I’m also in Eastern NC
Please don’t misunderstand me. I don’t want to kill any snake. I have no intention of bothering them and I hope they have no intention of bothering me. What happens is, when you a snake, everybody wants to tell you their aggressive snake story. I only want to find out if there’s any truth to those stories. Please don’t assume that I’m out paddling around looking for snakes to kill. Nothing could be further from the truth.
aha!
I think we established previously that water moccasins LOVE yellow canoes. Without handguns aboard.
I’ve had cottonmouths follow me…
…and chase me on land.
yep, maybe one out of ten I have
encountered on land will “bluff” charge you…
However…
…Cottonmouths can be foul tempered, but bites in
the water are rare. cottonmouths typically swim
with their heads out of the water, because believe
it or not, they are not a true water snake, and
their eyes are on the side of their heads, not on
top like a frog’s or 'gators.
Unless you are good, there are a lot of snakes
that look a hell of a lot like cottonmouths.
and I thought this was funny 1st time
– Last Updated: Jan-23-08 3:54 PM EST –
around!
Edit: I stand corrected. I found your snake, he looks pretty fast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvJr2CDKnRs
One in particular was a bit more…
…than a bluff. It was on a log over a small stream. I started crossing it without seeing him
on the other end.
He came at me until he had completely crossed the
log. He could have easily slipped into the water,
and he wasn’t cornered by any means. Call it 4"
to the water from the bottom of a 6" log.
I let him have the log and crossed after he got to
my end of it and slipped off into the weeds and
thence into the water.
No, never had a problem
with snakes, and I’m out in the Florida swamps a lot.
Look into its eyes, and if the pupils are round, the snake is not poisonous.
Use binoculars for this.
shawhh & joemess make sense
Being from a family of serious poisonous snake-hunters (operating in the South, Desert Southwest, Amazonia, and Central America - photograph and release only) I believe that SHAWHH has it just about right.
JOEMESS certainly makes a lot of sense, but I’m afraid that you’ve got that adult “dry bite” part a bit wrong. At least when pissed-off, and especially when a snake is attempting to escape a human snake-catcher — they bite. My brother’s ten-day morphine drip from a “mere copperhead” attests to this.
Just remember the most common LAST words of rattle-snake finders: “Hey guys! Hold my beer and watch this!”
when pissed youare correct…
but if it is just a “leave me the hell alone you goofy looking primate” bite, they tend to be dry.
This past spring I was working in a swamp and one of the men I was doing research with was bit by a very large cottonmouth… It turned out to be dry. There are certainly exceptions to every rule, but I was trying to illustrate that snakes are not out to get us.
maybe he could smell
a rat?
funny thing about rattlesnake
finders and roundups…
Rattle snakes are getting more and more dangerous as the ones that warn you with a rattle are getting caught. The ones that don’t rattle and just bite are remaining in the environment and reproducing…
Pot Stirrer!
there ya go pickin’ at scabs…now QUIT IT before you get an infection started!
Never…
in 30+ years of backpacking, paddling, diving, and running a nature preserve, have I ever had a problem with a snake. I’ve moved a few, but attacks are nil. They are way more afraid of you and won’t bother you unless you pester them first.
that’s what you’d think, but I’m serious
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I sold my beloved '98 Honda Odyssey minivan/shuttle vehicle to my gun-nut Kentucky brother-in-law who makes holsters for a living. Part of the deal was a holster for me.
Not being a full-blown gun nut myself, I told him to just make whatever he thought would be good for field use. That's when he started telling me that he was going to make one that I would be able to wear outside my PFD. You know, so I could "get at it."
I tried to tell him that I don't have any interest in wearing a gun paddling and that it would likely interfere with my paddle strokes. But, he just kind of stared and looked at me funny. That's when I figured it was easier to just not argue with him.
"Well, just use your best professional judgment", I said.
We'll see, but I'm bettin' its comin' "snake ready" ... whether I am or not. LOL
nevermind shooting your canoe
Just don’t do what that idiot did last week, holding up a convenience store, tucked his pistol in his wasteband and promptly shot himself in the left nut…now you that’s gotta hurt.
water snakes and water moccasins
The non-poisonous water snake (Nerodia sipedon) can easily be mistaken for the poisonous water moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorous).
Markings are similar, habitat is similar, and the water snake even has a robust head that can be mistaken for the diamond shaped viper head. The marking that distinguishes the cottonmouth is a thin light colored line that runs from the nostril to the eye. Water snakes do not have it.
Water snakes can be ornery and aggressive. if you grab one they will almost certainly bite you. Water moccasins seem much more retiring in my observation. I almost stepped on one once and it just lay there, looking at me . My guess is that people often mix up the two, so the ornery disposition of the water snakes is ascribed to the water moccasin. Combine that with widespread fear and ignorance of snakes in general , and it’s a bad deal for both species.
It is easy to kill snakes in the water
by hitting them with a paddle or even your hand.
Cotton mouths can be agressive. I was attacked by one on a trip the newspaper was blogging. My comment was that a swift kick put it back in the water and a reader posted that I didn’t need to kick it. Regretfully I never got the pleasure of finding out who she was. I had a few choice of words for that dumbass.
I guess I’m a dumbass too then.
– Last Updated: Jan-23-08 7:32 PM EST –
I've seen photos taken by three different people who have halted the approach of an "attacking" cottonmouth by lifting it gently on their paddle blade. One of these folks is P-net's own Jackl, and another person has used this trick on a number of different occassions. In each case, seeing the snake become completely relaxed and calm the moment its body cleared the water revealed the snake's true motivation, a simple instinctive urge to climb out on something. I have a hunch that a snake climbing onto your boat WOULD get pretty upset once it figured out that this potential sunning log was occupied by a huge, aggressive animal who was trying to hit it. Small wonder a snake in that situation would try to bite.
It seems that we differ
Some of you say they’re no problem at all, others say they can be pesky critters. As I said earlier, I’m not a snake hater, but I do have a healthy respect for them! I honestly believe the snake I saw was a water moccassin. His head was above water, his body was below. He did not make a move toward me. In fact, he was perfectly still as I was paddling by him. He made no attempt to follow me or enter my kayak. I am beginning kayaker. I was just wondering if the experience I’m relating is the rule, or the exception to the rule. I still don’t know the answer!