For those of you who would pause when walking though the woods at a movement in the leaves, then hold stock still as a snake crawled over your foot and think “Oh, just a bull snake. Cool.” …. if that’s you, this post is not aimed at you. But not everyone is this way…
- The time when we were camping beside a river at night and a lone man pulled up in a canoe and asked to borrow a light. He said a snake had dropped into the boat as they went under some trees; his partner had jumped out and he had no idea where he was, but the snake was in the boat somewhere…
- The time when a neighbor, just moved in from the city, found a large black snake sunning on his windowsill. So he shot it. With a shot gun. Yeah, fired a shotgun from inside his house into a closed window…
So some people are not as familiar or comfortable with snakes as others. In fact, some people freak right out. It’s instinctive, actually: toss a bit of hose into a room with a baby monkey who’s never even seen a snake, and the monkey freaks out. Throw in most any other shape and the monkey’s just curious. We have to learn not to freak out about snakes. (I had six older brothers; if I hadn’t learned this I’d still be running.)
Last summer, I put some research time into treatment of snake bite, and shared that information here:
Good to know, absolutely; but better yet is to not get bitten in the first place. That’s what this post is about; and the companion podcast available here:
The key point is, no shock, to avoid situations that make bites likely. But what are those situations?
Most snakes don’t want to bite people
First, I have heard zero reliable reports of persons who were bitten after a snake intentionally charged them from some distance away. If we’re talking North America here, you’re too big for a snake to eat, so other than self-protection, nothing good can come to the snake from biting you. It’s actually hard for some snakes to bite then let go, because of how their teeth are angled; so they avoid biting anything but food unless they feel really threatened.
True, some species interpret ‘threatened’ a little more liberally than others. Fortunately, the most venomous snakes in North America (coral snakes) are mild mannered and seldom bite. The second most venomous group, the rattlesnakes, has some more aggressive members; but still they’ll usually not strike if you give them a good option.
The most common action that provokes a bite is stepping on the snake
I for one can kind of see their point here. The problem is that most of the snakes are camouflaged, and they’re often hidden in vegetation. There are things you can do:
- Watch where you’re putting your feet, and listen. When they’re moving in a straight line, the movement can be kind of hard to see if you’re looking mid-snake; but you can often hear them first. If you hear a rustle and don’t know why, freeze and look for movement.
- Consider gaiters where snakes are abundant and dangerous. I don’t bother at The Place, but I do at least where hiking boots to protect the anatomy most at risk when I’m walking in high grass or woods.
These are gaiters: lower leg sleeves that discourage bites in the most common areas
The second most common action is putting your hand close to the snake
If you did this on purpose, pretty much serves you right. The common scenario though is during climbing. Many snakes — rattlesnakes in particular in the midwest at least — like to sun on rocky slopes. I do my best not to put my hands where I can’t see three feet all around them.
If you start the fight, you better be able to stop it
I recall a different camping trip when my big brother found a copperhead in the campground and killed it with a stick. We were not in the habit of killing snakes out of hand, but venomous ones where children and pets are running around are just a bad idea. He was proud of himself and carried it around showing it off for half an hour before tossing it in a trash can. Half an hour after that, we heard it moving in there.
Snakes are harder to kill than they look like they’d be; and can whip about and bite most ferociously when damaged. Unless there’s a much better reason than “SNAKE!!” to kill it, you’re better off letting it make its way elsewhere. If you’re a gardener, it may help to reflect on how many baby bunnies snakes eat, bless their scaly cold-blooded little hearts.
The ‘snake dropped out of a tree’ story was true, but rare
In fact, what got me started on this post was during my kayaking this morning, when I saw this guy:
He was hanging out in the branches of a willow overhanging the lake. If he’d been five feet further south I’d have slid right under him. That kind of situation is how snakes might actually drop on you. (Among North American species; I make no claims about pythons and such.) . Snakes in trees are rare in North America except for those who live near water. If you’re near the banks of a stream, it becomes worthwhile to make sure those are really vines you’re about to push away.
In sum, live and let live reduces bites
A last note: If you see a snake coiled with its head hidden under the coil, or turned over on its back, leave it be. Hognoses are famous for this behavior: I remember coming upon such a coil once and pushing at it (with a big long stick) to uncoil it. It was a hognose snake. It turned over on it’s back, to show me it was dead and harmless. I flipped it over with the stick. It turned itself over again, as if Insisting it was dead. Hey, I never said they were smart.