Dee’s Wild Diary

It was World Snake Day on 16 July, and in honour of the occasion, I thought I’d write a little something about what was once my greatest fear.

I think Christianity, in some ways, has embedded an inherent dislike of snakes. Many have taken the symbolism in the story of Adam and Eve quite literally, choosing to fear and hate snakes for all eternity. Sadly, this fear has become cultural in many parts of South Africa, where the instinct is often to kill a snake the moment one is seen.

I was no different.

You might have noticed that I don’t actually have many photos of snakes… at least, not good ones. I was always far too petrified to get close. That was, until I moved to my beloved farm in Lammermoor.

There, I fell in love with the countryside and quickly realised I would need to make peace with snakes. By then, I had matured enough to know that all creatures deserve to live. This is especially true for those that play a vital role in our ecosystem. Snakes help control rodent and pest populations, preventing disease outbreaks and crop damage. They also serve as prey for other animals, including birds of prey. And you know how much I love birding!

Still, I had a phobia to overcome and needed to find a way to live in harmony with them.

The first thing I did was join a snake identification group on Facebook to start educating myself. It was the best course of action to desensitise myself. I learned to distinguish between venomous and harmless species. The second thing I did was train our dogs not to attack snakes. This is something all dogs can learn, young or old, for their own safety and ours.

Over time, I became quite good at identifying snakes. We had a simple rule. Venomous snakes would be safely relocated to the nearby nature reserve. Harmless ones were allowed to stay. My poor husband was tasked with catching and removing them from the property. It might sound like a wild idea. This is especially true considering we had nearly 20 different species of snakes living on the land. In fact, I was obsessed with relocating the venomous snakes. This helped me realise how many species we had on the farm.

On warmer days, I refused to walk in plakkies (flip-flops) unless they had wedge heels. I had become that obsessed.

Then one day, a passive night adder humbled me.

I was out walking the dogs in my little wedge-heel plakkies when I almost stepped on a night adder, a highly venomous snake. In that moment, I noticed something important. This poor creature was far more frightened of me than I was of it. It scrambled desperately to get out of my way, throwing itself in leaps and bounds to escape.

In that instant, I felt genuine compassion. This was a creature that simply wanted to be left alone. It hides and recoils when we are near. It hopes not to be seen. And with good reason. We tend to kill rather than help it safely on its way.

That experience changed everything for me.

Months later, during the summer rains, I was working in my upstairs office. Something caught my eye, a flash of brilliant green glittering in the sunlight. A snake had emerged from beneath the roof to catch some sun. At first, I thought it was a grass snake. Then I saw the eyes, and my breath caught.

It was the biggest male boomslang I had ever seen… bright, beautiful, deadly, and very, very passive.

Instead of panicking, I reached for my phone and recorded a video. Then, with even more courage, I grabbed my camera and climbed out the window to photograph him. He was nearly two metres long, and I realised he had probably lived there long before I had. He wasn’t going anywhere, unless forced.

As I stepped outside, he slowly slithered back into the trees. I caught a few photos and said, “Till next time, you beaut. You’re welcome to stay as long as I’m here, neighbour.”

I was clearly over the phobia.

Education is something else, it really can shift perception in the blink of an eye.

People grew wary of visiting. This was after I shared too much information and posted a few photos online, me and my big mouth! Friends and family stopped wanting to come or stay over, much to my amusement. But that was alright. My best guest, the green one, was probably happier with the arrangement anyway.

Snake lives matter too! More than you know! They’re far more friend than foe.

Let the house brown snake live near your home. It’ll do you a favour and take care of those dirty rats in your roof. Let them live in peace, or if needed, move them to safety. Just don’t kill what you don’t understand. The planet needs them more than you do.