Know your snakes
Texas Tech herpetology graduate student Jeremy Weaver has created a new way to identify snakes.
The new app is called TX Snakes 1.1 for iOS, and its an app that makes identifying any snake species in the state of Texas easy as 1,2,3.
You can search by county for what snakes might be found in those areas, or you can even search by using a description of the snake.
Does it rattle?
Does it have a certain type of pattern?
Weaver hopes his app will help people have a better understanding of what snakes they should actually be afraid of.
"If you've seen snakes around your house and you're wondering if they're venomous or not, you can use it and look at what snakes are found there," Weaver explains.
You can also search over 250 counties in Texas for what snakes are more likely to be from those areas.
Weaver says the hotter it gets the more likely you are to see snakes by your home.
"You could see more snakes because people watering their lawns or living close to water or maybe snakes come closer to get a drink. Sometimes the prey of the snake is going to be close to water," he says.
Weaver says he hopes the app will help people who are afraid of snakes get over their phobias.
"It'll help squash some of the misconceptions that are found and hopefully give people a greater appreciation for snakes," he says.