Happy World Snake Day! July 16, 2020

Happy World Snake Day, everyone!!!

Here is a link to some info for those who would rather read about them that actually trip over one.

Highlights from the linked website:

>There are around 3,600 species of snakes
>>"Only" about 600 are venomous
>>>About 200 pose a serious risk to human life
>Live snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica
>Most snakes are nocturnal
>Some snakes are live-bearers

In 1775, Benjamin Franklin was so enamored with the rattlesnake that he wrote about why he believed it was the ideal image for the colonies. “She [rattlesnake] never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders. She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage.”

Baby venomous snakes are sometimes deadlier than the adults of their species, because adults will often strike (but not waste their venom on a non-food item) merely to get you to back away. Baby snakes have yet to master such control, and are more likely to reflexively inject all their venom.

 

You mean this?



That was his reaction to being invited to march in the Snake Day parade

When we first moved to the northern part of Virginia (right outside of DC) in the early 60s, there were lots of snakes...mostly garter snakes and black snakes. Over time, development killed their habitat.

One of the many pleasures I've had since moving to the country has been to see snakes and skinks (small lizards) again. I often see both sunning on my deck and on the concrete pad at my side door. I've yet to encounter any rattlers or copperheads, but I've been told that they're here.

I was surprised to see that the first few returned results when searching on "Snake Day" were websites in India. The one I linked to is India.com

Apparently, snake worship is very much alive there.

 

I had to look up snake day , to see why anyone would even want to have a day to celebrate snakes. While I can appreciate that they are in many ways helpful creatures (just like spiders ?) , I would do just fine if they lived their existence somewhere else than where I am at.
We had snakes all of the time when I lived in Missouri, and that was when I got bitten by the copperhead. Any fondness that I might have felt for a snake was long gone after that experience.
I also lost one of my goats from a snake bite, and had a dog that survived, but was pretty miserable for a while after being bitten. The article says that some snakes are friendly, but so far, I have not met one of those friendly ones yet.

https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/world-snake-day/

 

@Yvonne Smith

I guess surviving a copperhead bite makes you the only one here with the moral authority to comment on this holiday.
It's only a concept to the rest of us.

Regarding that article's characterizing any reptile as being "friendly..."

 

When I was a kid, I was afraid of snakes, like most kids are. The only ones we had in North Idaho were non-venomous ones, little garter snakes.
Some were brown and some were black and yellow.

We would go camping and fishing in the summer time, and my mom caught one of the small little water snakes, and showed me how to wrap it around my arm and hold it, and after that, I used to enjoy catching them and holding them.
None of them ever bit me, but I don’t think that I would have considered them as being friendly , either.
I remember bringing some home and putting them in a tub overnight, but by morning, they would be dead. For some reason, it just didn’t occur to me (at that age) that the poor snake wore himself out swimming all night and died.

The copperhead that bit me was definitely NOT friendly, and he had that look in his eyes that he wanted to bite me again. No more snakes for me, no matter what kind they are.

 

After being here for 10 years, today I saw my first copperhead on my property.

From my tractor perch:


Zoomed in:


I was looking for a wheel that was missing from my mower deck. I just finished cutting my acreage yesterday and thought it may have been lost during that session. Thank goodness I decided to cover more ground by riding my tractor to find it (it's still lost.)

When I pulled up on the snake, it lay motionless, so I though it was dead. I inched closer and it struck at the front end loader!!! Even being up in the seat and not near it, I nearly pooped. I was certainly not perfectly safe.

Had it been nearer the house, I might have taken further action. But this is the back end of my lot near the head of a logging trail, so I let it slither off, unmolested.

damn.

 

Bump for World Snake Day 2022

I go on the Next Door forum every once in a while (I just lurk, I don't post), and there have been a lot of snake stories this season in my region. Lots of folks claiming to see copperheads. They are not often fatal to humans (I think it's a muscular toxin and not a neurotoxin, but don't quote me on that), but I don't want to get bitten. Even harmless black snakes will strike if provoked.

None of the repellent recommendations seem to work. One person pointed out that if you leave your porch light on at night you're gonna attract insects, which attract frogs & toads, which attract snakes. I never thought of it.

This is a 3 minute video about snakes from The Wildlife Center of Virginia. The guy is pro-snake. It's an interesting video:

​

 

All snakes serve a purpose and, while I am not particularly fond of them, it concerns me that I don't see more of them around anymore. I killed one rattlesnake while I was living in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and that was only because it was at the front door of my neighbors' house while only their 12-year-old girl and a friend were home. Had it been at my front door, I would have moved it around to the back, but I didn't want to take a chance that one of these girls would be bitten, and I didn't have anything handy that I could put it in so that I could relocate it. In California and Texas, I have come across several other rattlesnakes, including one that lived in a woodpile at my front door, but I let them be.

Most snakes aren't venomous, and the majority of those that are don't carry enough venom to kill you unless you're very sick or very young.

 

In Virginia it's against state law to kill a snake unless a person or a pet is at immediate risk. I have a ton of blacksnakes around here. The sound of them taking off through the grass when I've spooked them has startled me more than once...they are astonishingly fast. Their presence (and the presence of other reptiles) makes me feel as though my ecosystem is in good shape. I let that copperhead at the end of my property live because it was not threatening me (wasn't near my house), and I know it will kill things that might threaten my health more than snakes...like rodents. And its babies are food for the black snakes.

Virginia is home to 32 species of snake, but only 3 species (5 total subspecies) are venomous:

The cottonmouth (aka water moccasin) is semi-aquaticand is found
in the southeastern part of the state
​

-They don't prey on humans, but carry a deadly hemotoxin that has killed humans...rather quickly

The copperhead is found state-wide
​

-They strike without warning, but their hemotoxin is usually not fatal to a critter as large as a human

The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is found in the western mountains
& the southeastern part of the state
​

-They are the heaviest (but not the longest) snake in America
-Lots of humans have died from their bite. Only immediate care is gonna save you.

The pygmy rattlesnake is found on the Appalachian Trail
​

-They are the smallest venomous snake in America, and their painful bite is rarely fatal to humans

The timber rattlesnake is found in the western mountainous regions
​

-They are highly venomous but not usually fatal to humans

 

The pygmy is a pretty snake, but they're enough to make you run to condo life, huh?

I got a quote on wrapping my crawlspace, and they wanted to charge thousands $$$ extra if they pulled the insulation because I have black snakes under there, and--while they're not venomous--they will strike when disturbed.