The Myth of Aggressive Snakes

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to do some mythbusting.

I'm in the heart of the Everglades right now, and this is snake country. Since I'm a huge fan of reptiles I'm loving it. We've been out each night we've been here road cruising for snakes. The species we've found most has been the infamous water moccasin or cottonmouth. These relatively small pit vipers have gained a bad rep over the years as aggressive and dangerous snakes. I'd like to dispell that idea.

A hideous, scary, evil monster poised to attack.

Venomous snakes are not something you should mess with, try to move, touch, or try to kill unless you are very experienced with handling both venomous and non-venomous reptiles. But they aren't something you need to be afraid of, simply aware of. I've spent time around a few venomous species and have only once been bit by a snake that I wasn't holding. Incidentally, that was on this very Florida trip. A green water snake whacked me as is was pulling away after getting closeups of her head. I had already handled her and moved her into a good photography spot and I'd gotten a good idea of her attitude. I knew she was a striker.ni I also didn't particularly care if she bit me. I knew it was anon-venomous water snake. I've been bit by dozens of water snakes while handling them. I could have avoided that bite if I wanted to.

A significant boo-boo.

Now, the question is, did that green water snake's tendency to strike, and the fact that it did nail me, make it aggressive? No, it made it defensive, which virtually all snakes are. And water moccasins are no exception. We've come across numerous moccasins under high stress situations on this trip and I was at some point or another whithin strike range of each and every one of them (do as I say not as I do, you don't need to get within striking range, or just over the body length, of any snake you suspect might be venomous) and I got struck at once and bit never. So, striking does not equate to aggressive, these were all defensive acts.

What about chasing then? Does chasing constitute aggressiveness? Moccasins are notorious for chasing people down to "get" them, as if they're territorial. This is inaccurate. Cottonmouths do not chase people. Chase constitutes a pursuit. No venomous snake is going to actually pursue you over a distance that can't be outpaced with a couple footsteps. A black mamba, is a big, cocky, fast, intelligent snake, and they probably come the closest to actually chasing a person. But even they have no real intent of catching up with you.

If you are one of the people who claims to have been chased by a moccasin, ask two simple questions. Were you downhill from the snake? Were you between the snake and a place it could use to hide? If you ever think you've been chased by a snake, that answer to one or both of these questions is probably yes. A snake uphill from you may come in your direction to get towards cover. Same goes for any time you are between a snake and heavy brush, water, a stump hole, or a wood pile. This goes doubly for snakes like pit vipers that aren't at all built for speed. More than one of the moccasins we've come across have moved towards not away from us, but that is because we were between them and cover and they were in flight mode. They have a fight mode, but it doesn't kick in until they're being seriously mucked with (miss you Steve) and sometimes not even then. To really hammer it home, check this out:

Until next time,

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, and Franky for supporting this blog on Patreon.