Black snake!!

Black snake!!Chickengal505 wrote:
Nope it works alright real good trust me i live in the center of snake central! Water moccasans ,Cotten mouths ,black snakes ,king snakes you name 'em i got 'em sulfer works real good! dont listen to downers trying to put down red neck tried and true ways of taking care of pests... I go they go

I was in Everglades national Park a few years back, looking at a huge brown water snake (Nerodia taxispilota) basking on a downed tree at the edge of a pond near a popular hiking trail.

A local ranger walked by with a group of tourists in tow on a nature walk. He saw me looking at the snake, announced to his group it was a venomous water moccasin and proceeded on.

A few of the tourists stayed back to look at the snake. I quietly mentioned that it was actually a harmless water snake, not a moccasin. One guy in the group was incredulous. He said with an indignant air that the snake was just identified by a national park wildlife expert and who was I to disagree, etc.

So I snuck up behind the tree and grabbed the snake. I brought it back up the bank to show the group. It was chewing vigorously on my forearms, as water snake usually do when you grab them. The loudmouth was aghast. Others were horrified at apparently suicidal actions.

But I showed them the characteristics that differentiated harmless water snakes from moccasins: the absence of fangs, the divided caudal plates, the lack of a "pit" that all pit vipers have, etc.

The point I'm trying to make is that you have to be careful about whose advice you listen too. Even well educated and trained people can be very wrong about snakes.

Sulphur is a very toxic and dangerous element to be sprinkling into the environment. It does NOT repel snakes - they just glide over the top of it. People who use it may see a decline in the number of snakes because they use it in the spring and as the heat of summer arrives many snakes become more nocturnal. They assume the sulphur worked, but actually the snakes changed their behavior.

And if your wondering - water moccasins and cotton mouths are two names for the same species. No need to mention them twice.
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