A snake in the grass is a good thing

Even in this age of so called environmental "enlightenment" snakes often receive a bad reputation.

This, at least in my opinion, is completely undeserved.

In fact the opposite is actually true.

Here’s why.

One thing that is universal among all snakes is that all snakes are designed to be predators; some are completely specialized, while others are more "loose" with their food choices depending upon things such as season, life stage, and other factors. This is not to say some snakes will not consume dead food should they happen upon it at times, just that they are in fact designed to capture and kill their own prey as this is typically what they find when in the wild state.

Most people are aware that there are some snakes that are designed to and prefer to eat small mammals and rodents in particular, and most people are also aware that certain rodent species can be very destructive to man and his property, which has been proven time and again throughout human history.

With this in mind, it is important to note that snakes serve a beneficial role towards man by controlling populations of rodents, which might otherwise grow to dangerous numbers. This is in fact true not only over most of the U.S. and Canada but throughout much of the world at large.

Suffice is to say that there are quite a number of rodent-eating snake types throughout the world. Many snakes when conditions are ideal are voracious feeders with metabolisms higher than you might expect for a snake and are able to eat large quantities.

Many snake species do a good "cleanup" job of this as well by not only eating the parent rodents but by consuming the entire nest of young ones as well, therefore getting to the root of the problem.

Don't get me wrong, when human safety becomes an issue because of venomous or otherwise dangerous snakes being too close to human habitation, we obviously need to take certain steps to rectify this situation.

However, harmless snake species are just that - harmless - and should always be left alone even when near human habitation as all they can do is good.

As I have often said in the past, any wild animal left to its own devices in its ideal environment typically avoids humans at all costs as it carries out its role in the ecosystem.

Think about this next time you hear about snakes being portrayed in a negative light as well as this one of many "unexpected" ways that they and other creatures benefit the often much less beneficial creature, man himself.