Glenn had mentioned that he had an Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake.

The snake dealer asked Glen to show him the rattlesnake and Glenn went to get it. The dealer said Glenn returned with a snake bag, opened the bag and just reached in the bag without looking and pulled out a 5-foot Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake. Glenn just let the rattlesnake slither free between his hands. When Glenn left, the shocked dealer called the game officers, and rightfully so, since Glenn did not have a permit to handle or deal in venomous snakes. The Fish and Game officers asked Glenn Jr. if he had a rattlesnake. He said no, he didn’t. I gave the officers permission to search the property. The officers searched everywhere and did not find a rattlesnake so they thanked me and Glenn Jr. for our cooperation and they went on their way. As soon as they were gone I looked at Glenn through father’s eyes and asked him to be honest with me. He said he did have the snake and he showed me why the officers couldn’t find it. He went to a big cage where he kept his meanest and biggest Rock Python. He opened the cage and lifted a rock to show a hidden compartment. We then took the rattlesnake and turned it lose in the everglades. I told my son that until he turned 18 he was not to have venomous snakes in my house. Glenn Jr. has moved on now, but he still free hands venomous snakes. I stayed here, in the everglades, and to this day I love to go out and look for snakes. I don’t keep snakes as pets anymore. My friends and I study and enjoy the snakes we catch, then, if we don’t need them for our shows we release them. We’re not quite as methodical as scientists but we get excited when we recognize a snake that we’d seen the year before in the same area. That’s pretty cool.

My best friend, Gus Batista and I like to film animals, reptiles and the everglades as we see it. On many weekends throughout the year, you can find Gus and myself way out in the middle of nowhere looking for interesting animals to film. There are times when we go out in the swamp without snake hooks since catching snakes wasn’t why we were there, but when the opportunity presents itself, we’ll go after a snake anyway. Being unprepared does not stop us from catching snakes, venomous or non-venomous. Gus is a "Master" at free handling wild venomous snakes. Being around Gus I started free handling venomous snakes "again" on a regular basis.

We hear people say all the time, "one of these days you are going to get bit." The thought has crossed my mind, but I have to laugh just a little when they say that. I don’t laugh to be mean. I laugh because anyone who handles snakes, venomous or non-venomous, free hand or with a hook, will get bit. We know it, we sort of expect it. Sooner or later we know we’ll get bit, it is a given just like race drivers know that one day they’re going to crash and mountain climbers know that one day they may fall. Still, you take the risks because you love what you do. It doesn’t matter what your profession is, someday you will make a mistake.

Some people think that other people shouldn’t be allowed to do dangerous things, because, they can get hurt and it sets a bad example for others who lack self control and tend to copy what they see. Thanks for your concern, but I make my own decisions and I assume the responsibility for any consequences. I have always looked in awe as Gus free handled venomous snakes. The man is fearless. Many years ago, Gus free handled all of his venomous snakes in his shows. He doesn’t do that anymore. I would drive almost 2 hours just to watch him. We often film ourselves in the everglades and doing shows, and we edit and post our videos on Youtube and on Myspace. By posting videos, the whole world gets to see nature the way we see nature. It used to be that only select people with degrees, or people with lots of money could be seen on video around the world. With Myspace and Youtube, anyone can film anything they want and post it for the world to see.

Well, Gus posted a video of himself, free handling many different venomous snakes on Youtube. It was posted for fun, and to entertain. It was not meant in any way to be educational. Some people took exception to what they saw in the video.

It was brought to my attention that Gus’s video was copied and reposted on a venomous reptiles web site. There are many venomous retiles web sites to choose from on the internet. Gus’s video received a lot of attention and a lot of comments, some of which were not very friendly. I went to see what the fuss was all about. I must say it was, to me, very comical and at the same time, tragic. I won’t give out the web site’s address. The reason for that is there were many people that were commenting on Gus’s video. The topic of the cyber conversation was, "Free handlers, do they have a moral obligation or not?"

MORAL? It is my belief that parents should be in charge of teaching morals. Searching through the venomous reptiles web site, it is obvious that most of the people there have no morals.

The video was posted just for "fun" and it is a fun video. There is always someone that will have something bad to say in an open and anonymous forum. I think that there were many good points offered and even more bad points offered. I give credit to those who were not afraid to stand behind what they had to say and gave out their real names and or e-mail addresses regardless of which side of the argument they took.

Most of the people wanted to make the point that the snakes were being abused. They said they could see that the snakes were stressed. Well no snake hooks were used, thus giving us the words "Free Handling." Most of the people that were commenting said that they know how to handle a snake because they milk 1,000 venomous snakes per week. Milking snakes is a technique to collect the snake’s venom by making it bite a membrane over a container so that the venom from the bite is collected in the container. The collected venom is then processed into antivenin or other pharmaceutical products. I have milked venomous snakes in the past. I know that if a snake was going to be stressed due to handling of the snake, milking would be the primary cause. I will also say that milking a snake does not hurt or stress a snake if it’s done right. Milking 1,000 snakes in a week would have to be stressful to the snakes.

I am a snake handler and I perform educational shows with venomous snakes on a daily basis. Yes, we change out the snakes so they don’t have to do shows everyday, but during a week, they all are in the shows. I have had snake handlers from around the world tell me that our snake habitats are some of the best they’ve seen. People tell me everyday that our snakes look healthy and beautiful. These comments often come from professionals from around the world and Gus and I and other members of our team feel honored to be so well thought of by our fellow snake handlers.

Other posters on the unnamed, venomous reptiles website made comments but wanted to remain anonymous. This is not a good thing for a web site to do. Without requiring posters to reveal themselves, their claims of expertise could not be substantiated and their suggestions that Gus was doing anything wrong, therefore, had no meaning.

These "anonymous cyber-sissies", had lots of bad things to say. None of them would say who they were. I made one comment on the web site in defense of my friend Gus. In response, the "anonymous cyber-sissies" bashed Gus and myself mercilessly on that public forum, all while refusing to identify themselves. Some of these people said that Gus should get bit to teach him a lesson. Some said he should die.

Wow, that was not nice to say at all. I searched through the web site and found out that these sad, and hateful people talk like that all the time, about everyone. We wish these people the best of luck and hope they seek counseling so that they can become happy and productive members of society.

Gus Batista is the "BEST" venomous snake handler I have ever met.

Gus has been teaching about venomous snakes for years.

Gus never free handles the snakes while doing an educational show, but the video was not intended to be educational, it was supposed to be for fun. Do snake handlers have a moral obligation to never free handle venomous snakes in order to protect the impressionable few who likely won’t be prevented from doing dangerous things anyway?

I certainly don’t think so. Free handling is just another way for experts to control venomous snakes. I think it is obvious that anyone who is not an expert should not handle or even approach venomous snakes for any reason. In fact, Gus does tell the people who watch his educational shows to never handle or approach a venomous snake for any reason. I think those of you who are reading this probably already figured that out for yourselves.

I won’t go back to that web site until the web master removes the option to post anonymously because I think that option lends itself to abuse. I e-mailed the web master and told him that. I have not received a reply.

I will say, there are many wonderful, educational and entertaining venomous reptiles web sites out there, just be leery of any web site that allows people to call themselves experts but doesn’t require these so-called experts to identify themselves so that their claims can be verified and they can be subjected to the judgment of their peers.

To all of the parents that let their children surf web sites. View the sites with your children to keep them safe on line. If they do read about or see someone free handling venomous snakes, tell them that this is not something they should ever try. Let them know that people who do things like free handling snakes are experts. Tell them that even experts get bit.

To all the kids that read my stories.

DON’T EVER TOUCH A SNAKE IN THE WILD, and listen to your parents, they might seem silly and embarrassing, but they mean well.

My stories may not be reused in any way without my permission. If you are a teacher or a student and you need my story or any part of it to help you with a class or a better grade, just e-mail me (gatorman1@aaof.us) and I will gladly give you permission to use the story. Other requests will be considered on a case by case basis.

*This story or any part of it can not be used or reproduced with out written permission of the author!