Know your snakes in SC, NC & GA: This is not a political website

[Uncle Jesse]

A good pictorial listing of the more common snakes in this part of the world.

http://www.wspa.com/story/25476987/s...f-sc-nc-and-ga

[sagefisher]

Many years ago my wife and I were on a driving trip in the southeast and when we hit Savannah we loved that area.A few months later we flew back to Georgia and drove down to Savannah for a two week stay. I had contacted a real estate company and they gave me a nice long list of places that were for sale out in the country. We would drive out and check out a few places each day. One day I stopped on the road to take a photo of a place and my wife noticed something dead in the road in front of the car. She asked me what it was and I responded that it was only a dead Cottonmouth that had been hit by a car the night before. It was stretched most the way across one lane of the road, yea, it was a big one.My wife said something like there are snakes that big around here and I said sure and mentioned a few other types of venomous snakes that live in the area. She decided she didn't want a place in the southeast. Too bad, I really like that area.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[Uncle Jesse]

The largest native snake I remember ever seeing was what was known locally as a Chicken Snake, after it was dispatched from the chicken house it was around 8 ft. or so long. The first year I went to Annual Training with the Army National Guard, someone killed a Diamondback in the bivouac area that the skin stretched out over 7 ft. and probably 15 - 16" wide. The meat was eaten for supper by a few of the members of the unit. That was a large snake but not unusual for south Mississippi. Rattlesnake have plenty to eat down there and get nice sized.

Your wife probably would not have cared for the alligators either I take it. Too bad, the Georgia coast is great being the western most point on the eastern seaboard does not suffer from hurricane like much of the southern coast does.

On an side note, there a local guy who says "There's two kind of snakes, Chicken Snakes and Cobras. If it doesn't have a chicken in its mouth, it's a Cobra."

[BadBug]

Remind me never to go to NC, SC, or GA, because I'd never remember all those critters and I don't run so fast any more!

Dennis

[sagefisher]

BadBug,

It is really nice down there in the south.

I used to fish the Perdido River in Pensacola, Florida. You would see the snakes swimming across the river an simply row out of their way. Not a problem.

Different story if you were going to be wade fishing and walking along the shoreline. Snakes, gaters, yea, that would have been a problem.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[Ed_D]

I have known some snake breeders and they view snakes as "hot" which are definitely venomous, "warm" snakes are either mildly venomous or can provoke dangerous reactions such as anaphylactic shock, and "cold" snakes, which do not cause an envenomed or allergic response in the vast majority of humanity. The "hot" snakes are fairly well known. They are the rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths, and coral snakes.

The "warm" snakes are typically rear-fanged snakes and must chew to effectively incorporate their venom. The "warm" snakes include the hog-nosed snakes. I have been bitten by one and suffered zero ill effects aside from losing a few drops of blood. I have been bitten any number of times by eastern ribbon snakes (a.k.a. garter snakes) and have even been fairly chewed on for a surprising amount of bleeding from such a small snake. Some years ago, a researcher stuck a garter snake into a medical scanner, a CAT scan I think, as was very surprised to discover the little thing had venom glands. Subsequent work proved the existence of a poison which generally isn't even noticed by human bite victims. IIRC correctly, it mainly effect earthworms and other prey items.

The point of all this is that some people can have shock-type reactions to certain snakes which don't bother most people. Knowing the rear-fanged snakes is a good idea, too. Fortunately most of them are shy and seek to avoid human contact. My friend with the pet hog-nosed snake was amazed when I got bitten. Neither of us had ever met anyone bitten by one before.


Regards,
Ed

[hungNtree]

A good snake is a dead snake. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

hNt

[rainbowchaser]

Ed, do hog nosed snakes eat frogs? It may have been prescient!

[Uncle Jesse]

A good snake is a dead snake. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
hNt

You know there aren't any snake in TN large enough to eat you. All in all, snake, including the venomous varieties, to more good than harm. They help control vermin and other pests. I don't go around picking them up but with the exception of a cottonmouth napping under the boat I want to use, I try to do them no harm. If I were float tubing over in MS, I would want to carry a stainless steel .22 revolver with CCI shotshells in it. Cottonmouths can be aggressive, unlike most other snakes who usually only attack when cornered.

[Ed_D]

Ed, do hog nosed snakes eat frogs? It may have been prescient!

Rainbowchaser, they eat frogs and TOADS !!!


Ed