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May 4, 2025 • 11 mins
Doug's insightful interview with Jerica Markle, for your listening pleasure. Originally aired on May 4th, 2025.
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey thirty seven on Sports Talk seven to ninety The
Doug Pike Show.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Thank you for listening.

Speaker 1 (00:03):
I certainly do appreciate it. I just saw an email
come in. I'm gonna have to deal with that in
just a minute, though, because what I want to do
is bring into the program one Jericha markle Jericha, good morning.
How are you?

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Hi? Good morning, I'm great. How are you?

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Doug?

Speaker 2 (00:18):
You know, I'm okay.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
I haven't found any snakes yet today, but I'm gonna
be looking this afternoon, I promise you.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
I am.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Oh. Well, it's a little Charlie today, so good luck.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, yeah, that's a.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Very good point. See already you're raising the stakes of
this game. I'm just an amateur. I'm walking through your world.
It's safe to call you a snake expert. What's your
background there?

Speaker 3 (00:41):
I am self taught, believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
I believe it.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
I just, yeah, just started learning about patterns so I
could know what I'm seeing, and then it kind of
snowballed into this passion.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
I'm also self taught, but I'm not as you're like
PhD level from talking to you the other day on
the phone, and I'm just I'm just trying to learn
my colors. I'm trying not to eat the chall that's
all so, so right up front, right up front, Let's
let's do this. Let's share with my audience that all
but a handful of snakes they might see in Southeast

(01:15):
Texas are going to be non venomous, right, correct, Yeah,
they're just a handful. So and in order of the
likelihood that we might encounter one of the venomous snakes,
which you can count on one hand, basically which ones
which ones are on the list for around here? Copperhead first,
I guess, right, or maybe cotton mouth.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, I'd say copper head and cotton mouth. They're they're
pretty equal in that measure. I get about equal calls
for those on a daily basis.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
How many times does somebody call you and you go
out there to get rid of the cotton mouth that's
in their yard and it's a water snake?

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Oh honestly, it used to happen all the time. But
but I've gotten to the point to where I have
people send me photos, yeah, so that I can confirm
for them and at least put their mind at ease, like, yes,
this is what you're seeing. Or no, actually this is
what you're seeing, but I'm coming either way.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, that's yeah, Well that's good that you go on
out there and help them with them, because a lot
of people are just deathly afraid of snakes.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
And by the way, speaking of sending pictures, what.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Is the exact page that Facebook page that I found
and fell in love with?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
What is it exactly called?

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Well, Doug, I'm on so many folksook page pages. If
it's a Texas one, and Southeast in general, it would
be what snake is this Southeast Texas?

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Okay, Well, that's a good place to start right there then.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
And with a little bit of learning, if they'll just
invest a little bit of time, most people can learn
to tell the difference, at least from the venomous and
non venomous ones.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Right, Yeah, what do you think it is?

Speaker 2 (02:56):
It strikes so much fear in some people when they
see a snake.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
I think it's just the unknown. And unfortunately, the less
knowledge we have, the the more you know scared we
are of the unknown. And and you think about childhoods
or you know, some something like that, and you see
your parent afraid of something, and you are automatically afraid
of that thing too, And so it's it's it's a

(03:24):
learned behavior from from early on, and it's definitely just
from the unknown. The more the more you know, the
less scared you are.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
That's what I try to tell people.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Don't be don't be frightened of snakes, don't be scared
of be respectful.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Same.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
It's the same place I occupy with sharks.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
I'm not scared of them, but I'm very respectful of them.
And that way you come out from pretty good. All
the way across the board. There's no reason to reach
for a shovel every time you see a snake, is there?

Speaker 3 (03:54):
Oh? No, No? I mean I mean would you would
you reach for a shovel if you came across the bear?
You know you're gonna lose that fight so fat it's silly,
it's pointless. They're not coming after you. There's no reason
for you to go after them. It's just the more

(04:14):
you learn, the less afraid you are. They kill out
of fear, and and there's really there's really no need
to fear them. Unless you want to pick up and
free handle a venomous snake, then maybe you should be
a little afraid. But other than that. You know, if
you give it space, it's it's definitely going to give
you space. We're huge predators to them. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
I used to be quick enough and brave enough to
handle cotton mouths and copperheads, and now it's just I'm
down to water snakes and king snakes and stuff like that.
I'm not grabbing them anymore. Talk about the role snakes
play in nature, Jericha.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
I mean they play a significant role in you know,
rodent control population. Like one of my favorite native snakes here,
rat snake. Oh yeah, And and they will eat almost
any rodent you can name. They're also very mischievous and
they'll get in your chicken coops and eat your chicken
eggs and stuff like that. I always make the joke

(05:10):
like that, that's your tax that you're paying for them
keeping the rodents off your property.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
You know, that's not a bad way to look at it.
You're just paying the piper, that's.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
Not Yeah, just get them a few eggs and they'll
keep the rats that day. I mean, yeah, they play
a huge role and just balancing the ecosystem. I'd rather
have a couple of snakes here and there than a
whole bunch of rodents.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Amen. For boy, isn't that the truth? That's what I
tell people.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
I said, unless you have a yard full of rats
and mice, you're probably not going to have snakes. And
if you do see a snake in your yard and
you don't have rats and mice, it's just passing through.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Leave it alone.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Oh yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
What's the most unusual place you've had to go remove
a snake from?

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Unusual? Well, that'd probably be in the kitchen. It was
someone had one in the in a kitchen drawer, is
what they said. And in the end we had to
actually remove the kitchen drawer all the way in order
to get the snake, and it was curled up at
the very back, and of course it was a rat snake.
They're often found and the most of our places, but yeah,

(06:20):
the behind the kitchen drawer, utility covers. They get stuck
in the most random places.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
When I was in college, a friend of mine kept
venomous snakes at his house because he was selling them
in to the medical school there to use the venom
to create an even and whatnot. And he came home
one day and his mother was sitting on the kitchen
table with a broom in her hands, and she said,
one of your snakes is out. I don't know where

(06:48):
it is, and I've been up on this table for hours.
I need to come down find your snake. And it
was it just it had curled up behind the refrigerator
because of that warm air coming out of there. And
he found it and he put it believe and that
was the last day he had snakes.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
In that house.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
By the way, was like, I'm done, yeah, done.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
I couldn't take this anymore. What's the biggest snake you've
ever found?

Speaker 3 (07:13):
That would also probably be a rat snake? Now in
South Texas, I'd come across Texas indigo snake, but we
weren't quick enough to get our hands on it. But
it was massive and they're huge and they're amazing snakes.
But me personally getting my hands on a snake would
be a rat snake. And I'd say he was close
to six feet.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
If you look at Facebook, if you look at my page,
you'll see a picture of me holding a snake that
I caught at the golf course. It was a rat
snake also, and it was about that same size. I
was so glad to My son wanted me to catch
it and I I was kind of making half hearted
efforts at first. He goes, come on, Dad, you can
do it, and then I had I had to go
ahead and pick the thing up. It was very cool,

(07:55):
So let's talk about go ahead.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
I was just gonna say, I find that those large
your rat snakes there are a lot more docile than
the baby ones.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, he kind of fussed for a little bit when
the picture that is there was one that my son
took right after I picked it up, and he fished,
fussed for a little bit, but then.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
He kind of calmed down.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
So let's let's talk about what people should do if
they're out walking a trail or playing golf or whatever
they're doing and see a snake and it's it's closed,
it's within three feet of them, what do they do?

Speaker 3 (08:26):
It sits in your way and you have to physically,
you know, be right where it's at. You know, you
can show it away with a stick or something. But
if it's not in your way and you can give
it a wide brick, just go around it.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Right.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
It's not going to strike out at your ankles, it's
not gonna take you. It's going most likely nine times
out of ten, it's going to lay there and hope
that it's camouflage is working so well that you don't
see it. So if it doesn't take off, it's thinking, Okay,
this big predator doesn't see me. I'm just going really still,
so just just give it a berth and walk away

(09:04):
and it's not going to follow you.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
It's really a myth that snakes are aggressive, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
Oh yeah, one hundred percent. It is a myth. Now
if you pick one up and they will show defensive behavior,
of course they think they're about to die, so but yeah,
no they don't. They don't sit and wait for a
human to come up and decide to pick a fight
with you.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Do you have snakes as pets as a kid?

Speaker 3 (09:28):
I did not. My brother did. He had a red
tailed bola and she got up to about seven feet
oh wow, and he moved off and left her with us.
And yeah, she was a handful. She was a big snake.
She was an escape artist, as you can imagine. I
get a phone call on the way home from school,
like seventh grade. My mom's like, well, baby, get out

(09:50):
of her cage again. I'm looking for and I'm thinking,
how hard is it? To find a seven foot snake
in the house, Like, where could you be.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Disguised as a broomstick in the in the pantry? Maybe?
Holy Cow, I hate to do it, but we gotta go.
Your favorite snake in Texas? Mine are the king snakes,
all of them. They're so beautiful.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
My favorite snake in Texas would have to be one
of the hog No snakes. Oh okay, cool?

Speaker 2 (10:15):
Yeah they are flare that old hood up there.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
Man.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
They look like a Yeah, wanna be cobra, don't they?

Speaker 3 (10:22):
They do their best?

Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, beautiful snakes.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Jessica, Jerika, excuse me, Jericha Markle. How can people find
you if they've got a snake they want you to come,
and you're around southeast Texas or southeast Houston.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Southwest let me get it right, southwest Houston.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yeah, on the sugar Land area. The best way to
get a hold of me is send me a text.
I don't always answer unknown numbers, but if you send
me a text and there's a snake in that text,
I'm going to respond to you within seconds.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
All right, Jericha. So I'm so glad to meet you.
Maybe someday I can buy you a cup of coffee.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
Or something.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
I'd love to talk snakes with you. Thank you. I
appreciate your time, I really do.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
All right, by bye? You bet bye. That was so fun.
That really was. I enjoyed talking to her.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
We have to take a little break here, otherwise we're
going to be in real trouble coming nine o'clock hour.
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