Stand Your Ground.

[jdmidwest]

And it did.  Well, stood its water.

This feller swam out to the boat and swelled up in this pose for about 10 minutes.  The it swam off.  The Duck River in TN was crawling with the Cottonmouths last weekend.  Some kind of event had them out in force.  I saw 7 in the 4 hour fishing trip.  One pair was doing the dance spiraled together and bobbing heads.  Happened too fast to get a pic.

Poison snakes have been moving for the last few weeks getting ready for fall.  Nice little rattler at the farm and 2 copperheads while running the brush hog in one field.

 

[fshndoug]

sweet

 

[BilletHead]

8 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

And it did.  Well, stood its water.

This feller swam out to the boat and swelled up in this pose for about 10 minutes.  The it swam off.  The Duck River in TN was crawling with the Cottonmouths last weekend.  Some kind of event had them out in force.  I saw 7 in the 4 hour fishing trip.  One pair was doing the dance spiraled together and bobbing heads.  Happened too fast to get a pic.

Poison snakes have been moving for the last few weeks getting ready for fall.  Nice little rattler at the farm and 2 copperheads while running the brush hog in one field.

 

             Nice JD,

   Actually, just like your bees they are thinking about winter. Happens around here too. see them moving more crossing the dirt roads in BilletHeadVille and back and forth swimming across the river I frequent from bluff denning areas to low ground more. As time goes on even more to the bluff side as it cools off. 

[FishnDave]

Nice!

After I read your post, I saw this:

Southern Illinois road set to close due to snake migration

Holden Kurwicki - Yesterday 4:46 PM

The U.S. Forest Service is preparing to close roughly three miles of road in southern Illinois due to a snake migration.View on Watch 

If you drive 90 miles southeast of St. Louis down Illinois Great River Road you’ll snake your way through the hills of the Shawnee National Forest.

“You’ll see a surprising number of out-of-state license plates,” said U.S. Forest Service Wildlife Biologist Mark Vukovich.

The reason they’re here might make your skin crawl.

“Forest Road 345 is the number,” said Vukovich. “Everybody knows it as Snake Road. It’s just a great place to come watch snakes.”

Biologist Mark Vukovich keeps a keen eye on the Snake Road for the US Forest Service.

“There are venomous snakes here,” said Vukovich. “Twenty-three species of snakes have been documented.”

There are so many snakes in the area that twice a year the US Forest Service shuts down the 2.7-mile stretch of road for a migration rarely seen anywhere else in North America.

“They hibernate in these limestone cliffs and they go to and from these cliffs every year into Larue Swamp,” said Vukovich.

Some may find these snakes spotted in this area of the Shawnee National Forest scary.

“The #1 snake you’re going to see here is going to be the Northern Cottonmouth,” said Vukovich. “The other two venomous snakes are Copperhead and Timber Rattlesnake. You have a good chance of seeing those.”

Despite the obvious danger, Vukovich said the area is safe.

“I always stress stick to the road,” said Vukovich.

Vukovich went on to add that if you look close enough you just may learn a southern Illinois secret.

“It’s a great way to get people over that feeling that snakes are bad and they’re nasty creatures,” said Vukovich. “They’re not. They’re not at all.”

The US Forest Service will close Snake Road starting Sept. 1 through Halloween.

Vukovich said if you want to see some serpents the best time to come out is in October.

[Gavin]

The snake road in S. Illinois is worth a visit.

[Al Agnew]

One thing that's refreshing is to see somebody actually correctly identify cottonmouths!  Facebook (especially the Missouri Nature Lovers group) is a cesspool of people misidentifying harmless water snakes as cottonmouths (when they aren't misidentifying them as copperheads).

I've had several over the years swim up to my canoe and look it over.  I've had to splash them with the paddle before they'd back off.  It's not that they are thinking of attacking me.  I think they are just curious about that strange log floating by and want to check it out and maybe climb up on it for a bit.  And they really don't much care if it's already occupied.  Half the cottonmouths I've ever encountered fled from me like I was certain doom.  The other half were just of the opinion that if I had a problem with them I was expected to back off and get out of their way.

[jdmidwest]

Cottonmouths are easy, they float on to of water like a copperhead or rattlesnake.  All others are mostly submerged.

[Al Agnew]

On 9/3/2022 at 6:39 AM, jdmidwest said:

Cottonmouths are easy, they float on to of water like a copperhead or rattlesnake.  All others are mostly submerged.

That's not exactly a good identifying feature.  Most snakes that DON'T typically live around water swim with their bodies floating.  And I've seen harmless watersnakes do the same.  I've seen black rat snakes swim completely on the surface and completely underwater.  And since cottonmouths feed on fish, they can and do swim submerged, mostly submerged, or whatever suits them.

However, cottonmouths seem to have a way of swimming on the surface that is different from most other snakes.  It's distinctive IF you have seen enough cottonmouths swimming and enough other snakes swimming that you can recognize the distinction.  But to use it as an identifying rule if you haven't seen enough of them just won't work.

Two main keys to IDing cottonmouths: the black "mask", a broad black band running from behind the eyes through the eyes to the tip of the snout, which contrasts sharply with a light colored jaw below it.  And the flatness of the top of the head from the eyes to the tip of the snout, with a sharp drop off all the way around that flat top, like the edge of a shelf.  Every harmless snake in MO has a rounded snout, like the end of a cigar (except for hognose snakes).   Here's a cottonmouth head, showing both characteristics:

And here's a common watersnake's head for contrast.  Note also the vertical bars on the jaws, which are typical of watersnakes and not found on cottonmouths:

[fishinwrench]

My dad was one of those ... "The only good snake is a dead snake"  kinda guys, but I've always had a fascination with them, and a very important respect for them as well.  I only kill poisonous snakes that are very near my house.

Spiders, on the other hand......All need to be killed immediately. Regardless of where they are found.  If they are bigger than a Rice Krispie then they are considered a definite threat to my safety and well being.   🙄 

Makes me wonder about the psychology of that.  Why do I have no fear at all of snakes, even though I was raised to hate them.......Yet I am admittedly petrified by almost any spider?   Where do these lifelong love/hate things come from?   

All monkey's need to die too !   I don't know why, they just don't belong on the same planet as I do.  Never had a bad monkey experience, nor a bad spider experience, really.  I just don't want them on the earth, at all, and I don't think anything could ever change my mind.      It's crazy really. 🤔

[dan hufferd]

4 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

All monkey's need to die too ! 

Yep, they are like humans without a soul