Snakes

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, the pair were both cottonmouths. The original picture is a banded water snake (non-poisonous).

And Cocry, I understand about snake phobia. I've known several people who suffered from it. I took one of them on a float trip one time, and we saw about ten times the number of snakes I usually see on a float trip--because he spent the entire day watching for them, while ordinarily I just about have to have one swim in front of my lure to see it. I really felt sorry for him because there was no way he could enjoy the day because he was so worried about snakes. It took a while, but I finally learned that reason goes out the window if somebody has a snake phobia. Intellectually they know their chances of being harmed by a snake are practically nil, but it doesn't matter because phobias aren't ruled by reason.

[Gavin]

That C. mouth photo is pretty cool...I've never seen them doing that....darn near stepped on one on the 11pt last summer..Dont really look for them, see them occassionally...and never try to pick one up...

Pretty rare to get bitten unless you try to pick one up........but a friends daughter got zapped by two little copperheads down at Redbluff on the Huzzah last year....two bites in the leg, at dusk, while hauling there stuff back the the campsite after swimming all day. She didnt like it much, but she's alive and well...

[3wt]

People really seem to think that there are venomous snake swarming all water, and that one bite means death.

From the MU herpetology website:

"There have been no snake related deaths in Missouri in the past thirty years and nearly all venomous bites occur due to inappropriate handling of these animals."

I know a lot of people that spend a lot of time out in the woods, and don't know of anybody that has ever been bitten by a venomous snake.

I understand that phobia is irrational by definition, but fueling it with misinformation just hypes it up and ruins a good day in the water.

[mhall02]

People really seem to think that there are venomous snake swarming all water, and that one bite means death.From the MU herpetology website:"There have been no snake related deaths in Missouri in the past thirty years and nearly all venomous bites occur due to inappropriate handling of these animals."I know a lot of people that spend a lot of time out in the woods, and don't know of anybody that has ever been bitten by a venomous snake.I understand that phobia is irrational by definition, but fueling it with misinformation just hypes it up and ruins a good day in the water.

I totally agree with this statement. I only know of two people off the top of my head that have been bitten by a venomous snake. My Grandpa by a copperhead and a friend of a frind by a cottenmouth when playing Steve Irwin (not a good idea).

Grandpa's bite was treated like a cut, but no antivenom or anything like that. My understanding it is like a wasp sting, if you are allergic your in trouble, but otherwise it stings and goes away. The cottenmouth bite caused some severe skin and muscle damage, but the guy lived. Hopefully will not pick up another!

As a former employee of the State, when involved in a 48 stream sampling event across the State one summer, we saw one cottenmouth at a distance. Over the years of fishing and stomping around in the woods, I've never seen a rattler and only a handfull of copperheads, many non-venemous species however. If you see a venemous one, leave it alone and you should be fine in my opinion!

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

Hi, Al. Thanks for identifying my original picture of the snake with the fish. I thought it was a water snake but wasn't sure. It was pretty cool to see him come up out of the water with that fish (I think it was a shad).

[Tim Smith]

Just thought I would post a snake picture I took last weekend on Table Rock. Anyone have other snake photos?

The fish looks like a Cyprinella if that shoulder bar is a natural marking and not something it picked up getting drug by the fish. Probably red shiner if you took the picture at a reservoir. The snake was 2 feet or less, yes?

[Al Agnew]

Cottonmouth, copperhead, and rattlesnake venom is all pretty similar. Much of the damage done is dependent upon how much venom is delivered with the bite. The bigger the snake the more venom it has to deliver, but that doesn't mean it WILL deliver the maximum amount of venom. Some pit viper bites are "dry bites", where no venom is delivered.

Copperheads are the least dangerous of the pit vipers, but I know of two people who were bitten that had fairly severe nerve damage around the site of the bite.

I've seen more cottonmouths in recent years than I did throughout most of my life. Up until about ten years ago, I'd never seen a cottonmouth anywhere except on the St. Francis River. I have now seen them on the upper Gasconade, the Big Piney, the Jacks Fork, and a couple smaller creeks. I've seen more of them on the Jacks Fork than anywhere else.

Simple way to tell a pit viper (cottonmouth or copperhead) in the water is to look at how it is floating as it swims. Pit vipers swim with head up at an angle and with bodies floating on the surface. Non-poisonous water snakes swim with head barely out of the water and body mostly submerged. That's not a hard and fast rule...they can swim any way they want, but usually it holds true.

And keep in mind that copperheads are not aquatic. You'll occasionally see on swimming--I saw a big one on the James last year--but most brownish swimming snakes are harmless water snakes.

[mhall02]

The fish looks like a Cyprinella if that shoulder bar is a natural marking and not something it picked up getting drug by the fish. Probably red shiner if you took the picture at a reservoir. The snake was 2 feet or less, yes?

I would guess the fish to be a whitetail shiner (C. galactura), skinny and longer body than that of the red. Would guess the snake a Northern Water snake. The cottenmouth I saw was in one of the drainage canals in SE MO.

Oops, just noticed Al already ID this, different common name, same snake (banded or northern water).

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

Picture was taken at Table Rock near the dam. Snake was about 2 feet long.

[Bill Anderson]

Snakes are just part of the natural enviornment, and if they are absent, then something is seriously wrong with the health of that enviornment. I'm not particulaly afraid of them,I just give them the respect and caution they deserve, and I ALWAYS carry my old Orvis Ash wading staff with me. It makes a good tool for knudging them on their way or flipping them off the trail. In a pinch it is a superb anti-snake weapon too, and I've used it several times over the last 25 or more years.