Snakes The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful

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Natural hunters of rodents, rat snakes often come into contact with small carnivores such as foxes, raccoons and opossums, against whom rat snakes have developed the defensive tactic of making sudden, mostly bluffing strikes that display the white lining of their mouths. That works well against other animals, but with humans that approach can imply enough of a threat to get the snake killed.

Rat snakes will eat all kinds of birds, so if poultry or nesting songbirds are priorities around your homestead, consider relocating any rat snakes that appear. If the snake is on the ground, lay a square-sided garbage can on its side, and use a long, stiff broom to sweep it into the opening. Then quickly stand the garbage can upright and clamp down the lid. (This strategy will work for almost any snake, including venomous species.)

Other harmless snakes commonly found around rural homes are easy to identify. Racers, for example, are common, gray-green, ground-living serpents, but they are so fast that it can be tough to get a close look at them. After streaking away, though, a racer will sometimes raise its head and peer back to see if you are coming after it. Garter snakes and ribbon snakes are even easier to identify. They have light-colored, narrow stripes that run the length of their bodies. Predators of worms, fish and frogs, garter and ribbon snakes can be fun to watch going about their hunting; a stationary observer is unlikely to attract their attention.

Cottonmouths

Myriad frightening myths exist about water snakes, and most of them stem from confusion with the venomous cottonmouth, also known as the water moccasin. Cottonmouths can be found around water throughout the Southeast and lower Midwest, and everywhere they live they bear a ferocious — though somewhat undeserved — reputation. Compared to rattlesnakes, for example, most cottonmouths have lethargic temperaments, and their venom is much less toxic. But cottonmouths’ coloring (muddy black to dark green), their large adult size and their startling encounters with fishermen and boaters give them a menacing reputation that is only intensified by the dramatic nature of their defensive display.

Most of the time, cottonmouths will withdraw from humans, but if a getaway seems impossible, an adult cottonmouth may hold its ground and gape upward in a wide-jawed posture that shows off its fangs and the bright-white lining of its mouth. Most often this threat is a bluff; even from such an intimidating stance cottonmouths often don’t strike. I’ve gently prodded many of them with the toe of a boot, seldom drawing anything other than a more widely opened mouth.

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