For this week’s Deep Dive Series, we are interviewing an inspiring Clapper creator: @SDSnakeadventures

@SDSnakeadventures is a Clapper creator who cares for and relocates snakes in San Diego. Through his content, we see his passion for snakes shine through. We get to see how him going on exciting Snake calls and relocating them from rural areas to their natural habitat. Even though @DSnakeadventureshas has only been in the platform for six months, he has build a great community and made them devoted fans of snakes one way or another. In this Clapper Talks interview, he educated us about the misconceptions people have about snakes and told us how he turned his passion into a busy side hustle.

Keep reading this Deep Dive Series to find out more about this creator’s amazing story. Make sure to tune in every Thursday at 5pm CT on our @Clappertalks account, to listen to the bonus questions that will only be available on our live radio show: Clapper Talks.

Deep Dive into this amazing creator’s life!

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What does a day look like in your life? 

I moved from Plano, Texas to San Diego 30 years ago, because it was a cool place for a guy to move and I’d never left. I started my fascination with snakes when I lived in Houston. My family moved when I was 7-years-old from London. Nobody liked me because I had an English accent and then, I discover the snakes were very accepting. I became fascinated with snakes around 7-years-old and I always found them interesting. Everywhere we travel I was looking for what snakes were found in that area. About 5 years ago, I decided to turn my passion into a side job. Snakes are the underdogs and most people fear them. So, I put it out there that I would come to get snakes out of people’s yards. The first year I had 100 calls, the second year 300 calls and now we get up to 700 calls a year.

When was your first interaction with a snake? What was that like? Did you immediately like them?  

We moved to Houston Texas when I was 6. It was a rural area that wasn’t developed. Back in those days, people let their kids just go out there with their bikes. We didn’t have cellphones, so we just took off with our bikes, backpacks and BB guns and be back by dinner time. One thing that we would find a lot of in the woods and creeks were snakes. All different kinds of snakes. That’s where I found that Texas has 4 of the most venomous snakes found in the United States. My father was very cool about it, he build me a place where I could bring them home, watch them and then let them go after a few days.

What is your favorite type of snake and why? 

Well, let me break that down into two questions. If I was to pick my favorite snake out of all snakes, I’ve always loved cobras. I think cobras are the representation of strength and power. Cobras appear to stand up and fight and I thought that was pretty cool. If I was to pick my favorite snake here, in San Diego, we have a rattle snake called “the red diamond”. Its a protected species of snake that’s only found in Southern California and Norther Baja Mexico. They’re beautiful, they’re big, they are the color of a red brick and their tails black and white striped. They are very noticeable and they are beautiful and unique to Cali, so I feel they’re my own little special species.

What are some common misconceptions people have about snakes? 

I come in contact with a lot of people doing what I do. So I learned that the top five biggest fears in the human race are death, public speaking, heights, spiders and snakes. I always get a kick out of that because I don’t find them scary at all. Usually, when I am talking to people I realize that the reason they fear them is they’ve had no exposure to them. They’ve been told that every snake is going to bite you and kill you and that’s not at all the true. They are shy creatures, they prefer to stay away from humans. Unfortunately, we’ve built malls and buildings all over where they live and we are shock that they show back up. That’s the sad thing. People don’t understand them and most people when they a little time around them they quickly understand that they are mellow creatures for the most part.

What do you think of having snakes as companion animals? Do you think snakes could have good relationships with humans? 

We have four reptiles as pets. They’re quiet solitary animals, so it hides most of the times. We also have dogs, who are friendly and jump on you when you get home. Reptiles are not like that. They tolerate us. I don’t know that my piton is friendly, but she hasn’t bitten anyone. Companion animal, I think more of a dog that you can get feedback from. I do think snakes make good pets if you are a snake person. They are not for everybody though.

We see your daughters in your videos at times, how do they react to the snakes you work with? 

As long as they were able to walk, we would go on family hikes. Part of the excitement of the nature hike is to see animals. The goal was how much wild life we could spot in these hikes. Snakes were always part of our goal. At the end of the hike, we would talk about the animals we saw. So, my girls from a young age were very educated in the nature they could potentially see in California.

So, When did you join Clapper? How did your journey as a creator begin? 

I think my girls suggested that I get on it. I didn’t always video my snake calls, but when I got on Clapper and started using it, it motivated me to remember to video my experiences with snakes. Like I said earlier, I get a lot of calls. When I get unique or dangerous calls, those are the videos I enjoy putting on Clapper and getting the feedback and comments from the audience. It’s rewarding when your passion becomes somebody else’s interest.

What advice would you give new users that want to be successful on Clapper? 

I think the key to being successful in anything you do in life is to enjoy it. They say that if you like what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. For me snakes its been something that I’ve been passionate since I was a kid, and that passion never wavered. Now, I still love it and by loving it is easy to create videos that show that passion. If someone’s out there that has a passion, embrace it.

For our latest deep-dive on @Windayy, read here.