A snake breeder accidentally created a python with bizarre smiley face emoji markings — and it sold for $6,000. Justin Kobylka, of Georgia, said he’d spent years trying to perfect a different pattern ...

Most people’s mental snake-ID kit in the yard comes down to a couple of half-remembered rules: “triangular head means venomous,” “round pupils mean safe,” or some color rhyme they learned as a kid.

More of us spend a lot of time outdoors this time of year, and by the way, so do snakes! Just the word alone sends many people into a panic. Emma Eldridge, for one, is not afraid of snakes. It’s the ...