Fifth-grade students at Clanton Intermediate School learned about various Alabama snakes on Tuesday.

“I think snakes are pretty cool,” Clayton Miller said. “I’m not scared of them.”

Miller was one of the first students to step up and volunteer to hold a snake after a two-hour presentation from Dr. Robert W. Hastings about Alabama snakes.

Hastings said his purpose for the presentation was to familiarize students with various snakes and teach them that snakes are not bad animals.

“I think people have a common misconception that snakes are bad, or that you should stay away from them, and I hope to share that most snakes are not dangerous,” Hastings said.

Hastings brought nine cases of snakes to show students as well as several snake skins and preserved snakes in jars.

Hastings said he started catching snakes around age 13, roughly 60 years ago, and started showing snakes at schools in the 1960s.

He now spends most of his retirement giving snake presentations to scout groups, civic organizations, festivals, birthday parties and school groups.

“My mission in life is to convince people that snakes are not bad,” Hastings said.

Hastings told the students he would only share information about Alabama snakes, due to wanting them to know how to familiarize themselves with the species.

He also told the students about the six venomous snakes in Alabama, which are the Cottonmouth, Copperhead, Timber Rattlesnake, Pygmy Rattlesnake, Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake and Eastern Coral Snake.

Hastings also shared the popular rhyme created by Boy Scouts to help individuals remember how to decipher if a snake is poisonous.

“If it is red and yellow it will kill a fellow, and if it is red and black you are OK, Jack,” Hastings said.

Avree Parrish said she likes snakes and seeing the different patterns each type of snake has.

“Some snakes sort of scare me, but not all of them do,” Parrish said. “I learned that a King snake likes to eat other snakes, which I didn’t know.”

Hastings allowed some of the students to handle the snakes after the presentation.

“I really enjoyed learning about them today,” Parrish said. “It was really neat.”