There are 41 species of snakes in GA; only 6 are venomous

This will hold true for most of the SE give or take one or two. I kind of like the attitude of a local guy who says "There are two kinds of snakes, chicken snakes and cobras. If it doesn't have a chicken in its mouth, it's a cobra."

NON-VENOMOUS SNAKES IN GEORGIA

1. Eastern Green Water Snake
2. Brown Water Snake
3. Red or Yellow-Bellied Water Snake
4. Banded Water Snake
5. Northern Water Snake
6. Banded Water Snake
7. Striped Crayfish Snake
8. Glossy Crayfish Snake
9. Black Swamp Snake
10. Brown Snake
11. Red-Bellied Snake
12. Eastern Ribbon Snake
13. Common Garter Snake
14. Smooth Earth Snake
15. Rough Earth Snake
16. Eastern Hognose Snake
17. Southern Hognose Snake
18. Ringneck Snake
19. Eastern Worm Snake
20. Pine Woods Snake
21. Mud Snake
22. Rainbow Snake
23. Racer
24. Coachwhip
25. Rough Green Snake
26. Corn Snake
27. Rat Snake
28. Pine Snake
29. Eastern/Black Kingsnake
30. Mole Kingsnake
31. Scarlet Kingsnake/Milk Snake
32. Scarlet Snake
33. Southeastern Crowned Snake
34. Eastern Indigo Snake
35. Central Florida Crowned Snake

VENOMOUS SNAKES IN GEORGIA

1. Copperhead
2. Pigmy Rattlesnake
3. Canebrake or Timber Rattlesnake
4. Cottonmouth
5. Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
6. Eastern Coral Snake

A snake is a snake to me no matter what there called :)

Thanks for sharing Uncle Jesse

In terms of catching &/or playing with, I've worked my way through a fair amount of the first 35.
Don't play with the second list.

Ed

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Originally Posted by EdD

Don't play with the second list.Ed

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You know there are people next state below you who do. Personally, I abide with snakes, we have a deal, I leave them along, they leave me along, with the exception of Cottonmouths. I dispatch Cottonmouths if I have the ability at hand.

Wife and I were hiking in Tennessee when a beautiful yellow phase timber rattlesnake came out of the brush on the side of the trail. We stared as it crossed the trail and disappeared in to the brush on the other side. By the time it disappeared there were several people (about a dozen) standing from both directions watching the snake. Several of us had cameras. One person asked," Did anyone get a picture?" To our amazement not one of us had.

Here in Ohio, we have just 3 venomous snakes...timber rattler, massassauga rattler, & copperhead. In all my years of fishing & as a kid going on many snake hunting adventures, I have YET to see a venomous snake in the wild. Seeing one, while they fascinate me, is NOT on my bucket list.

Mike

Someone asked the question about how do fish get into pond that are not stocked by the owner. I am wondering how do snakes get into ponds. I don't believe snakes leave one body of water and crawl significant distances across land search for that new pond to explore. But in the south if you dig a pond, which are usually for watering cows or some agricultural related use, sooner or later you will have cottonmouths appear. How do they get there?

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Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse

Someone asked the question about how do fish get into pond that are not stocked by the owner. I am wondering how do snakes get into ponds. I don't believe snakes leave one body of water and crawl significant distances across land search for that new pond to explore. But in the south if you dig a pond, which are usually for watering cows or some agricultural related use, sooner or later you will have cottonmouths appear. How do they get there?

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By hanging onto the chicken?

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Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse

Someone asked the question about how do fish get into pond that are not stocked by the owner. I am wondering how do snakes get into ponds. I don't believe snakes leave one body of water and crawl significant distances across land search for that new pond to explore. But in the south if you dig a pond, which are usually for watering cows or some agricultural related use, sooner or later you will have cottonmouths appear. How do they get there?

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By hitchhiking on the shells of snapping turtles? The flaw in your theory that snakes don't travel long distances over dry land. Cottonmouths and snapping turtles do travel over significant areas of dry land to move between patches of water. In that regard, they are like mink, fly anglers, and other semi-aquatic animals.

Ed

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Originally Posted by ohiotuber

Here in Ohio, we have just 3 venomous snakes...timber rattler, massassauga rattler, & copperhead. In all my years of fishing & as a kid going on many snake hunting adventures, I have YET to see a venomous snake in the wild. Seeing one, while they fascinate me, is NOT on my bucket list.

Mike

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In that case that would be kicking the bucket. ;)

I've only seen a few rattlers while hiking and fishing. I give them a wide berth. No sense chancing a bite.

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Originally Posted by EdD

By hitchhiking on the shells of snapping turtles? Ed

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Thank you for your informed opinion Edward. Mom always warned me about hitchhikers. Although I have caught snappers out in the countryside, I had never heard of anyone finding a cottonmouth out away from water. Several years ago, I caught a snapper in my yard, got it into a milk crate and was going to take it to a creek and release it. I went in the house for a minute, when I came out it had climbed out of the milk crate and boogyed out of the yard. Of course, down where Mom lives it would have end up in somebody's skillet.

US soldiers in the Vietnam War used to say that there are 100 types of snakes in Vietnam. 99 were poisonous, and the last one could crush you to death. The real numbers are more like 140 species, around 30 of which are poisonous, including the famous King Cobra. The danger for tourists is low, but nearly 30,000 Vietnamese rice farmers get bitten every year, mostly by stepping on hidden snakes. If you're walking through national parks or rice paddies, make sure to wear long pants and appropriate shoes; if you see a snake, maintain a respectful distance. If it has a triangular head (as many poisonous snakes do), simply leave the area. Snake bites, even poisonous ones, aren't usually life-threatening if treated quickly and properly. Don't bother snakes, and they shouldn't bother you.

Only snake I am actually scared to get bitten by here in CA is the Mojave Green Rattlesnake. Seen 2, ran the other way both times. Thank God they live in places I don't go much anymore.

Mike if you want to see one in the wild and are in North Alabama in late May or early June I can introduce you to some cottonmouths. Jimsnarocks the theory if you don't bother them they won't bother you doesn't work with cotton mouths. I had one look my way one time and go under and I left the creek and he came up where I had been standing.

Knucks

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Originally Posted by knucks

had one look my way one time and go under and I left the creek and he came up where I had been standing.

Knucks

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I had two converge on the point where I had been standing and casting at Camp Shelby, MS on day. Definitely not shy snakes. My late friend Pete, BAR man w/ the 82nd Airborne on D-day, no sissy, had one drop into his alumninum semi-V boat fishing on the TN River around Muscle Shoals area. Pete said "The next thing I knew I was on the bank, don't know how I got there, my feet weren't wet."

I love to wade the creeks around here but when the snakes start to show up it's time for me to quit.

knucks

You just need a stainless steel .22 revolver and some CCI snake shot.

Won't help for the one that sneaks up on you. Turned around one day and a water snake was a foot and half away with his head about a foot off the water. Glad it was just a water snake.

knucks

They learn pretty quick, they can't live off crap and muddy water.

Run across many a copperhead while fishing here in North Carolina. Just walk around them. Learned to be careful where I step though.
Haven't seen a rattler but have heard them several times off the side of the trail...needless to say my pace quickens, as well as my heartbeat!
Most folks here say "kill it, kill it"....they're put here for a purpose and I leave them alone.

I lived in NC for 14 years, originally from Maine. I am not afraid of any snake, but do respect the ones in NC. Snakes in Maine scatter when you are in the area, and for the most part so do the ones in NC. The only aggresive snake I have been in encounter with (what they called) was water moccasins. Small head, fat body, light orange belly, and come after the bream and crappie that you are catching. Cottonmouths (as described to me ) were slender darker backs, white bellies, and obviously white mouths, often called Pilots down there. And they also scattered.
So, I have this question. What were they ? Was it just what THEY called them ?
I don't like moccasins, very hard to kill with your fishing pole, but has been done many times.

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Originally Posted by MSD53X

I lived in NC for 14 years, originally from Maine. I am not afraid of any snake, but do respect the ones in NC. Snakes in Maine scatter when you are in the area, and for the most part so do the ones in NC. The only aggresive snake I have been in encounter with (what they called) was water moccasins. Small head, fat body, light orange belly, and come after the bream and crappie that you are catching. Cottonmouths (as described to me ) were slender darker backs, white bellies, and obviously white mouths, often called Pilots down there. And they also scattered.
So, I have this question. What were they ? Was it just what THEY called them ?
I don't like moccasins, very hard to kill with your fishing pole, but has been done many times.

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Cottonmouths are the only snake I know of correctly referred too as a Mocassin, correctly called a Water Mocassin. They are the only really aggressive snake I am aware of the SE USA. I have had them swim across a lake to the spot where I had been standing and come to my boat at night. If fishing in the SE cottonmouths are justification for owning a stainless steel pistol and shotshells. I have heard one variety of rattlesnake call a rattlesnake pilot, which references say is really a type of copperhead. This photo shows a cottonmouths white mouth.
Attachment 11865

Yes Uncle Jessie. That is what they told me was a Water Moccasin, very ,very aggresive.

Hi All,

A couple of years ago I was preparing a safety topic for a safety meeting at work, and decided to study snake bites.

We kill a lot of rattlesnakes in the plant every year. Some years we may average nearly one a day in the early or late summer, and I am thinking that at times we have killed up to 20 or so in a week. Usually they are juveniles, but adults too, and one day a few years ago they killed a 3 foot prarie rattler and a 5 foot (or so) western diamond back in one spot. At any rate I thought it was a good topic for a safety meeting.

What I found from a few hours reading is that about 3/4ths of poisonous snake bites each year are to young men between 18 and 35. The bites in the vast majority of those cases are on the hands and forearms, and yes "alcohol was involved."

Makes me think that they ignored that advise to leave them alone and they will leave you alone. I would think that if you were attempting to leave the rattle snake alone that you would be unlikely to be bitten on the hands.

Regards,

Gandolf

This monster was captured in a yard in Pinion Hills, CA, about 40 miles from where I live. It is a Mojave Green rattlesnake and was reported to be 7 feet long?

http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...ejim/snake.jpg

Uncle Jesse, after 66 years in middle Georgia, I can safely report that there are only THREE kinds of snakes here to be afraid of:

(1) a Live one; (2) a Dead one; and (3) an Imitation . . . and that's all I have to say about that !

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Originally Posted by jimsnarocks

This monster was captured in a yard in Pinion Hills, CA, about 40 miles from where I live. It is a Mojave Green rattlesnake and was reported to be 7 feet long?

http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...ejim/snake.jpg

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Only greens I have seen have been in the California City/Cantil area, and they were seriously green. Must grow out of that color when they get big enough to eat sheep like that one must have been!!

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Originally Posted by SMClark

Uncle Jesse, after 66 years in middle Georgia, I can safely report that there are only THREE kinds of snakes here to be afraid of: (1) a Live one; (2) a Dead one; and (3) an Imitation . . . and that's all I have to say about that !

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There is a guy here in the Atlanta has whose signature on the local flyfishing BB is basically “There are two kind of snakes, chicken snakes and Cobras. If it doesn’t have a chicken in its mouth, it’s a cobra.

Gotta reply because it's about snakes, and I like snakes. I have worked with, captured, photographed, and kept snakes my whole life. Had a whole lot of rattlesnake experience all over and cottonmouth experience down in Alabama and Florida. Cottonmouths are not "AGGRESSIVE" they just don't care to get out of your way, they get mad easily, and they are curious-- or at least as curious as something with a reptile nervous system can be.

The picture above looks like a pretty good size Mohave, but nowhere even close to 7 feet. It's a matter of perspective- the snake is several feet closer to the camera than the guy. I've caught and seen probably over 100 Mohaves in southern Nevada. They do not get nearly as large as a diamondback CAN get, and there is NO WAY a 7, or even 6 foot long rattlesnake could be held up like that. It would bend the catch stick.

In rural Florida, EVERYONE had a cousin, brother in law, or friend who had killed a 9 or 10 foot Eastern Diamondback, but of course no one could ever produce one. There has never been a documented rattlesnake in excess of 8 feet.

In Alabama the majority of locals had the absolute most ridiculously stupid hatred of snakes of anywhere I have ever lived. 5 minutes of common sense education would have helped immesurably but by and large everyone was so closed-minded about it that it just was ingrained and inbred into them that snakes are to be killed. Period.

There is more BS surrounding snakes than there is in Fly Fishing. And that is really saying something.

The attitude of the people in Alabama is probably well reflected by the signature line of a local guy on another flyfishing bulleting board, it "There are two kind of snakes, cobras and chicken snakes. If it doesn't have a chicken in its mouth, it's a cobra!" Every since I moved to Georgia people have been telling me the best thing about Alabama is it keep Georgia from being next to Mississippi. 76% of the people in Mississippi agree.

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Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse

The attitude of the people in Alabama is probably well reflected by the signature line of a local guy on another flyfishing bulleting board, it "There are two kind of snakes, cobras and chicken snakes. If it doesn't have a chicken in its mouth, it's a cobra!" Every since I moved to Georgia people have been telling me the best thing about Alabama is it keep Georgia from being next to Mississippi. 76% of the people in Mississippi agree.

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I did not shed any tears when I moved from Alabama, but I did make one very good friend there who wanted to learn about fly fishing. He put me on the biggest bluegills I have ever caught in my life. However, he was originally from Tennessee, and the bluegills were in Florida.

I lived in B'ham for several months back when the earth was young and have traveled over most the state. I love the Shoals area, used to spent 6 or 8 weeks a year up there. Great lake fishing for bass, crappie, beautiful country. Alabama was originally part of the Mississippi territory, I tell Georgian that when Mississippi entered the union the Mississippian insisted Alabama be formed as a buffer between them and the criminals used to settle Georgia. Part of that is true.