American Snakes

[azwildcat96]

Misc. Facts:
 Scientists have identified 36 rattlesnake species.
 Rattlesnakes live only in North and South America.
 13 species and several subspecies live in Arizona, more than any other state.
 4 species in Arizona have special protection.
 Rattlesnakes use the "loreal pit," a heat-sensing organ between the nostril and eye to locate prey and potential predators.
 These snakes have glands that make venom, much like human saliva glands make saliva.
 Rattlesnakes can strike two-thirds of their body length.
 The rattle is a series of interlocking segments that are bouncing against each other, and made of keratin, the same material found in human hair and fingernails.
 The age of a rattlesnake cannot be determined by counting the segments of its rattle.
 Rattlesnake prey may include small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and centipedes.
 According to Arizona Poison Centers, less than 1% of rattlesnake bites result in human deaths.

Sorry, for over-sharing...I don't like snakes (even though at an earlier stage in my life I had two as pets), but I spend a lot of time in the Desert, and it pays to be able to identify what you just stepped on...

[gordontaos]

I might look at the range map for cottonmouths:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agkistrodon_piscivorus
It looks to be pretty accurate. When I lived in North Georgia I always had folks telling me about cottonmouths that they had seen. Well, cottonmouths do not live in that section of Georgia, it is too cold. We did have plenty of non poisonous water snakes though. Also, I have seen plenty of snakes that are terrestrial, swimming in the water. The way to tell the difference is that a terrestrial based snake will swim on top of the water, and a water snake swims under the water.
I do not believe that the Black Racer is endangered, unless things have dramatically changed lately. They are really pretty common.
You are right to feel that there are regional differences in the names of snakes. When I studied herpetology we were required to know all of the Latin as well as common names, for just that reason.
Finally, snakes can occur in "pockets". Right where I live we have mainly "bull snakes",Pituophis catenifer sayi, and I have never seen a rattler. However, the bull snakes have no problem with just coming into the house during the daytime in the fall. Two miles away, down in the Rio Grande Gorge, there are bunches of rattlers. 40 miles to the west there is a rattler under every bush in some places. Go figure. The books say that the rattlers do not come up to this elevation, but generally stay 3-500 feet lower. I just always wonder though, if the snake has read the book.

[BEEDEE]

I do not believe that the Black Racer is endangered.

They are around my place! I grew up in a country without any snakes whatsoever, so if I see one around the house, I assume it's deadly and I don't wait to check.

Brian

[Lachlan09]

Thanks all for the info and links. I'm fascinated by their variety, specialities and range of toxicity. You've given me more to go on.

My other great fascination is sharks, but like snakes, I'm never likely to attempt to go near them personally ! I'm a scaredy-cat !

Anyone with personal snake or shark stories ?

My only encounter with sharks close up was last year in the Philippines and under controlled circumstances ! We were at the new aquarium in Manila and I was watching the sharks in their large viewing tank. At the top floor level of the aquarium building, the shark tank is open and you can lean over the 1.0m high wall to look down inside. The water surface was about 300mm below the top of the wall. Some black-tipped reef sharks were at the surface, cutting the water with their fins, just as in the movies. There was a sign prohibiting putting you hand in the water or trying to touch the sharks as they were potentially dangerous. I don’t know why, but my fascination at their grace of movement and streamlined beauty got the better of me, As one big dorsal fin came slicing through the water in my direction, I leaned over and stroked its front edge. It swam on. Just then a security guard came over and gave me a row. I said sorry but it would be the only chance in my life to ever touch a shark ! He let me off with a finger-wag ! They have a toe-pool nearby where kids can interact with small fish in the pool. I asked if I could dip my toes in the shark tank but was refused (I was half-joking). When we went to Subic a few days later, they had various performance shows etc with sealions and dolphins (yawn !) but also had a display shark-feeding session. I asked the attendant if I could feed one but sadly was refused, the shark-feeding could not be done by the public. Where’s the fun in that ?

One thing for sure, I will never go shark-fishing or eat or use shark products. The rate of sharks being killed, often for their fins, is driving sharks slowly but surely toward extinction. Even Peter Benchley admitted to feeling somewhat guilty at what effect his book Jaws unleashed on human views on sharks.

[azwildcat96]

Anyone with personal snake or shark stories?

I have plenty of snake stories! Most start with a violent buzzing sound, and end with me jumping out of my skin. I usually stumble across at least a half dozen every bird hunting season, mostly western diamondbacks, but occasionally a green mojave rattler. Yes it is legal to hunt them in Arizona (except for 4 rare/protected species), and I do harvest them when the opportunity is there. I tan the skins, and the meat is quite good! Hmmmm...maybe a rattlesnake skin sporran will come my way in the future.

[Woodsman]

My advice would be to purchase a field guide to north american snakes. They offer brief species accounts and excellent identification photos and drawings. Dismiss the myths and tall tales and folklore. The more you educate yourself the less fearful these fascinating creatures become. I would recommend classic guide such as: A Field Guide to Reptiles & Amphibians of Eastern & Central North America (Peterson Field Guide series); Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification (Golden Field Guide) or The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians by John Behler. Every home library should have at least one of these. For more specific accounts there are excellent regional guides published by leading authorities from universities well known for herpetological research. Here in the northeast this upcoming rainy weekend presents an excellent opportunity to get out and see spotted and marbled salamanders, wood frogs and other species. Ah ... another sign of Spring.

[BoldHighlander]

While we have plenty of rattlers in Eastern Washington, it seems they don't do well on the west side of the cascade mountains (we don't have them). Once in a blue moon one will hitch a ride over buried in a hay truck, or in a pile of lumber (a few years ago a guy reaching into a pile of 2x4s got a surprise when a rattler jumped out & bit him in the face! )

When I lived just north of Los Angeles you'd hear the hill behind the house "buzzing" all day from the snakes. I use to sun bathe out in the yard, I wasn't to worried, I knew the dogs would let me know if a snake came into the yard. I did enjoy watching the road runners go hunting up there

When I was at Ft Benning (Georgia) we always had to check the rifle pits out at the rifle range before getting down in them for snakes, spiders, & rats....never saw any, but we did have more than one instance with fire ants.

[gordontaos]

I was snorkeling and spear fishing one day at Subic Bay in the Philippines. I went down between two rocks to spear a fish, missed, and surfaced to reload. As I was reloading I saw a shark, at least as big as me, swim between the two rocks where I had just been. I set a speed record swimming right up onto the beach. It was probably 6 years before i went in the water again.

While in Thailand I was a dog handler and spent the night sneaking around the jungle looking for bad guys. One night, while in extremely thick jungle grass, my dog stopped, but did not alert. I slowly made my way up to my dogs head but could see nothing. By the way, I had learned some time earlier to always trust my dog, but thats another story. I flipped on my flashlight for a split second and saw that my dog had stopped because of a stream with steep banks. However, there were also two banded kraits swimming upstream in the water. That was scary enough. The scarier part was that I still had a lot more jungle to work my way through.

Lots more Thailand stories of cobras, pythons, kraits, vipers, and bad guys, but its time to go to bed.

[Jerry]

The Cottonmouth is an inhabitant of eastern Virginia also. They aren't supposed to be as far west as I live(south central Va) but I've heard people say they have seen them along the James and Appomattox rivers in this area. As for funny snake encounters, one warm September, many years ago, I was hunting Grey squirrels as they cut Hickory nuts. I was slipping quietly through the woods, trying to quietly sneak up on a big hickory from which I could hear several streams of cuttings falling. I was watching the tree for the bushy tails as I crept closer. Then I heard a buzzing sound. It was a sound I had only heard on TV or in movies, but it definitely sounded like the rattle of a rattlesnake. Now, I've read a lot about Virginia snakes and especially their ranges. There were not supposed to be rattlers east of the mountains. None the less, I heard it again. I froze and started scanning the ground around me. Then I saw him all coiled up like he was ready to strike and only 5 feet away from my feet. No, it wasn't a rattler. It was a Black snake, aka black rat snake,(close to 6 feet in length). He had his tail up in a small bush that had lots of dead leaves still on it. Every so often he would shake the bush, producing a sound that mimicked a rattler almost exactly, at least to my untrained years. I think they are getting smarted. I backed off and left him to pass his genes for intelligence on to future generations. So if you are ever walking through the firests of South Hampton county Virginia and hear a rattlesnake buzzing, don't be alarmed. It is probably just one of that snakes great grand children.

[Lachlan09]

Let’s hear your snake and shark stories please !

The only snakes I’ve seen out and about were when I lived in Indonesia and the Philippines. In both countries, I sometimes used to see these long brown snakes on the roads. Mostly they were in the middle of the road, usually with tyre-treads indented across their backs, looking decidedly dead. The Indonesian/Filipino equivalent of Britain’s long-suffering road-crossing hedgehogs !

The only other snake I saw was while living in Bandar Lampung, Sumatera. My family used to visit the Sheraton Hotel pool to relax at the weekends and meet up with other families of our small expat community. One day, I was splashing around in the pool and there were various people in the pool too. I dived underwater and heard these muffled yells. When I popped up, people were getting out the pool asap and I was soon almost on my own. My wife was shouting and gesturing at the far end of the free-form pool for me to get out. What was going on ? Meanwhile, everyone was looking toward a palm tree near the pool’s edge near me. I looked in the same direction to see a lovely bright green snake working its way down the tree. I was fascinated by its beautiful vibrant green colour. My wife was screaming at me to get out, so reluctantly I did. I forgot the incident for many years until the internet age. I was browsing a webpage on Indonesian snakes when suddenly, I saw my snake !!! Beautiful rich green. Then I read about it. It was a Blue Temple Viper. It is apparently very poisonous and its venom is haemotoxic. Victims die of blood poisoning basically, if treatment is not soon forthcoming. Apparently Sumatera did not have much supply of antidote to hand. No wonder everyone dived out of the pool !!!

Beautiful snake though.