Snakes

[AngelsSix]

Not sure if you want to keep this in here, but I have a question. Tell me what the differrence is between a black snake and a water moccosin. I saw this BAS crossing the road near my house the other day.............needless to say I hauled arse back inside. It's fairly swampy where they haven't built around here........I am concerned about walking the dog now.............HELP!!
I know I can do the research and get the info on my own, but thought it would be a good topic for conversation, especially since people are getting out more, and so are the snakes!!!!!!!

Thanks

[SHOOB]

Here are two profiles
http://www.pittpaths.com/st/0002.htm
http://www.wf.net/~snake/moccasin.htm

[Doc]

About 8 to 12 people on average die of snake bites in the US each year. The victims are usually very old or very young. That's a very small percentage in regards to the hundreds if not thousands of people who get bit every year in the US and survive. I would say a lot of bites are from people trying to handle or play with snakes. Yes some people do that sort of thing.

My advice is to leave them alone and walk the other way.

Black snakes and Water Moccasins don't rate me getting close enough to ID which is which.

Doc

[EarthPig]

Water moccasins have a definate musky odor, an eliptical pupil, and an obvious pit-viper head (arrowhead-shaped). The inside of their mouths are very white, which gave them their other name: Cottonmouth. They are the most aggressive poisonous snake in N. America, but generally won't do anything unless you jack with them first. Oh, and they eat dogs (jk).:D
RLTW
EP

[TerribleTed]

To add on what EP said: There are a bunch of "black snakes" that are non-poisonous in the US. Other than the smell,large body size, and triangle shaped head of the water moccasin, there aren't any really good ways for the lay person to distinguish venomous vs. non-venomous.

If you want to, you can pull a Steve Irwin and try to catch it and look inside the mouth for the tell-tale "cottonmouth", but I don't recommend that. You will just get yourself bitten.

[AngelsSix]

I hate all snakes. Thanks for the info, I will check out those profiles later. I heard something about mothballs keeping them at bay around your house..............uggg, did I mention I hate snakes???:D

[Doc]

I saw one technique used by a Doctor in the Amazon region of Peru to help victims identify snakes that had bitten them.

He freeze dried one each type of all of the poisonous snakes in the region and had the casualty view the "line up" in the clinic.

The casualty picked out the "offender" and the Doctor knew what type of anti-venom to use if the signs and symptoms warranted their use. He would use a monovalent anti-venom if the casualty was 100% sure and a polyvalent if he wasn't sure.

Monovalent anti-venom is used for one particular snake's venom.

Polyvalent anti-venom is a mixture of different type snake's anti-venom and in layman's terms is a "broad spectrum" anti-venom for a specific region of the world.

Both types are expensive and risky to use.

DOL

[ralph conner]

When I was visiting a long time resident of Costa Rica resident, he told me that the residents poured concrete slabs on which they placed their porches and houses.

Their theory is that snakes will not cross the sharp edges of the
slabs.

I'm just offering this as a theory but, a number of expat. U.S. residents that I met down there left their doors open a lot of the time. And I was terrified of the fer de lance, which kills more people than any other snake.

The residents there also said that when they went out at night,
their dogs (they all have dogs) would always sense the snakes
before you saw it. Night or day.

I imagine that there is a 'learning curve' for the dog.
:)