I enjoy watching the series Dirty Jobs. Always interesting to see what Mike is up to this week. Caught a clip being used as a promo for an episide I must have missed. Mike and a woman are walking around in a grassy/brushy area and picking up snakes and letting the snakes bite them. WTF??
What was that all about? The area seemed to be just teeming with snakes.
They weren’t “letting” anything happen. She was a snake researcher, collecting snakes. Apparently, getting bitten is pretty much business as usual for that sort of work. These aren’t poisonous, so she didn’t really care so much about a bite or two. Sometimes the snake would stay latched on because pulling them off is worse than letting them release on their own.
After collecting they did some tests and measurements in the lab, inserted marking chips, that sort of thing.
They did a followup segment on it, where Mike calculated how much he would have gotten paid, per bite, assuming her hourly earnings. It was a laughably small amount.
Well, they weren’t letting them bite them on purpose. They were collecting endangered snakes to tag and measure them. Mike got the living crap bitten out of him. It may be my favorite episode ever!
Well, maybe after the septic tank one.
It’s hilarious. They turn over mats and she’s on the snakes like somebody hit a pinata.
Damn you. I was late because I was laughing remembering that snake latched onto him with its mouth open almost 180 degrees, chewing at his arm. Classic.
I love this show. I didn’t see the original Snake Researcher episode, only the highlight from the 100th Dirty Job Special. It looks like this episode will be running again in two weeks (upcoming schedule here).
As Cheesesteak has mentioned, letting a non-venomous snake bite you is not going to do nearly as much harm. However, trying to pull them off will often cause the snake to leave [more] teeth embedded in your skin. (Yes, snakes have teeth. Fangs are included, but are specialized teeth in venomous species.) Yes, you’ll bleed. Sometimes a lot. The teeth really itch when they’re stuck, and they’re difficult to remove. (Why? Try finding other clear, hollow, needle-like objects that are embedded in your skin.) My old roommate used to own a pet shop that specialized in reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates, and he had some choice photos of an extra bleedy snake bite with the warning “do not stick your hands in the tank or handle me without assistance; I bite!” or something like that next to each section of tanks. The sign was especially big over the snapping turtle bins. (They were 2-3 feet long from head to tail, and could easily eat your fingers. Toddlers beware!)
Considering the description of it, I’d wager that the snake researcher was attempting to not only study the snakes for academic purposes (The Journal of Herpetology is one of the driest academic journals I’ve ever read), but to also help with the population problems that that particular species may be experiencing.
Maybe this particular population of this snake species were exhibiting a behavior unusual in other groups of that same species; there could be any number of reasons for the research being done.
Nothing can ever beat the Las Vegas Pig Farm. Nothing.
I liked the Ostrich one.
But I will check this one out too.
That’s one of my favorite episodes. Here’s a link to an article on Kristin Stanford. It elaborates a bit on the research OSU’s conducting on the snakes.
But yeah, the pig farm is pretty awesome too.
For sentimental reasons, I like the one where he is digging up, cooking, and eating my college mascot.
Agreed. Bob Combs and Mike Rowe had some great chemistry. I loved how many times farmer Combs cracked up at Mike.
The snake episode was also excellent. I detected some flirting between Mike and the snake lady.
Thanks to all of you for the answers. I definitely need to catch this one in reruns. I do agree that the pig farm had to be most memorable one I’ve ever seen. Although the sight of Mike being sprayed in the face with poison by the idiot amateur termite exterminator was interesting too. I’m surprised the building was still standing at the end of that segment.
Oh, wait, I forgot about South African Monkey Preserve, staffed by Absolutely Nutso South African Monkey Lady. That one might really be my favorite. But I like the pig farm, too. And the septic tanks. And the ostriches.
Face it, we just love the show. I am in love with Mike Rowe - but I wouldn’t do his laundry.
Yep, the Nutso Monkey lady one and the pig farm one are tied for favorite in my book. Although, I also enjoyed the mule logging episode this past Tuesday almost as much. It wasn’t a very dirty job but man, it was pretty entertaining to watch Mike escape certain death by giant logs several times and the mules were just cool. Plus, it appeared that the one mule, Jack, was laughing at Mike at one point. Whatta smart ass… 
But you better believe I’d do him. After I hose him off on the porch.
Exhuming and consuming the dead?! gasp!
(Seriously, though…your mascot was a geoduck? Funky.)
I love all the dirty job shows , but I can’t believe no one has mentioned the Gator Farm episode as a favorite.
That was a good one, no doubt about it, especially when the one gator farmer gave him the oh so serious warning, then the other one jumped him with the fake gator. Still, Vegas pig farmer was my favourite, too.