Snakes In Your Area

[Mobasser]

Like most rainy springs, I've been seeing a lot of snakes around the lake lately.                     Heavy spring rains often force the snakes out of hiding, and I'll see more of them at this time.                              In my area( north central Mo), we have only two venomous snakes. Copperheads and Timber rattlesnakes. Timber rattle snakes are rare. I've only seen one in my 64 years. My brother and I were loading hay bales on a truck in a hay field.                                                       Turning over a bale, a small 12" rattlesnake was curled up under it. We watched him slither across the pasture, and I've never seen another one.                             Whenever I see any snake, I always leave them alone, and I've never been bitten by any.                                       What snakes are in your area, and are any of them venomous or dangerous?

[Jig Man]

No cotton mouths up there?

[MN Fisher]

3 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

Timber rattlesnakes. Timber rattle snakes are rare. I've only seen one in my 64 years.

Timbers are the only venomous snake we have in Minnesota - and that's only in the SE 'Bluffs' area of the state.

 

From what is written - they're the most 'docile' of the rattlers...wanting to 'run away' rather than stand their ground - unless cornered of course.

[Mobasser]

6 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

No cotton mouths up there?

No. I think we're too far north here.

[roadwarrior]

Rattle snake, copperheads and cottonmouth. However, I have never seen

a rattler in the wild.

[GaryH]

Timber rattlers, copperheads but mostly garter and milk, 

and loads of water snakes. Last Thursday the wife and I were trout fishing and we had 4 water snakes swim by. 

[Dwight Hottle]

Here in southern FL we only have cottonmouths & coral snakes for venomous snakes but we do have plenty of pythons in the glades areas.  

[Jrob78]

I'm in north Texas and we have all 4 species of venomous snakes. I see water moccasins and copperheads fairly frequently but haven't seen too many rattlesnakes and have never seen a coral snake. I know a couple of people who have been bitten by copperheads, I never kill them but I definitely do leave them alone.

[rgasr63]

In South Carolina we have the Water moccasin, Cotton mouth,the Timber rattlesnake and a whole bunch of different black snakes. I personally have become firmly convinced the best way to deal with them is behind a shotgun. But there are some of our lakes have been declared protected habitat areas for reptiles  and you can't kill them unless you are in immediate danger.  

[gim]

One of the advantages of living in the bold north here...lack of reptilians like snakes, lizards, and alligators.  They don't like the cold.  The only snake I see with any sort of regularity is a garter snake.  Its small and completely harmless.

 

I did run across a western diamondback rattlesnake once in Arizona while I was golfing.  My shot strayed left and into the "dunes."  I was out looking for it and I heard a noise that sounded like a maraca.  I thought "what the heck is that noise" and sure enough my ball was relatively close to the rattling noise.  It turned out to be a rattlesnake.  I looked at it from a safe distance too.  They are a lot smaller than I thought they were.

 

I left that golf ball where it was.  Didn't seem worth risking getting bit by a rattler to retrieve a Titleist.

[Jmilburn76]

@MobasserIm on the TN/KY border in middle TN. For the spicy variety we only have copperheads and rattlers as well.

[Tennessee Boy]

I’ve encountered Cottonmouths,  Timber Rattlers,  and Copperheads.   I don’t care for any of them.  Here’s a Copperhead I caught while fishing a few years ago.  Sorry about the poor photo quality.   I wasn’t interested in getting a close up.

 

 

[soflabasser]

6 hours ago, Mobasser said:

What snakes are in your area, and are any of them venomous or dangerous?

We have water moccasins, rattlesnakes, coral snakes, Burmese pythons and many other snakes in South Florida. Most snakes are non venomous and they will leave you alone if you leave them alone. Florida also has crocodiles, alligators, bears, Florida panthers, sharks, stingrays, Portuguese man o' war, poisonous plants, and other dangerous wildlife. South Florida is very similar to Australia, which is a beautiful country with lots of dangerous wildlife.

[Way north bass guy]

5 hours ago, gimruis said:

One of the advantages of living in the bold north here...lack of reptilians like snakes, lizards, and alligators.  They don't like the cold.  The only snake I see with any sort of regularity is a garter snake.  Its small and completely harmless.

 

 

Funny you mention that you don’t see many snakes around you. I’m pretty much exactly as far north as you, but we have quite a few different species of snakes around here. All but one are harmless. The only venomous one we have is the Massasauga  rattlesnake, that pretty much only exists along the shores of Georgian Bay. I live about 20 min inland of the bay, and have never seen one around my house, but I’ve seen lots of them along the bay. They don’t get very big, but do pack a punch. Our local hospital is about the only one around that carry's the anti-venom, and they often have to use it several times a year, mostly on hikers etc. 

This guy was on the driveway at a place I was working on last summer. It’s about the largest one I’ve ever seen, and was about 2’ long. We get some pretty good sized water snakes, fox snakes and puff adders, but they’re all harmless. 

[Woody B]

We've got cotton head rattle mouths around here.  (LOL).   Seriously though, black snakes and king snakes are most common.  We've got copperheads too.  There's a few rattlesnakes in the mountains near here.    There's some kind of "water snakes" in the lakes around here.  They are colored similar to a copperhead, but the banding is different.  They're also thin/slender, instead of fat like a copperhead.  I had one of those water snakes follow my devils horse to the boat a couple weeks ago.  I'm not "scared" of snakes, but I don't enjoy being around them.   I have a friend who's really scared of snakes.  Several decades ago at our bear hunting camp we put a dead rattlesnake right in front of his tent.  He took a chain saw and cut up dead snake, tent sleeping bag ect.  He would have probably cut us up with it had he caught us.  

[flatcreek]

Rattlesnakes

cottonmouths

copperheads

king snakes

[DitchPanda]

Here in Northwest Iowa I've heard rumors of rattlers but in 20 years I've never actually seen one. Only dangerous snake I've heard of in these parts.

[Skunkmaster-k]

I kill lots of rattlesnakes every year. Biggest one I’ve seen was almost 6 ft long and as big around as a beer can. Never rattled once. 

[slonezp]

I'm top of the food chain where I live. I need to worry more about being killed by a human than an animal. 

[GreenPig]

Here in Central Ga. we have Eastern Diamondbacks, Timber, Pigmy rattle snakes, Cottonmouths, Copperheads, and Coral snakes(which I've never seen). 

[Captain Phil]

Florida has lots of snakes.  The majority of the snakes people see around the water are brown water snakes. They are often misidentified as poisonous and can grow fairly large.  It's best to give all snakes a wide berth.  Occasionally, you will run into a moccasin.  Rattlers seem to prefer dry land and we have our share.  We have a few copperheads, but I rarely see them.  Coral snakes are small snakes that look very similar to king snakes. They don't have fangs like a rattler and bites are rare.  The most common snakes in Florida are black racers.  They are not dangerous and help to keep pests from coming in your house. Eastern rat snakes are small pretty snakes with beautiful patterns on their skin.  Grass snakes always seem to show up in my lawnmower. 

 

In recent years, Florida has seen some exotic snakes introduced into the environment.  Hurricane Andrew destroyed many buildings, releasing zoo snakes and pets.  Burmese Pythons are now part of the Everglades Ecosystem.  Along with the snakes, South Florida has a large population of iguanas.   They are not dangerous, but can scare you if you don't know that.  Escaped pet snakes are always a problem.  A 22 foot python was pulled out from under a South Florida home when neighborhood dogs and cats started disappearing.   Our local animal control building has a 20 footer mounted in the office.  It was captured when a drug dealer had it in his house. Living in Florida all these years, I have seen some weird stuff.  If they found a live T Rex, I wouldn't be surprised. ☺️

[casts_by_fly]

We have a bunch of different ones here in north Jersey but I only ever see the same 4 or 5.  We have rattlesnakes and copperheads here and I’ve never seen a copperhead. I’ve only seen one rattler and that was 15 years ago just across the border in NY. We live in the woods bordering a swamp, so plenty of opportunity to see stuff. Mostly though, it is garter snakes, water snakes, ring necked snakes, and milk snakes. We’ve had all but the water snakes in the back yard (we are a mile from water). But I see the water snakes while fishing. Ones in the yard or landscaping get moved to the woods so the dogs don’t get them. We have 1200 soft of paver patio that is getting taken out later this summer. I’ll have the snake tongs ready. 
 

 

[TOXIC]

We have copperheads and eastern diamondbacks.  I’ve heard stories of cottonmouths down in the southern part of the state but have never seen one.  Timely this came up, my wife was getting her planters out from under our addition and yelled at me to come look.  Sure enough there was a small copperhead sticking his head out from the flower pots.  She wanted me to move it as I have done with a lot of them in the past.  I looked at her and said that I am leaving in 2 days for my annual boys trip to Lake St Clair and it would be just my luck to get hit by that snake and ruin my trip.  ?. I told her the flowers can wait until I get back.?

[A-Jay]

According to the Michigan DNR,

there are 18 different species of snakes in the state with only one being venomous. 

The eastern Masssasauga is the ONLY venomous snake species living in Michigan

and is a very uncommon snake. 

Massasaugas are one of the smaller rattlesnake species here in the United States, only growing to about three feet at the largest. It is usually gray or tan and covered with dark splotches over most of its body. The Michigan DNR describes them as being similar in shape to a bow tie or video game controller. And of course, it has a distinctive rattle at the end of its tail which should be a dead giveaway.  While this species is venomous, odds of being bitten are quite rare.

They try to shy away from humans as much as possible and are a threatened species in Michigan mostly due to habitat loss.  As a result, they fall under a number of protections. The species is seen so little that Michigan DNR encourages the public to report all sightings of this snake immediately.

As for the other 17 Michigan snakes, they are all most good to have around.

Eating & help controlling quite a bit of the Varmint Kong that might otherwise do damage if left unchecked.

A-Jay

 

[hokiehunter373]

Maryland has close to 30 of them but only 2 are venomous (timber rattler and copperhead).  I've luckily seen neither and the rattler only lives in Western MD.  We most commonly (in my experience) have watersnakes, gartersnakes, and ratsnakes.  I'll never forget being in my in-laws underground pool which is surrounded by woods and getting the absolute crap scared out of me because there was a big commotion coming from the woods and then something lunging at my face.  Turns out a snake was chasing a frog.  The frog must have known where the pool was and took a giant leap once it got through the fence hoping he'd find safety and not knowing I was there.  Luckily the snake either saw me or didn't want to be in the water because he just came to the edge of the patio and then slithered away.  Really wish it would have happened to my wife because I imagine I'd still be laughing today with whatever ridiculous reaction she would have had.