Close encounters of the venomous kind...

[CowBoyWay]

I was just reading about how aggressive Water moccasins are and how they tend to exhibit the behavioral characteristics of territorial animals by defending and guarding a specific area, thus appearing to be more aggressive than most snakes.

Has anybody have any tales to tell about surprise or maybe not so surprising "close encounters" with naughty venomous snakes while out trape-sing through the country side looking into the various nooks and crannies of the Wild Born Corn Snakes habitat?

Inquiring minds want to know!
;)

[FlyinHerper]

Hey CowBoyWay,

Well I don't live in Corn Land, but up here we have some Timbers(and some big ones to boot!) Every summer I go to a secluded spot, (there are a few of those left), and search around in perfect large boulder fields for these awesome snakes. I'd have to say that from my experience with them and limited knowledge of other snakes that their defensive-ness depends largely on the species. This may seem like a "no-duh" kind of point, but it's very interesting.

These Timbers are VERY different than say a Black Mamba in the defensive sense. I mean hey, what more of a warning could you ask for than a rattle? Most of the ones I've seen will rattle when disturbed and look for the quickest way out. Mambas won't ... They'll try their hardest to whoop your butt, and usually will :)

But you're right. I too have seen on TV the Cottonmouths stand their ground ... it just seems to m that you'd never see an Eastern Coral do the same.

[tlhsherry]

Oh Yeah! They are aggresive! I recently moved from Tulsa, OK. Most of my family is there and my aunt has some acreage by the Vertigris River. She has a pond on her land that was guarded by a moccassion for at least 4 years that I know of. He (and it could have been she) would come flying out of the water to chase off anyone who went near it. Once you got about 50 feet away, he would turn around and go back into the water.

Most of the people I know have similar stories and it seems OK is cottonmouth country!

I'll see if I can get some of them on 'paper' and post them.

Tiffany

[pinatamonkey]

This reminds me of a program I saw on the national geographic channel a while back. They were doing a study on the aggressiveness of cottonmouths.

Basically, what they did is go in the swamps to find cottonmouths, and would do things to test their willingness to bite. They would gently step on them, and pick them up with tongs (inside a glove and shirt to make it look like an arm). I was surprised at the reactions of the snakes - many could be stepped on and even picked up without them biting...they found a copperhead and did the same tests with it and it bit a lot more.

But to answer the OP: Yeah, I've found some venomous snakes before. while out looking for stuff (not specifically corns)..one day last fall, I found 3/4 of the venomous species in my area (only didn't see diamondback)...2 were DOR, a coral snake and cottonmouth :(.

In Ocala Nat'l Forest, my dad stopped to look at some fungus on a tree (interesting stuff :D), and I heard a -buzz-, wondered what it was, looked down, and there was a dusky pygmy rattlesnake crossing the path right in front of us - maybe 2 feet away. Wasn't too worried about being bit, he was only about 1 1/2 ft long, so it's easy enough to keep far enough away. Pretty cool though.

Here's a pick of the pygmy:
Pygmy (http://members.lycos.co.uk/pinatamonkey/wild/IMG_1793%20(Medium).JPG)

[13mur 6]

Oh, never knew this post existsed.

Yes I had a bad run in with a Massasauga, in MICHIGAN BTW, close to impossible to find them here anymore. I was hiking up a rarely used trail to meet my friend at the top of a hill and I dropped my hiking stick and when I leaned down to grab it, BOOM, got bit, no rattle, no warning. It had a pale background and some tan/green looking saddles on it, and a rattle, and it just kinda sat there looking at me after it bit me (prob guarding eggs or something, that usually makes snakes territorial btw). Whole hand turned black and spent 2 days in ER. So, I guess some rattle snakes don't rattle before striking. I probably just scared the hell outa it by dropping my stick, probably my fault for not seeing it. Oh well, there's my story.

-13mur 6

[xtrentreznorx]

Hey.. they're pretty agressive. My cousin was fishing, and he dropped something in the weeds by the water and one bit him on the hand. It held on for a little while too, and he had to go and get all kinds of shots. He didn't even see it either.. weird in a way, but then again it isn't.

[Chip]

Not to be a "correctibutimus", but Imur, you had a mean snake, period. No egg guarding, rattlers(actually all pit vipers) give birth to live young and wouldn't give a rats' fuzzy butt if you methodically skinned their babies alive in front of them!
As for the cottonmouth, I've run across more than I can remember; being a snake catcher and fisherman growing up in the south. Call me lucky, but I once caught one at a young age thinking it was a watersnake. The watersnakes around these part (Neriodia genus, formerly Natrix) are nervous as a bunker full of Sadam look-alikes and I'd been chewed up before, so tried to pin them down and grab their heads. This snake never opened it's mouth as I've seen them do, just held still on the bank. I pinned it down, grabbed it's neck and carried it home and put in a cage. My Dad came home from work, I proudly showed it to him, and he had a fit dumped it out and killed it in the yard with an axe handle.:( He later opened it's mouth and lifted it's fangs with a twig, smacked me on the back of my head and told me what an idiot I was!
I learned the difference, although a big northern water snake is just as stout and it takes a good look! But having caught cottonmouths (on purpose) since, I must say the tempermant isn't much different than a copperheads', if you factor in that you have to get a stick under them and sling them away from the water to have a prayer to catch them. I've never upset a copperhead that much (well, off the bat), but can imagine they would react similarly to it! They are the same genus, after all. But look at corns docility compared to most other ratsnakes, and that nullifies my arguement!
I seriously beleive that native U.S. snakes that eat fish are MEAN, period. Garters don't count, they're omnivores! But every water snake I ever caught was unhandleable and cottonmouths will strike a foam covered PVC piece ruthlessly.
I saw the bit on poisonous snakes being tested for aggression, too and was amazed how calm most were. I'll do the "foot press" test next time I run across one on a snake hunt and let you know.

[Chip]

Oh, and as for territiory, I don't know about ponds, but on creek banks, they bask in the same spot every time I've come by! If I see one, I come back to the same place quietly and they are there! Never had one "chase me" in dozens of encounters, and I've waded across stream to get them. They have before poured into the water and come straight at me, but I ain't chalking that up to agression, it's just where they are more comfortable.
They have tried to crawl into my boat when fishing too. My "first mate" had to say that it chased us and tried to climb in the boat to get us or some nonsense. If you know snakes, they were climbing to "bask on that big dry thing."