Snakes of Georgia – Separating the Facts from the Myths
Article by Jessica Warren, ANR Agent, Camden County
The most misunderstood animal that I deal with and answer questions about is snakes. In Georgia we have 46 species of snakes – 40 non-venomous species and 6 venomous species. While it may be challenging to learn to identify all of the species, I always encourage people to learn the venomous species thoroughly. Ruling out that the snake you’ve encountered is venomous is half the battle. Venomous or not, snakes are great critters to have in your landscape. They’re docile and avoid humans, and they eat a variety of pests (this varies by species of snake) from mice and rats to slugs and moles. Many of the pests that snakes feed on spread diseases that are transmissible to humans and/or damage our homes or landscapes. Snakes do neither of these. Snakes are a critical piece in a healthy ecosystem. In addition to their benefits in the landscape, venom is being researched to treat brain injuries, stroke,
Alzheimer’s disease, heart attack, blood disorders, breast cancer, and Parkinson’s disease – though I would urge you to consider that an organism doesn’t have to directly benefit humans in order to have the right to live.
One of the myths that I hear most often is about snakes chasing people or being “aggressive.” First, I’d like to point out that there’s a difference between aggressive and defensive. Snakes see humans as a predator and have no interest in interacting with us, much less confronting or attacking us. Their first response is to try not to be seen. If that doesn’t work, the next move is to try to escape. If escape is not possible or you are blocking their known path of escape, they will use a defense display to try to scare off predators. Depending on the species this may include making themselves look as large as possible by
flattening their bodies, flattening their heads to make them look large and triangular (yes, nonvenomous snakes can make their heads look triangular), a gaping mouth (such as a cottonmouth), or rattling their tails (many non-venomous snakes will do this to mimic rattlesnakes). Some species will even play dead when all else fails. Striking/and or biting is a last resort for the snake and most bites are easily avoidable.
If you want to avoid negative interactions with snakes, there are a number of simple things that you can do. Keep areas near the home that are highly trafficked well mowed and cleared of debris. Always look where you’re putting your hands and feet when gardening or doing work outdoors. Wear closed toes shoes outside – especially at night – and turn outside lights on if it’s dark. A very large portion of snakebites happen at night from people walking outside in the dark in flipflops or bare feet. Keep in mind that you are much likely to get bitten if you are trying to harass or kill a snake. Most snakes are just moving through when you see them. If you need them to move along a little faster, you can simply spray them with a water hose. Remember that non-venomous snakes are protected in the state of Georgia and it is illegal to kill them. There are no effective snake repellants and it is illegal and very dangerous to
put mothballs outdoors – it also does nothing to deter snakes. Do not use bird netting or sticky traps. These materials trap and tangle a number of wild animals in painful and cruel ways, but if you don’t like snakes you won’t want to cut them out of bird netting – dead or alive. As with any wild animal, the safest thing for you and them is to give them space.
Another myth or misunderstanding that I hear a lot is about cottonmouths (aka water moccasins) dropping into people’s boats from trees. Though cottonmouths can climb trees, they rarely do. Nonvenomous water snakes, which are very often confused with cottonmouths, commonly bask in trees and will drop into the water to escape to safety when they perceive a threat. In fact, more often than not the snake you’re seeing in or near water is a water snake which can look very similar to a cottonmouth – especially to an untrained eye. Luckily there are some great resources to learn more about snakes, interacting with them, and how to identify them. Hopefully you realize that all information on the internet is not created equal, and google images are not trustworthy. A great website for reliable information is UGA’s Savannah River Ecology Lab site https://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes. If you are on Facebook there are a number of great educational pages to join. I would recommend ‘What Kind of Snake is This? Georgia’ and if you want to educate yourself on what to do in case of a bite to you or your
pet, ‘National Snakebite Support’. Both of these are run by very well credentialed professionals. If books are more your thing, ‘Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia’ by John B. Jensen et al is a great resource. If you have snake questions or ID requests, your friendly local extension agent is glad to help. You can send me pictures at jkwarren@uga.edu, just remember I need a picture clear enough that I can tell what I’m looking at.