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How aggressive...

Wylie

Wylie

Meet Sparkle... :D
are Florida Brown Water snakes? Just curious cause I just found one and it's VERY lethargic, close to death I suspect. It's only 58 degrees here right now, I was thinking about putting it in a box and bringing it home to warm up, otherwise I'm sure it's going to die as it didn't want to move and the sun is going down, it's just going to get colder. But if I do this and he warms up, are these snakes really aggressive normally? I figured I would let him warm up then just release him on a warm day. Thoughts, opinions?
 
I wouldn't imagine that your brown water snakes are very different from ours. And ours are usually EVIL! That said, I had found them basking on ice in the winter and spring. They seem to handle cold temps really well, and are slow to call it a winter.
 
ACK!!! Really? Oh, greeaaattt! Well, perhaps this one really is close to death then because I picked him up with no problem at all, put him in a box, then walked back to my house with him, picked him up again, and transferred him to another container. He never showed any kind of aggression at all. If they handle cold temps well, then perhaps there is something else wrong with this snake. It may be worthy to note that he's partially in shed, seems he started shedding but part of his shed got stuck on him. He's still got his old skin hanging off about the last third of him. He's a good size, definitely thicker than my 2 year old corn snake but I don't think quite as long.
 
What if he is just cold? I think you should take care of the shedding situation and then release him on a warm afternoon, back where he came from.
 
Nanci said:
What if he is just cold? I think you should take care of the shedding situation and then release him on a warm afternoon, back where he came from.
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I've got him in my corn snakes' feeding container here in the house so he'll warm up. Sunday is supposed to get up to 70 degrees so I figured I'd release him then. I'm not sure how I could take care of the shedding problem on a wild snake without getting bitten. :shrugs: I was thinking that once he warmed up enough and I release him, that he'd probably be able to take care of it on his own. I am either going to release him in the swamp area beside our house or take him back where I found him right beside a small creek.

yellowbellyhippy said:
I would love to see some pics....can you post some?
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Wish I could... I've got him in a plastic container that isn't clear and I've already got the lid duct taped shut cause I think for as big as he is that he could push the lid off. He looks just like this though: http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/nertax.htm
 
This is the best I could do for pics:
 

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Really? You're in a prime place for it, Hippy! If you dig snakes, nothing beats finding them in the wild.
 
yellowbellyhippy said:
How cool! Thank you so much for taking the pic! I would have been scared to pick up a wild snake!
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Well, I wasn't exactly comfortable about it and wouldn't have if he wasn't so lethargic. When we (my 4 yr old son actually found him) found him I wasn't even sure if he was alive or not. I first touched him with a stick, and the longer I spent there observing him and getting closer and closer, the more I realized that he wasn't going anywhere til I finally got up the courage to touch him with my hand, he barely moved even then. And I never pick up a wild snake unless I know for sure that it's not a poisonous one. We came home and looked him up first so I knew for SURE that he was just a non-venomous brown water snake.

Emily1188 said:
Aren't they harmless? You could always have somebody restrain his head if you're really that worried about it.
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Harmless as far as non-venomous but I still would rather not get bitten and as elrojo stated, in his opinion they are aggressive, and according to the info I read on the internet they will not hesitate to strike if threatened. The left-over skin is ON his head and about a third down his body. I'd rather not stress both myself and the snake out if I can help it. I think if I release him back where I found him on a warm afternoon as Nanci suggested, that as long as he doesn't have any health problems, he should be able to get the shed off himself, he's got plenty of water and obstacles to rub on to get it off.
 
elrojo said:
Really? You're in a prime place for it, Hippy! If you dig snakes, nothing beats finding them in the wild.
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haha! Well all I have seen are diamond back rattlers and uhhh....Im not picking any of those up :) I did see a couple of little ones(maybe garters) down by the local "river" (desert river lol) but they were so darn quick I wouldn't have been able to catch one.Also, Im not sure which ones are safe and unsafe!
 
elrojo said:
Really? You're in a prime place for it, Hippy! If you dig snakes, nothing beats finding them in the wild.
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I LOVE finding them in the wild and then running home to identify them! I keep my distance though and don't disturb them. The same rule applies for any other wildlife I find unless the creature is in danger or hurt then I will intervene if feasible.

I am going crazy here cause we live in town in a neighborhood and I am a big time nature/outdoors person. I go nutty when I can't go walk in the woods and there aren't many woods to be had around here. We're desperately trying to move out of here, preferably to Colorado!!! I NEED my woods and mountains!!! I practically grew up in the woods and mountains (PA mountains) and I miss it so much! I grew up collecting turtles every summer (for example) and finding all kinds of things out in the wild and I want my kids to grow up in that kind of environment as well!
 
Very neat find...its good of you to try to help it out. As far as the bad shed...could you just put some damp-ish paper towels in with it? just make whatever your keeping it in more humid? who knows, that might do the trick...:shrugs:
Very neat none the less. There are no dangerous snakes around my way...I found a LARGE garter snake in the woods once(Thats what my father says it was, I was kinda young)...thats about it..
 
Wylie said:
I LOVE finding them in the wild and then running home to identify them! I keep my distance though and don't disturb them. The same rule applies for any other wildlife I find unless the creature is in danger or hurt then I will intervene if feasible.

I am going crazy here cause we live in town in a neighborhood and I am a big time nature/outdoors person. I go nutty when I can't go walk in the woods and there aren't many woods to be had around here. We're desperately trying to move out of here, preferably to Colorado!!! I NEED my woods and mountains!!! I practically grew up in the woods and mountains (PA mountains) and I miss it so much! I grew up collecting turtles every summer (for example) and finding all kinds of things out in the wild and I want my kids to grow up in that kind of environment as well!
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Im pretty lucky to live in the desert ...our back yard is miles of mountains to explore. We have alot of fun hiking. Lake Tahoe is fun to spot bears! They are so used to people. Too much so! The mountian lions around here are mean though.
 
We have rattlers here too, as well as coral snakes and various other venomous fellows! A shame, because many of them are gorgeous.
 
Brown Water snakes...hmm The only ones I have had the pleasure of holding bit the freaking tar of me so many times it wasnt funny. (Actually looking back it was) Imagine a 250 lb wht redneck chasing after a brown water snake in a pond. When I finally did catch it, it flung around and nailed me over and over again. Ahhh the younger more reckless and stupid years..... Now that I am older, not much wiser, I rather take good pics of them...

On a keepers stand point. My wife worked at an aquarium for a while and said that they were tough to keep healthly in captivity, they tended to get either to wet or too dry. They had a lot of issue with theres getting fungus infections and such....
 
I'm happy to report that he (or she) seems to be feeling much better today. Today he is moving more, holding his head up and flicking his tongue. I put a little water in the container thru the top holes, perhaps it will help his shed loosen up cause he just seems so dry. He has still not shown any signs of aggression, from what you all are telling me I wouldn't be surprised if he struck at the container when I got close but so far he hasn't. I'm sticking with my plans of just releasing him back where I found him when it finally warms up enough, supposed to be 71 on Sunday. Hopefully the stuck shed won't be a problem for him to get off once I release him.
 
I think their temperament and bite is more harmless than their musk. Gosh that crap stinks to high Heaven! I got musked bad one day out herping by an adult banded water snake and i was having to sit on my hand all night at dinner because no matter what I did it just wouldn't go away. Awful!
 
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