Ann Rutledge is the 'snake lady'

Ann Rutledge of Dallastown is known as the 'snake lady of Nixon County Park', so it's not surprising that she finds the crawling critters 'fascinating'. She learned while on the job-- all volunteer time-- since she knew nothing about snakes when she moved here from Baltimore County 10 years ago. She was president of the Historical Society of Baltimore County for a time, and did heavy research into the Lincoln Assassination before becoming the principal snake handler at Nixon. She volunteers every Thursday, and will be awarded a 1,500 hour award for her work at the parks during an upcoming Volunteer Appreciation event.

She works with three snakes, including the one pictured here, named Skim, a native milk snake, a copperhead and a black snake. She also watches over a non-native three-toed turtle.  Dispelling myths about snakes, showing visitors that snakes aren't scary or slimy, but rather very clean animals is sometimes the most frustrating part of her job. She lets visitors see up close the snakes' exquisite color and markings. And that they are generally good to have around.

Skim is a member of the king snake family, and will eat other snakes, including the venomous copperheads.

From the web site- The Eastern Milk Snake suffers from one of the myths about snakes, that it milks cows. That belief/story plainly is not true. Also, people sometimes kill Eastern Milk Snakes because of their resemblance to the Northern Copperhead Snake.
Actually, the Eastern Milk Snake is a beneficial animal, especially on farms. It actively seeks out and feeds on mice and other small rodents that infest barns and other farm buildings.