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A healthy fear of snakes is innate in humans. Humans have feared snakes long before Eve was tempted with an apple. Snake mythology in human culture dates back as far as 2000 BCE (that we know of) in an image of the Sumerian deity Ningizzida holding a rod with two snakes coiling around it. In fact, every creature on earth save for maybe the mongoose and a few other species hardwired to protect are both with a healthy fear of snakes.
But every so often there are a few among us (myself included) who slip through the cracks without a suffocating fear of snakes and the lack of fear often manifests itself as a healthy respect of the various subspecies and wherewithal to remain calm and think rationally around them. The late great Steve Irwin aka ‘The Crocodile Hunter’ and his son Robert Irwin are perhaps the two most famous examples of people who treat snakes with respect and thus can handle them appropriately.
Another shining example of someone comfortable around snakes is in this vide of where a bridesmaid catches a snake and saves her sister’s wedding in Florence, Arizona. She picks the lon gsnake up its tail and calmly escorts it out of the wedding venue as everyone stares on in amazement.
Bridesmaid Catches Snake And Saves The Day…But What Species Was That?
My first question after this video was sent to me was ‘what snake species is that???’ because it looks A LOT like a rattlesnake yet we hear no rattle and she seems very comfortable picking it up with her barehands. Well in Arizona, if looks like a rattlesnake and acts like a rattlesnake but doesn’t have a rattle then chances are it’s a gopher snake.
Excuse my familiarity here but gopher snakes are awesome. They’ve been surviving forever by simply looking like rattlesnakes *and* growing to enormous sizes.
A gopher snake can live 12-15 years in the wild but up to 30 years in captivity and they can grow to a whopping 9-feet-long. They’re quite a visible species as well, despite having incredible natural camouflaging patterns suited perfectly to the Arizona desert. I say ‘visible’ because they often choose to inhabit areas like golf courses, parks, and other open spaces people often inhabit but hey, they were there first!
What’s the story behind her catching that snake?
Shout out to this bridesmaid though, Erika Rodriguez, for saving her sister’s wedding after catching that snake. Even if the gopher snake didn’t pose a direct threat to anyone the anxiety created could have sent the ceremony reeling sideways in an instant.
Erika Rodriguez told Fox 10 Phoenix her favorite TV show growing up was The Crocodile Hunter with Steve Irwin. So the Steve Irwin connection wasn’t merely a coincidence. She actually learned to properly handle snakes by watching Steve.
It is pretty amazing that at only 5′ tall, the gopher snake and her are about the same height. It takes some stones to pick up a snake that large even if you know it isn’t venomous.