Few animals are more disliked or misunderstood than snakes.
Irrational fears and feelings that people have about snakes come from misunderstandings and superstitions handed down from one generation to another. Pancho told me this story of Petey the Snake, just after I had a VERY close encounter with a very large Diamondback rattlesnake along the east bank of the Rio Grande. The snake struck my boot and left a fang imbedded in the leather. Petey lived in a small, warm and comfortable pit with his mother. They had a snake oil heater and even a piano.