Sometimes people ask unusual questions about snakes | ECOVIEWS

I have answered questions about snakes for decades.

During the last two, with the advent of camera phones, I enjoy being able to identify snakes people encounter. Equally enjoyable is educating folks about the ecology and behavior of snakes, both the common ones and those so rare they are seldom seen.

Toward this end, I continue to tell people that no snakes are aggressive to humans. I tell them that although some snakes may defend themselves by biting, snakes are pinnacles of food chains and thus beacons of environmental health. I also emphasize that humans do not have an innate loathing of snakes. As with some other behaviors, children have to be carefully taught.

Some questions I have received over the years have been straightforward, such as “Do corn snakes make good pets? (Yes) and “Do water snakes in a pond kill ducks or eat their eggs?” (No). In addition to garden-variety questions, I have received a few (by phone, by email and in person) that go well beyond the ordinary.

One type of "reptile call" is from the person who has just had a close encounter with a snake and is seeking assurance that the snake in the yard, on the deck or in the carport is not venomous. Trying to identify a snake over the phone or by email (without a photo) is often problematic, even for herpetologists.

Sometimes the verbal descriptions leave the herpetologist guessing, with no idea of what the person actually saw. I remember a call of this kind several years ago. The lady said she had returned from a trip and found a large snake in her driveway.

More: Hunting with Tuscaloosa's 'Snake Lady'

According to her, the snake was "chartreuse all over with the center of each scale air-brushed a brilliant pink," a description that defies identification. In exasperation, I finally told her it sounded like an exotic of some sort that had escaped from its owner, while wondering what kind of trip she had returned from.

Sometimes encounters with snakes are closer than seem advisable — like the call from a woman whose husband had caught a snake about 4 feet long in the woods behind their house.

More: How to avoid snake bites and what to do if you don't | ECOVIEWS

"We want to know whether it's poisonous. And whether we should keep it as a pet," she said. I asked her to describe the snake. As with many such descriptions, some questions lingered about what species it might be.

So I asked, "Can you safely get close enough to look at its eye and see its pupils?" Any large, native Southeastern snake with vertical pupils would be venomous: copperhead, cottonmouth or rattlesnake.

"Oh, yes," she replied enthusiastically. "It's right here by the phone. My husband has it draped over his neck. And it has round pupils." I was happy for them, but I did wonder why they had bothered to call.

More: Why finding a snake is a positive environmental sign | ECOVIEWS

I well remember a talk I gave to a group of deer hunters. As I was showing them a canebrake rattlesnake, someone said, "What good is it?" That's a fair question to ask, but the man sounded a tad hostile, as if I was the reason his hunting dog had recently been bitten on the face by a rattler.

I paused to consider the right response, especially when I eyed the shotgun lying on the floor beside him. But before I could speak, another hunter in the room looked at the man and said, "I can answer that. What good are you?" Two others chimed in with "Yeah. Yeah."

More: Pit vipers are the Southeast's most plentiful snakes | ECOVIEWS

My suspicion is that the other hunters were more interested in needling their buddy than standing up for the rights of rattlesnakes, but their point was valid. In some situations, with some groups, one effective response is to point out that other species could ask the same question of us.

Unfortunately, negative attitudes about snakes still persist. Nonetheless I like to think we are making progress toward creating a more snake-savvy, less fearful public

Whit Gibbons is professor of zoology and senior biologist at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. If you have an environmental question or comment, email [email protected].

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Have a question about snakes? Here are some answers | ECOVIEWS