This Month’s Featured Article

It’s the Year of the Snake, and we should all be paying more attention to these amazing creatures not just for what they represent, but for what they do.

Snakes, like spiders and bats, tend to subconsciously initiate the fight-or-flight instinct in us. “Get rid of it!” tends to be our reaction to seeing any of these creatures. What a shame not only for them, but also for us, as they are critical to the balance of our ecosystems.

While snakes are often represented as sneaky or cunning or insidious – just ask Adam and Eve! – they are also revered in many parts of the world for representing wisdom and healing. 

It’s worth asking at this time in particular what snakes mean to you and what snakes bring to the planet. It’s spring, and it’s time to get outside and garden and hike. Will you see snakes? Do you know what kind of snakes you might meet in your area? 

It’s also the Chinese Year of the Snake, and that only happens every 12 years. What does it represent; what does it mean? Why is a snake even part of the Chinese Zodiac?

The Year of the Snake

There are 12 animals represented in the Chinese zodiac – the rat, ox, tiger, pig, monkey, dragon, rabbit, horse, sheep, dog, rooster, and snake. It is said that several thousand years ago, an Emperor told the animals that to be represented in a heavenly calendar they had to compete against each other in a race that included crossing a great river. The first 12 to cross the finish line would make it. The snake finished in sixth place, a slither in front of the horse. It had wrapped itself around the horse’s hoof. Cunning, indeed. The zodiac was established. Every animal represented has a 12-year cycle. 

Chinese New Year was ushered in on January 29 this year, and welcomed the Year of the Snake. The previous Year of the Snake was 2013, and the next one will be in 2037. It’s no wonder a lot is ascribed to how a particular animal’s influence will play out through the year! 

People born during a Year of the Snake have the attributes of being smart, calm, elegant, and able to get along with others. They are people who others look to for guidance, as they have inner strength and conviction. People born in Snake years are considered intelligent, artistic, and resilient. Pablo Picasso, Bob Dylan, John F. Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, Taylor Swift, and Billie Eilish are all Snakes in the Chinese zodiac. (A Google search will quickly identify your Chinese zodiac animal.)

As for a Snake Year’s influence on the planet, they are typified by transformation – quiet but purposeful upheaval; shedding a previous version of oneself; seeing how a mindset shift changes reality from the inside out. For 2025 specifically? It’s said to be a year for breaking through major blocks. It’s all open to interpretation, but it’s interesting to consider.

Snakes in our lives

To learn more about the snakes we may come across in the Hudson Valley, I reached out to John Vanek, PhD. He’s an associate wildlife biologist who works as a research scientist at the New York Natural Heritage Program as part of the SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, where he earned his BS in wildlife science. He also has a MS from Hofstra, where he studied the ecology of eastern hog-nosed snakes, and a PhD from Northern Illinois University, where his dissertation focused on urban wildlife ecology and conservation. Wow! I think a snake might have an easier time swallowing its prey than keeping track of all of John’s expertise!

To say John is smitten by snakes is an understatement. 

“I was interested in reptiles as a kid,” John explained when I spoke with him about snakes. “The first snake I encountered was a baby milk snake. It was on my uncle’s farm in upstate New York.” 

John lived in suburban Long Island, so the odds of another encounter in nature were slim to none. He took to keeping snakes at home, then worked at a pet store, and at a nature center where he loved introducing people of all ages to the beauty and allure of snakes. 

“Humans have a deep-seated evolutionary fear of snakes,” he admits, adding that large pythons are still a concern for human safety in parts of the world. “Here in the Hudson Valley,” he says, “there are about 14 species of snakes, and only the timber rattlesnake and copperhead are potentially harmful. Snakes will only strike if they’re messed with,” he explains. “The timber rattlesnake strikes its prey so that it can track it down after it dies and then eat it. It tries to avoid biting anything but actual prey, and it’s not commonly seen.”

Here in the Hudson Valley

What kind of snakes might you come across in your experiences outdoors in the Hudson Valley?

“Garter snakes are the ones people see most often,” John says. “They have yellow and black stripes and they are active foragers, so they move around a lot. They’re amazingly adaptable and completely harmless. They eat the babies of common rodents like mice and rats, but they also love worms and frogs.”

If you’re lucky and observant, you may also come across the northern brown snake. “They’re about 15 inches long,” John says, “and pencil width. They eat earthworms and slugs, especially non-native European slugs, so if you’re a gardener and these snakes are nearby, you could benefit from their appetite for them.”

If you hike in the mountains, you may see a black rat snake. They can grow really long, and they can climb trees. “They’re really beautiful and really cool,” John says admiringly. 

“Snakes are very good at not being seen,” John shares. He tells me about a study of timber rattlesnakes he was involved in where the snakes were humanely tagged and released so that more could be learned about them. In the areas where they captured the snakes, they met many hunters and foragers who were very familiar with the environment and who wondered where the scientists were finding the snakes as they’d never seen them. 

“Our targeted research showed that there can be significant populations of snakes in places where people rarely if ever report seeing them,” John says. “You think there aren’t any, but there could be a sizable population.”

Rodents, beware!

And that’s a good thing for the ecosystem. Snakes in the Hudson Valley eat small rodents and some bugs. Small rodents can cause significant damage to crops, both by gnawing on the stems and stalks of plants, and by burrowing in the ground and disrupting soils and accelerating erosion. Mice in particular are also known to carry ticks. An environment that’s conducive for snakes means a rodent population is kept in check.

How can you tell if your environment is conducive to snakes? “You’ll find them in areas where different habitats come together,” John explains. “Habitat destruction is a serious threat, and only a few species can handle intensively farmed land or suburbs.” It turns out that Dutchess County is actually one of the best in the Hudson Valley for finding a variety of species, according to John, who says that it has the most snakes and the most turtles of counties in the Hudson Valley. 

“Many snake populations are fairly safe these days,” John says, “because people are starting to recognize that for the most part they’re harmless – and they often don’t even see them. Snakes are great at hiding,” he says. “It’s part of how they hunt and survive.” Still, some species are rare and declining due to habitat loss.

When I ask him if he has a favorite snake, John quickly shares that he has a fondness for the eastern hog-nosed snake. He goes to Long Island to look for them. “They’re two- to three-feet long, and they hiss and spread their necks to scare you,” he says, “then they turn over and play dead.” 

It’s easy to get John to swoon about snakes. “They’re so interesting because they’re unique,” he says. “The fork in their tongue allows them to tell where something is and whether it’s coming or going. They have a great sense of smell. And their scales are beautiful,” he notes, clarifying that they’re dry, not slimy as some believe. “They’re cool,” he says reverently. 

In this, a rare Year of the Snake, pay attention to the possibility of their presence as you walk, hike, camp, fish, or find other ways to enjoy the great outdoors. Learn more about which species are in your immediate vicinity or in an area you may be traveling to, and instead of feeling afraid, get excited about discovering them. •

Learn more about what John does by going to the New York Natural Heritage Program website – nynhp.org. Learn more about the Year of the Snake at chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/snake.