Posted by Wayne -Wayne --Previous Message--
on March 28, 2006, 5:45 pm, in reply to "First of year!!!"
206.152.117.48
Congrats, Alex! Great looking snake!!
: My wife Suzanne found the first snake of
: the year for me about the first week of
: March. We were in the Pisgah National
: Forest near Brevard NC, and She was
: walking about 50 yards ahead of me and
: yelled "Copperhead!", so I
: ran in her direction. As I got closer,
: I realized that though chubby and
: having a rather broadish head, it just
: didn't look like a Copperhead. As I
: approached the snake to pick it up, she
: warned me of dire consequences if I
: touched it. I said "it's not a
: Copperhead". When she asked
: "what is it then", I replied
: "a Northern Water Snake".
:
: After trying a few times to grab the
: her (I think it was a female) by the
: head, as even though harmless, a Water
: Snake can give a healthy nip, and
: causing her to head toward Suzanne
: (which didn't go over very well), I
: finally just grabbed her by the tail in
: Steve Irwin fashion, and just admired
: her.
:
: She was nicely colored with nice
: banding. This banding, by the way,
: causes people (and other animals) to
: mistake them for Copperheads as Suzanne
: did, and hopefully leave them alone; a
: very nice mimicry that is seldom talked
: about. She also had a lovely red
: colored belly with dark spots, the
: hallmark of many Water Snakes. Being
: upset at having a rather large animal
: (me) holding her suspended in the air
: by the tail, she opened her mouth in an
: attempt to bite or frighten and exposed
: a perfectly white inner lining, leading
: people around here when they see it to
: believe that they have encountered a
: Cottonmouth (also called "Water
: Moccasin"). Since we were in the
: western part of North Carolina and far
: from the Coastal Plain I knew that the
: chances of encountering a Cottonmouth
: were exactly zero. Not near zero, but
: exactly zero. More on this later.
:
: I had Suzanne take a photo of me
: holding the snake. The photo can be
: found at here and shows her (the
: snake) watching me closely in case I
: made a threatening move. I also got a
: nice one of the fore part of her body
: and the markings which make people
: think "Copperhead". It is at
: my page and you can click on the link
: to see.
:
: After looking her over for a few
: minutes and admiring her, I released
: her near the water where she quickly
: dove in. This changed her colors to a
: bright hue, and she seemed to glow.
: This is always the case; Water Snakes
: are rather dull when dry, but are very
: bright when wet.
:
: I suspect that she was recently out of
: hibernation and was making her way to
: the water, though there is a small pond
: with frogs, so she might have been
: there getting an early Spring meal..
:
: People here tell me under no uncertain
: terms that they have caught, killed, or
: seen Cottonmouths. Folks, unless you
: can take me to one, and show it to me,
: I can not accept it, since I have lived
: here all my life, have seen just about
: every snake that lives here, and have
: never seen a Cottonmouth (Water
: Mocassin). Look at the range maps made
: by people who study snakes more than I
: do; they just aren't here. End of
: story.
:
: Hopefully a good omen for a good year!
: Have fun in Nature!
:
: Alex
:
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