Handler teaches students about repiles

By SUSAN BERG

Managing editor

Steve Unruh of Marion is a snake aficionado — he finds snakes just about everywhere he goes. He shared his love for the reptiles with students May 4 at Marion Elementary School and at Head Start, showing snakes he had captured a few weeks ago and one that morning.

However, he warned Laura Baldwin’s sixth-grade class to not do what he does.

“If you see a snake, stay away unless someone can tell you about it,” Unruh said, referring to the difference between poisonous and non-poisonous snakes.

His hobby has come with some hard lessons. Unruh said he has been bitten four times by poisonous snakes and several hundred times by harmless snakes.

Unruh began earning about in snakes when he was a preschooler. His mother taught him to read when he was 5 and he read as much as he could about the reptiles.

He also has gained his vast knowledge from handling snakes for more than 50 years.

Unruh showed students a black rat snake he found a few weeks ago when he was tearing down a house. He showed some nicks in the snake’s skin that indicated it had been in a skirmish that resulted in minor injuries. He was nursing it back to health and planned to release back into the wild that day.

Black snakes are members of the constrictor family — they wrap their prey so it can’t move.

With his live snake collection, Unruh showed students a snake skeleton and snakeskins.

He explained that snakes never stop growing but their skin does, which is why snakes shed.

Unruh explained the differences between poisonous and non-poisonous snakes.

He showed a harmless baby black snake but said there were some poisonous snakes that look the same as babies.

Non-poisonous snakes have long, narrow heads and long tails, while venomous snakes have heads shaped like arrows or triangles and blunt tails.

Snakes use the scales on their bellies to move. The tongue is used to sense vibrations, smell, and taste.

Other snakes in his collection were a garter snake and a coachwhip snake.

The coachwhip snake has the largest pupils in the snake world, which are used for sight hunting, Unruh said. The snake only sees movement and strikes accordingly.

“It’s the largest member of the racer family,” Unruh said, and able to chase down a rabbit.

The reptile raises his head above the ground, similar to a cobra, to look for prey.

Unruh said once he was bit by a water moccasin when he was fishing.

“This is the most poisonous snake in the area,” he said.

Unruh said he reached over a bank where the snake was laying and was bit.

The water moccasin is dark green to black in color.

“Inside of the mouth looks like a cotton ball,” Unruh said.

Poison sacks are visible on poisonous snakes near their mouths.

“It doesn’t matter if a poisonous snake is small or big,” he said. “It still has the same amount of poison.”

If a person is ever bit by a poisonous snake, Unruh said the best thing is to sit down and remain calm. Slowing the heart rate also slows the quickness of the poisoning going through the body.

Despite common beliefs, it is unwise to cut the bite area, he said.

“It doesn’t help,” he said. “The best thing is to get to a doctor or a hospital as quickly as possible.”

Another suggestion is to put ice on the affected area, which also slows the poison.

Respecting the reptiles is important.

“There are 86 teeth on top and 86 teeth on bottom,” Unruh said of a snake’s mouth, indicating why a bite even from a non-poisonous snake is something all should try to avoid.