Yup. And a grandchild now. My tribe. My litter. My reason for pushing myself so hard. Little basterds… haha jk. They are my whole world
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Being a single mom is both the hardest job in the world and also can be the most rewarding. Not saying that times ya wanted to strangle em 
. As they get older and wiser they won’t remember all the struggles they will look back and say ya know, “i really did have a great life” i know because i was there, now i only remember all the good times. 
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It’s funny because I do educational talks with my pets mostly at schools and the no.1 question I get from both the kids and adults given many of my pets in the wild would be food for each other is how come they don’t eat each other. Like the first thing people think is that all these exotic animals from spiders and snakes to lizards, sugar gliders and an Eagle owl are just loose wandering around my house 
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I have been told by family ew you have snakes? I’m never coming to your house! And I tell them that’s ok because you weren’t invited.
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I can totally relate. My mother is tertified of snakes. To her lizards are snakes with legs. She wouldnt let me get a reptile until i was 16. It was a green anole. (Followed by geckos and tegus shirtly thereafter) but from that point on never entered my room. Fast forward 37 years and now she considers all of my snakes her grandkids, lol. So folks can change. Just takes time and a willingness to accept things out if their comfort range. Wanna lose a son or gain dozens of new family members?
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I find that open mindedness, exposure and education is key.
Many people have certain fears because they are only taught the “scary” side of the animals, which is very detrimental to the species and ecosystem.
One such example is my black widows, everyone has been taught that they are “killers” lurking to bite you, when in reality their is less than 1% chance of death which typically occurs with people not in good health. There are tons of fear mongering sites that claim that they are “dangerous pests” of course they are exterminators profiting off of peoples fears, perpetuating misinformation.
Black widows are shy reclusive animals who run away rather than be defensive and they are super reluctant to bite. People don’t tell of the benefits of spiders such as eliminating harmful and destructive bugs that can carry diseases and destroy crops.
I wish i had the reach to educate people about our wonderful world of animals, that they don’t have to kill them on sight. Yes many animals are capable of doing us harm or kill us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t co-exist. Nature should be appreciated and respected. This doesn’t mean go pet a grizzly or a wolf etc., that’s just plain stupid.
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We just had a “snake rodeo” here in Louisiana. Folks boat around a lake shooting snakes. Last year they shot 134 snakes. 12 were venomous. Afterwards they stand around the pile of dead snakes to hold up headless, eviscerated snakes.
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That makes my blood boil.
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Ugh, that’s so awful. 
People suck sometimes.
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Im not down for the sensless and needless killing of any species. Killing for food or self defense, defense of others or pets is natural.
Its sad to see whole species being wiped out over ignorance or “tradition” i find that people who engage in those activities are often without intelligence, when i point out the ignorance they say im the stupid one or a tree hugger. Not so, i do eat meat on occasion but i also understand that nature has a balance that each species are interdependent upon each other and that also includes us. Yes we even need our “scary” animals or even nuisance animals like mosquitoes as many other species such as fish and bats rely on them for food.
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Most of what they killed were broad banded water snakes. I think it was 87 or 88 of the total killed. Totally harmless but they look like cottonmouth snakes. Sponsored by the Sheriff’s office and promoted as a family event. Next year im gonna get ahead of it and try to put them on blast beforehand.
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They do the same slaughter of wolves, coyotes, and rattlesnakes like they actually cheer about it, to me its senseless. We need these animals, they keep populations of animals healthy, they help control species that can spread disease. Killing of harmless species is just infuriating, they aren’t even educated enough to tell what a harmless species is. Humans tend to be very shortsighted, later they will be scrambling to try and save some other species because they removed an important species.
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Its always the same argument too. They could hurt a human. Wovles, coyote, snakes all play vital roles in the ecosystem. We encroach on their range. Kill them for interacting with us. That creates a void for other animals that carry diseases to fill. We counter that with the introduction of controls like poisons or invasive species. Just a ridiculous cycle all based on fear and “what if” worse case scenarios. But every time we end up finding out that removing the origonal species was in fact the worst case scenario.
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Most animals want nothing to do with humans and avoid us. My species of spiders and scorpions run at the sight of me. In the wild most animal “attacks” are the fault of humans not the animal. The human most iften did something stupid like walking up to a bison etc. Species like snakes, scorpions, spiders etc. Go where food is plentiful, humans produce a lot of waste that attracts insects and rodents so of course you will find species that feed on them. Very few animals in the world would actively hunt a human. Even most shark attacks are mistaken identity because people swim or surf near where the sharks prey live.
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I don’t like the killing of animals that are harmless like anyone else, especially snakes but I have close friends with lots of cattle and land. They have to keep coyotes in check but i feel thats necessary. Growing up my mother was deathly afraid of reptiles. Once I moved out and bought my first snake it gave an opportunity to educate her and others about snakes over the many years. While she we would never own one her stance has completely changed on reptiles.
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Just got contacted by fb. I submitted East Carrol Parrish Sheriffs Office page, posts, and pictures for promoting and showing acts of violence and also displaying guns with graphic photos of deceased animals and use of firearms to kill animals on video. They have started their review of the pictures, videos and their fb page. Hopefully there is some form of positive adjudication.
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Is this a state sponsored event like alligators here in florida? I don’t mind guns in pictures or culling things necessary. Just my opinion but have you reached out to the sherrifs office at all and tried to educate them on the difference of venomous and non venomous species. A non combative approach might prove better that way families can hunt together and everyone gets a much needed education which is severely lacking nowadays especially with reptiles.
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Theyve been approached by Louisiana Amphibian and Reptile Enthusiasts about establishing community educational corses and offered posters that are used in state facilities like parks and schools that ID all native species. The Sheriffs Office promotes it as a rodeo. 2 person teams boat around a lake shooting and collecting snakes. They weigh them in and give out awards for biggest ones throwing the rest in a pile that folks sort through and pose with. Last year they killed 130 plus snakes, of which 12 were venomous. To me its just a waste of natural resources and ammunition. Not a big fan of the anti snake paranoia it manifests either.
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Yeah that’s unfortunate. It happens to often.
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I think sometimes we humans want to live in nature like oh wow i can build a house here out on the lake it’ll be pretty without considering that we have moved onto animals lands. We expect animals to somehow understand and abide by the human social contact we live by. Often times we love the very places animals call home and animals also are attracted to human settlements because we tend to leave a lot of mess that looks appealing to the pests and then animals in turn have an abundance of food.
Im not knocking hunting or gun ownership but we humans need to understand that nature does what nature does. We are all interdependent creatures and what we do affects us all.
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