After waiting in a line of about 30 children to touch a black rat snake named Bugeye, Emily Dietz stepped right up and trailed her fingers down the reptile's scaly back.
"I like to touch snakes," the 8-year-old said during a recent program at Marshy Point Nature Center in Chase. "I think snakes are one of the coolest animals around."
Emily's reaction was an example of one of the two opposing inclinations visitors typically have toward snakes, said Bob Stanhope of the Marshy Point staff.
"People are either scared of or fascinated by snakes," said Stanhope, 66, who has been a naturalist for more than 38 years.
Emily, a resident of Fallston in Harford County, was among more than 50 people who visited the center recently to attend a program on snakes. It was one of the many free sessions presented on weekends throughout the year at Marshy Point, which opened in 2000 on 492 acres of forested wetlands.
The two-hour programs are offered on topics including beekeeping, bird-watching, canoeing, spiders, fish, turtles, crabs, bats and night hikes. Most sessions attract about 35 people. The snake program is one of the most popular, Stanhope said, attributing the appeal to the fascination many people have for snakes.
"People love to see snakes and hear about them," he said. "So what I try to do is develop their interest with facts that will help them to have healthy attitudes about snakes."
Some visitors show up with a positive attitude about the reptiles. Jason Pisani, for instance, has two corn snakes and a boa constrictor for pets, and offered advice about getting to know snakes before Stanhope's class began.
"You can't be scared of a snake, because they will sense your fear and bite you," said Jason, 12, a Baltimore resident.
Stanhope takes such advice and uses it in his presentation, explaining how people are taught to fear snakes.
"They shriek, `Ohhhh! A snake!' Or they run from it," Stanhope said. "The truth is that although we have a built-in reflex to run from a snake, it's the worst thing you can do, because snakes can feel movement."
Snakebites also are a prime topic in the session. Stanhope said copperheads are the only poisonous snake commonly seen in Maryland and that he could recall only one reported death caused by a copperhead bite. That one involved a girl who was bitten twice, he said.
Hollie Pisani, Jason's sister, said it doesn't matter to her whether snakes bite - she likes them.
