What Kind of Snake

[PennypackFlyer]

Please be careful of your cell phone activities...I watch on the news where a man got bit by a snake that he did not pay attention to.
The guy was thankful that it was not poisonous.

Jack, I'm not say that it was ok for the non-poisonous snake to bit him. Or that it was ok that he got a couple of holes poked in him.

PCray: As I think about your comment and combine it with what Pete said above......The invasive ones, whether poisonous or not, would fall into the catagory in my opinion.

 

[pcray1231]

I recognize the invasive problem in the tropical south, for instance boas and pythons in Florida.

But in PA, I'm not aware of any established populations of invasive snakes?

 

[JackM]

Pennypacker:

It is one of my pet peeves when someone chooses to preempt perceived inappropriate behavior by assuming the worst. The OP didn't mention killing or harming the snake, so I chose to react to your post with a slightly humorous and/or sarcastic troll, just to make my point. It was kinda like turning the tables on you for your implied assumption with one of my own.

My Ex made me kill a black snake that inhabited our front yard area because it had a habit of sunning itself on our front steps and patio. Like all human conflicts with nature, sometimes, you do it and chalk it up to our natural role as ruler of all living beings as set forth in the first book of the Bible.

 

[mikesl]

Snakes are cool, we have lots of garder snakes and the occasional milk snake in our yard.

Even found a few inside the house on occasions - fun for kids to find a snake hanging out in the cab of their toy truck

Even went so far as to keep one in an old aquarium for a while so we could release it back outside when winter passed.

 

[Swattie87]

I was fishing this past weekend and deep hooked a nice 8 inch Gem on a size 14 Sulphur somehow. It was bleeding pretty good from the gills and I planned on killing, creeling, and stuffing it with lemon, garlic, onion, and butter. As I was fumbling around getting my forceps hooked back to my pack, the Gem slipped out of my hands and back in to the stream. It was alright enough temporarily to swim off and elude me, but I’m rather certain its injuries would soon be fatal.

The slaying of a Gem makes the perceived/implied/insinuated snake killing discussion seem rather Busch doesn’t it?

 

[Letort]

How much of an impact would a water snake have on a wild trout population?

I was fishing on a native brook trout stream in Central VA on Monday night. Fish were rising everywhere and I saw a trout splashing around on the far bank (about 20 ft away). Made a cast, thinking he was feeding. As I watched him, I saw him come out of the water. Watched a little longer, and he was 8" out of the water and on rocks.

I had to go over to see what was going on and saw a water snake had a beautiful 8" brook trout in his jaws and was taking out of the water. The trout was alive and wriggling. I cast to try and distract the snake and ended up snagging the snake with a 14 caddis. The snake then headed for the water and under a rock, still with the trout in his mouth, when he broke me off. The trout had expired by this time, unfortunately.

I will say it ticked me off and if I had a snake load on me, I probably would have emptied it on the snake. Not because he was a snake, but it was a beautiful fish. The way of nature, I suppose.

 

[troutbert]

Letort wrote: The way of nature, I suppose.

That's right. Both water snakes and brook trout are native to this region and co-existed for a very long time.

 

[pcray1231]

Just because two species coexist naturally doesn't mean they don't effect each others populations!

And a natural "balance" only exists in the absence of outside influences. Fox and hare populations are the classic example. As fox populations rise, hare populations fall as a result, which then results in fox populations falling, which then results in hare populations rising, etc etc etc. But that assumes that hares are the ONLY prey of foxes, and foxes the ONLY predator of hares, and that there are no other influences such as winter kill or disease (which was largely true for a while in the British Isles where the example originated).

But most ecosystems aren't so isolated. You've got coyote, birds of prey, etc., as well as other prey species like mice, squirrels and chipmunks. In the real world, a decline in, say, snake populations can lead to a boom in mice populations can lead to a boom in fox populations which aren't dependent on, but will readily take hare as prey. Despite co-existing and evolving together, the foxes are then quite capable of driving hares completely to extinction!

That said, I doubt water snakes are taking enough trout to matter. Herons, on the other hand.....

 

[pete41]

Feral cats will also effect rabbit pops.... I have watched them hunt together as a team to catch them-well find their young anyway ---Last year patches a female that I feed responded to my bag rattling to come and get her morning treat. She had something in her mouth --turned out to be a baby rabbit. She let me take it from her[released it].
Since I am an old dog and never really was a hep cat can't say if..
A. my reward for feeding her.
B. she preferred treats to rabbit.or
C..she was reliving her glory days as a momma but suspect the latter judging by the very gentle kittenish way she was carrying the kid.