South Eastern North Carolina – The Untamed Frontier

      In my child’s mind, this area of North Carolina was like the untamed African continent. The area of Pennsylvania that I had come from was like a tame, vanilla, in-town game-park by comparison. There were a much greater variety of snakes, turtles, and amphibians in Sneads Ferry. Many of the species were more colorful, and all kinds of poisonous snakes could easily be found as well. Three types of pit vipers were very common in the area; there was a variety of rattlesnakes, water moccasins, copperheads, and once, I came across the elusive and shy nocturnal coral snake, which is related to the cobra. Coral snakes produce a very toxic neurotoxin.

      I loved living in North Carolina. Living there, I felt like Tarzan of the Apes, Marlin Perkins from Wild Kingdom, and Dr. Doolittle, all rolled into one.

      I met a biologist that worked on Camp Lejeune, and since I was fearless in my willingness to hunt and catch the poisonous snakes, he would pay me five dollars for every one I caught. Funny how I would be meek and fearful with kids that I could dominate physically, yet be fearless around reptiles that even the grown men in the area loathed and feared.  

      My mother would have pinched a brick and spanked me simple if she ever knew. Her fear of reptiles, especially snakes, was as mindless and powerful as most of the folk in that region. I would often frustrate and befuddle the men of the village with my love for the reptiles.

      Most of them had been brainwashed to believe the myths that a hoop snake escapes by biting its tail and forming into a hoop shape and then rolling away at high speed to avoid danger. Redheaded, blue-tailed skinks were called scorpions. It was believed by all of the adults in the village, except the biologist, that the skinks had a very poisonous bite and that their brilliant blue tail was a poisonous stinger.

      The redheaded blue-tailed skink was avoided completely by some people or killed indiscriminately by others (sort of like most people are with the things they do not understand).