The Young Snake Wrangler

All summer long I watched from my deck a grandma with her three grandchildren strolling by to the pond nearby. The little girl picked flowers, the baby usually slept in his stroller, and the young boy waded fearlessly in the shallow end of the pond with rubber boots on. I waved at them every time we saw each other but we never met.

Once she told me from afar that her oldest grandson loves snakes. I was about to tell them that there were plenty of snakes in and around the pond and to be careful, but I figured that they already knew that.  There are thousands of snakes per square mile in Virginia.

The young boy with blond curls was not interested in the turtles, the bull frogs, the tree climbing nutria, the resident beaver family, the miniature ducks, the Canada geese, the blue heron, the two foxes, the deer, the rabbits, and many other creatures that showed up daily from the forest, just the snakes.

I wanted to meet this young wrangler, but they were always too fast for me, disappearing in the forest nearby once he was done with the pond. He quickly found the exact corner with the huge den of snakes and the den under a big pile of rocks on the right bank; nobody had any idea how the pile of rocks got there. They always seemed out of place.

Today I finally met the young snake wrangler at the pool. His grandmother introduced herself and her three grandchildren. His name is Gabriel and is 9 years old. What makes his passion so different is the fact that Gabriel is color blind, and he cannot distinguish snakes by colors, just shape of pattern and shape of the head. He catches and releases the snakes as his enthusiasm is to study them and handle them, not to collect them or dispose of them.

I asked him how he came about to like snakes so much. Gabriel (Gabe) has an uncle who catches snakes for a living, disposing of unwanted residents in peoples’ yards, sheds, pools, and homes in Prince William County. His uncle’s job turned into a fascination for young Gabriel. As the consummate professional, Gabe carries a snake catcher’s grabber hook.