View Full Version : Best place for snakes?
Buster Martin
09-29-2009, 12:30
I absolutely love snakes (and other reptiles and amphibians)! Prior to getting my digital camera (I just got my first one in '08) I used to go out looking for them to take their pics. Now that I have a website and digital camera, I want to do that even more.
I'm looking for suggestions on where are some good places to find snakes for this purpose. And, yes, I know I can just go looking through woods until I find them, but I was hoping for a "hot spot" of sorts.
Also, I don't care about the species (garter snakes, timber rattlers, etc.)...I'm just looking for different areas to look in than normal. As a guide, I live near Harrisburg, PA and most times I'll be within 2-4 hours of there...but if you have somewhere else in mind I'd love to hear it in case I ever go there. Thank you for any advice!
Just a Hiker
09-29-2009, 12:36
My gardening shed has a family of Garter Snakes living in it.....you're welcome to them all.....LOL!!
Tipi Walter
09-29-2009, 12:44
Hey Buster--I'm checking out your neat blogsite and thinking about all the people who'll chime in about snakes in their area. I've seen a bunch here in east Tennessee but never go looking for them, if I went out just to find a snake I'd probably never find a one. Experts on the other hand, know all the dens and rock nests and copperhead homes and probably could give you clues.
In the old days the local miscreants killed out huge numbers in one day of extermination, sort of a festival. I remember being raised in Oklahoma when they had this rattlesnake "festival" in Okeene, OK. Thousands of the things were slaughtered, MAN VS SNAKE, another boring and predictable genocide. Or reptocide. Herpocide?
Buster Martin
09-29-2009, 12:59
Just a Hiker - whenever I make my way to Katahdin I might have to swing by for some pictures!
Tipi Walter - thanks for the compliments on the site. I need to do some reorganizing so it flows smoother, but it's hard to find the time to do that right now. Also, I used to (rattle)snake hunts in my neck of the woods, but they were done the right way (if there is such a thing). We caught them, brought them in for measurements, and then they were released where they were caught. Then prizes were given out for biggest, heaviest, longest, etc. The snakes weren't slaughtered though.
Wise Old Owl
09-29-2009, 13:19
Rock walls, animal trails, Rotton large logs. The Rattlers love to be up a mountain on the sunny side to warm up in summer. Piles of sticks against bridge abutments for the cottonmouth. Rat snakes and racers like feilds and come running when they hear a frog.
Buster Martin
09-29-2009, 14:10
WOO - thanks for the info; however, maybe I should be more specific in my request. I'm not so much looking for the habitats and/or behavior of snakes as much as specific locations that people have had good luck finding snakes (for example, Wildwood Lake in Harrisburg, PA is a garter snake bonanza).
Jester2000
09-29-2009, 14:26
Inside Baltimore Jack's tent.
Tenderheart
09-29-2009, 14:44
I saw a lot of snakes on the Virginia Creeper section just north of Damascus. I also remember seeing the word "Snakes", somewhere in the SNP, painted on a rock with an arrow pointing toward a huge sea of boulders. Maybe someone remembers where this is.
litefoot 2000
sixhusbands
09-29-2009, 14:56
I was sitting in the sun this past Saturday( 9/26) at Galehead Hut on the AT in New Hampshire. We spotted a small snake ( probably a mountain racer) in the rocks along the building. Amazingly the night before it was 24 degrees.
saimyoji
09-29-2009, 16:36
send wrongway a PM. he's a snake handler type guy.
Blissful
09-29-2009, 22:18
Hike PA. Rocks and snakes love 'em. See the pic in my gallery of a snake trying to eat this furry thingie. Taken near Caledonia State Park.
:)
Graywolf
09-29-2009, 22:32
Hey Buster, good to know there is another herper here on the forum. I hale from Texas, and I LOVE them snakes. Send some pics my way when you get them. I would love to see them,
Graywolf
The best place for snakes is on a plane:
http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/08/21/snakes_plane_ld_wideweb__470x310,0.jpg
or at a Pentecostal Church:
http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4565834/49696-main_Full.jpg
:eek::D:dance
Wise Old Owl
09-29-2009, 23:20
WOO - thanks for the info; however, maybe I should be more specific in my request. I'm not so much looking for the habitats and/or behavior of snakes as much as specific locations that people have had good luck finding snakes (for example, Wildwood Lake in Harrisburg, PA is a garter snake bonanza).
Uh no that wasn't about habitats- that was my little list where I have tripped over them or they bit me, or in one case disappeared up my shorts. (No I am not kidding)
Why do you think we have Clyde Pelings Reptile Land in the center of PA?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGibmsk4VVk
Uh no that wasn't about habitats- that was my little list where I have tripped over them or they bit me, or in one case disappeared up my shorts. (No I am not kidding)
Why do you think we have Clyde Pelings Reptile Land in the center of PA?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGibmsk4VVk
ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahaha!!!!!! ! im not sure why that made me laugh cuase its not funny im mature enough to know that much but that first frame of video where it says " the most venimous snake in the world is the one that just bit you, there are no venimous snakes with training wheels" chuckle but then a stern agree
Come to LA... you can have ALL of them.
Wise Old Owl
09-30-2009, 10:11
Well Capt I am glad I made your day, I didn't even read that until you said something - that just happened to be one of the better u tubes on the subject.
fredmugs
09-30-2009, 11:09
The first rattler I ever saw on the trail was about 5 miles south of the 501 shelter in PA.
Buster Martin
09-30-2009, 11:50
The first rattler I ever saw on the trail was about 5 miles south of the 501 shelter in PA.
Thanks! I just actually hiked right by there (started at Route 645) but didn't see any snakes at all. I'll probably be doing that 501 section come spring, so I'll keep my eyes peeled.
D'Artagnan
09-30-2009, 15:02
I was watching "The Shawshank Redemption" last night when my dog started barking. He was pretty persistent so I got up and turned on the lights. Crawling along the baseboard was about a foot long little snake. The closest thing I could grab was a dust mop so I scooted him to the front door and helped him out. Thank goodness for an attentive dog. (Thread swerve over.)
Wise Old Owl
09-30-2009, 15:11
Thanks! I just actually hiked right by there (started at Route 645) but didn't see any snakes at all. I'll probably be doing that 501 section come spring, so I'll keep my eyes peeled.
I have actually seen hikers step over them not knowing it wasn't a branch.....
Ashepabst
09-30-2009, 16:35
In the old days the local miscreants killed out huge numbers in one day of extermination, sort of a festival. I remember being raised in Oklahoma when they had this rattlesnake "festival" in Okeene, OK. Thousands of the things were slaughtered, MAN VS SNAKE, another boring and predictable genocide. Or reptocide. Herpocide?
oh whacking day, oh whacking day, our hallowed snake skull cracking day.
Ladytrekker
09-30-2009, 17:24
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m183/fljj48/DeLeonSprings92609026.jpg
Saw this cotton mouth moccassin in Florida this past weekend.
Strategic
09-30-2009, 22:06
Buster, you're in a perfect place to find snakes on the AT. I've seen more in PA than I can ever remember seeing anywhere else, in 30+ years of hiking. My last section out this year between PA183 and Lehigh Gap I not only saw three rattlers but came a few inches from inadvertently spiking a young copperhead with one of my hiking poles between Dan's Pulpit and Dan's Spring. In my defense, it was already late twilight and it was sitting on leaves at the edge of a ledge I was about to step on while rock-hopping (and most of that piece of trail is rock-hopping.) Poor little thing shot out from the ledge about five feet, landed in the leaves about two feet below, and started doing that pseudo-rattler thing they do to scare me off. Even then, it was hard to see clearly, its camo was so good.
Every time I've been out on the PA sections, it's about the same story. You'll see tons of rattlers, copperheads and black rat snakes without much effort, especially north of the Susquehana.
The Weasel
09-30-2009, 23:20
Western variants of rattlesnakes are hugely prevalent in the first 20 miles or so of the PCT out of Campo. Other non-pit vipers are common too.
TW
The Weasel
09-30-2009, 23:23
Greatest place for snakes I've ever heard of though - just remembered this - is the organized campground at Organ Pipe National Monumenlt, south of Ajo, Arizona. We were going to stay in the largely-deserted campground until I asked a man, strangely sitting in a lawn chair on top of the picnic table in his site, about which site I should use. "Any of them are fine, but make sure you have a flashlight. At night when you go to the toilets, there will be a lot of rattlers outside the bathroom door, and the light makes them move back. That's why I'm sitting up here, so they don't bother me." I looked out my car window under his table and saw four or five sort of medium sized (4-5 feet) rattlers stretched out. We decided to stay at the motel in Ajo.
TW
Nearly Normal
10-01-2009, 01:43
Come to LA... you can have ALL of them.
Worked down there a while building elevated interstate through a swamp/water prarie. I've lived all over the southeast but saw more cottonmouths in LA than anywhere. Some of them cypress trees looked like they was growing snakes.
freefall
10-01-2009, 02:14
I absolutely love snakes (and other reptiles and amphibians)! Prior to getting my digital camera (I just got my first one in '08) I used to go out looking for them to take their pics. Now that I have a website and digital camera, I want to do that even more.
I'm looking for suggestions on where are some good places to find snakes for this purpose. And, yes, I know I can just go looking through woods until I find them, but I was hoping for a "hot spot" of sorts.
Also, I don't care about the species (garter snakes, timber rattlers, etc.)...I'm just looking for different areas to look in than normal.
I saw my greatest quantity of snakes in PA. Here's one of my favorite:
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=36651&c=557
JoshStover
10-01-2009, 03:16
I have noticed that when I takemy camera out to get pictures of snakes I hardly ever see them and when Im hiking i step on the damn things!!!
Tipi Walter
10-01-2009, 08:43
This reminds me of some stupid guy from Australia I saw on Telederision who decided to camp out in a bedroll in the outback. He woke up with a very poisonious snake with him in the sleeping bag and of course it bit him a couple times on the face and neck. Moral of the story: In snake country, sleep in a tent!
During my thru hike in 2007 it seemed like PA had the most snakes overall. Blue Mountain after Lehigh Gap was a snake haven.
Diablo
"Don't go looking for snakes you might find them..." Metallica, Slither
Greatest place for snakes I've ever heard of though - just remembered this - is the organized campground at Organ Pipe National Monumenlt, south of Ajo, Arizona. We were going to stay in the largely-deserted campground until I asked a man, strangely sitting in a lawn chair on top of the picnic table in his site, about which site I should use. "Any of them are fine, but make sure you have a flashlight. At night when you go to the toilets, there will be a lot of rattlers outside the bathroom door, and the light makes them move back. That's why I'm sitting up here, so they don't bother me." I looked out my car window under his table and saw four or five sort of medium sized (4-5 feet) rattlers stretched out. We decided to stay at the motel in Ajo.
TW
That does look like prime habitat, but I never saw any there. Been known to scuff my feet in that terrain.
Did you walk up to the Arch?
The Weasel
10-01-2009, 10:53
That does look like prime habitat, but I never saw any there. Been known to scuff my feet in that terrain.
Did you walk up to the Arch?
We drove up to the trailhead, and you could see it in the distance. It was late though and we didn't walk up to it. My wife was still a little nervous after "Snake Man" told us about the bathrooms. Didn't help that this was just a little after the Ranger was murdered by the coyotes.
TW
Jester2000
10-01-2009, 10:56
This reminds me of some stupid guy from Australia I saw on Telederision who decided to camp out in a bedroll in the outback. He woke up with a very poisonious snake with him in the sleeping bag and of course it bit him a couple times on the face and neck. Moral of the story: In snake country, sleep in a tent!
Urban legend. Shake out your bag before you get in and you're fine.
Johnny Thunder
10-01-2009, 11:05
I also like snakes. So, when I found out that Jake the Snake was signing books at a bookstore my brother worked at (in between Hillary Clinton and Emril Lagasse's signing engagements) I was pumped. Little bro got me in early to just look around. Guess what. No snakes.
Bogus, I know.
jorhawle
10-02-2009, 00:13
Yes...I can't believe someone got a Metallica reference in there! Let alone one from one of the Load albums! Very nice...and good advice nontheless!
Big Dawg
10-02-2009, 01:01
Yes...I can't believe someone got a Metallica reference in there! Let alone one from one of the Load albums! Very nice...and good advice nontheless!
Diablo had a music quote for almost every shelter register during his thru in 2007, each one corresponding w/ the days events. Cool stuff!
This reminds me of some stupid guy from Australia I saw on Telederision who decided to camp out in a bedroll in the outback. He woke up with a very poisonious snake with him in the sleeping bag and of course it bit him a couple times on the face and neck. Moral of the story: In snake country, sleep in a tent!
and since snakes inhabit 95 % of the world , is the reason i will never go a waltzing matilda without some form of barrier even if just mesh to zipper shut around me
Tipi Walter
10-02-2009, 10:45
Urban legend. Shake out your bag before you get in and you're fine.
The guy who got bit and panicked thru the night would not consider it an urban legend. I don't remember what show it was, Discovery or Animal Planet--Animals That Bite or Reptiles With Venom or There's A Snake In My Pants or Pit Vipers In The Polarguard.
and since snakes inhabit 95 % of the world , is the reason i will never go a waltzing matilda without some form of barrier even if just mesh to zipper shut around me
Especially in Australia. The snake that got this guy was a night rover and the guy got caught in the rain and during its hunt the snake sought refuge in the guy's kit. His sleeping bag. I've bedrolled camped hundreds of nights in the NC mountains, but this ain't Australia. The only time I came close to pulling that guy's blunder was in Pisgah during a trip with my backpacking buddy Johnny B. We sat around the fire and then returned to the tents with flashlights. He found a coiled up copperhead in his tent vestibule by the door. We scared it back into the brush and away from camp. In the process we broke out of our usual hippie bubble for several hours and kept our eyeballs open and our butt cheeks clenched. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound right.
Jester2000
10-02-2009, 12:08
The guy who got bit and panicked thru the night would not consider it an urban legend. I don't remember what show it was, Discovery or Animal Planet--Animals That Bite or Reptiles With Venom or There's A Snake In My Pants or Pit Vipers In The Polarguard.
That's the thing about urban legends. No one can remember where they saw it or heard it; no one can provide any proof of it actually happening. You can Google to your heart's content and you're not going to find it.
This is just a scary story borne of the warnings on snake related websites to shake out your bag.
Because if you think about it, if we presume that the person is in a mummy bag, which pretty much all of the people on this site would be, how does the snake get in the bag past your face without you noticing? How does the snake sense your body heat INSIDE an insulated bag? Why would a snake choose to risk its safety by crawling in next to another much larger animal? It wouldn't, and they don't.
I've spent hundreds of bag nights cowboying in the desert in California and Arizona (including the very snaky Organ Pipe National Monument and White Tank Mountains), and amongst all of my PCT friends there are hundreds more. No one's ever reported a snake even attempting this.
The vast majority of poisonous snake bites in Arizona occur with male humans and are located from the elbow to the hand. So don't screw with the snakes, and sleep soundly while you cowboy.
The vast majority of poisonous snake bites in Arizona occur with male humans and are located from the elbow to the hand.
I figure alcohol was involved in a bunch of them, too.
I do think on a barrier island down under, I would use a tent.
Wise Old Owl
10-02-2009, 15:18
Just stories.... Here is a good one....
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2007/11/24/5247_more-gossip-news.html
Wise Old Owl
10-03-2009, 23:28
WOO - thanks for the info; however, maybe I should be more specific in my request. I'm not so much looking for the habitats and/or behavior of snakes as much as specific locations that people have had good luck finding snakes (for example, Wildwood Lake in Harrisburg, PA is a garter snake bonanza).
Well as I said before, that was a list of places I ran into them - not habitats. Happened again today, Was looking over a rock wall for a steel pipe drain at a Garter and underneath the ivy and branches the branch under the Garter moved! it was a water moccossin.
yellowbasil
10-27-2009, 21:30
pa for sure has lots of rattlers went on a 3 day hike from us 30 to boiling springs and saw 4 one really big and my husband darn near stepped on it me i stayed far far away lol, i dont care for them dose not matter what kind thats why i make my husband go first i know they are thier but i dont want to see them.
Cookerhiker
10-27-2009, 21:41
....Every time I've been out on the PA sections, it's about the same story. You'll see tons of rattlers, copperheads and black rat snakes without much effort, especially north of the Susquehana.
And yet I've hiked PA almost exclusively in snake season and only saw one copperhead (very close to Wind Gap) and no rattlers. In fact, I've never seen a rattler on the AT and I've hiked parts of it more than once, especially numerous times in Shendandoah NP.
In the last 40 years, I've seen one Timber Rattlesnake (in Ramsay's Draft Wilderness in GW National Forest, VA) and one Western Rattlesnake in Sequoia NP.
Wise Old Owl
10-27-2009, 22:54
That's not your fault I have walked past plenty of them it takes a sharp eye and work, a ton of Patience.
I also like snakes. I have walked by copperheads and my behind person saw them. I never see them apparently as they blend. Fortunately, they cold and I have not stepped on them. It has always been in the fall near hibernation time.
I have never seen a snake on the AT, but I was only on a section. My brother and nephew saw a huge timber cruise thru their campsite on the AT in Virginia. They sat sill, took pics and it just moved on thru between them without a pause. Given the photos and stories on this site, there are alot of snakes, "hots" and not on the trail met bychance.
If you are actively searching for snakes, check southeast facing rock ledges. But realize, that rattlesnakes like these areas. If you see any tin, debirs, nice hot spot, flip it. Just be sure to flip it back as you found it when you are done. Snakes love warming under tin or metal that has been lying around. I say tin as that is a big herp spot around here and in Arkansas. There seems to be tin lying around in farm fields. Snakes love it. Flip some tin and you may find two or three of different species.
harryfred
10-28-2009, 00:56
Early Sept. I hiked from Swatara Gap to the 309 crossing on Blue Mountain in PA. I saw an unreal amount of snakes several rattlesnakes two or three Black rat snakes every day, they seem to like sunning themselves across the trail, couple of copper heads and eastern garters every where. I also ran across several rattlesnakes just north of Rausch Gap earlier in the year on a side trail. I hike all year long on weekends in the Michaux State Forest and Buchanan State Forest and I rarely see snakes but I have seen cotton mouths As well as the other snakes mentioned. I don't "LOVE" snakes, but I do like them.