Venomous Snakes in Maryland - Poll

j_h_smith · May 22, 2017

boss281 said:
Right you are, see: Grogan,W. L., Jr. 1973. Effects of accidental envenomation from the saliva of the Eastern hognose snake, Heterodon platirhinos. Herpetologica 30(3): 248–50.

The "victim" in this report was me, at the age of 16. Anne Arundel County. In my mind's eye, it was a larger snake, perhaps 28", and a nice red pattern...

Minuteman said:
Where did you find this?

You may also want to ask boss281. Seems he's been a victim of this snake. He has personal knowledge.

remodeler1 · May 22, 2017

The hog nose being midly venemous has been known for some time. Rear fanged? Can't remember

j_h_smith · May 22, 2017

remodeler1 said:
The hog nose being midly venemous has been known for some time. Rear fanged? Can't remember

Yes, rear fanged. They like to chew too.

Minuteman · May 22, 2017

j_h_smith said:
30 years of collecting/raising/breeding snakes. Also look at the following:

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/heterodon/92706-hognose-venom-debate-over.html

j_h_smith said:
You may also want to ask boss281. Seems he's been a victim of this snake. He has personal knowledge.

j_h_smith said:
Yes, rear fanged. They like to chew too.

Good stuff thx.

Should we ping the DNR?

jjbduke2004 · May 22, 2017

Minuteman said:
Good stuff thx.

Should we ping the DNR?

I don't think any state officially classifies Hognose snakes as venomous. Probably a good thing too, no need to scare people over a harmless toad eater. People keep them as pets and bites are rare: usually when the owner still has the scent of food on their hands and provokes a feeding response.

The hognose's normal defensive behavior is to puff up it's head ("I'm a scary cobra!") and bluff (closed mouth) strike. When this fails, the snake will roll over and play dead.

AssMan · May 22, 2017

Lol, I love how many people really want there to be cottonmouth's in MD.

Chris · May 22, 2017

What kind of snake is this? I know but do you? Chris

jjbduke2004 · May 22, 2017

Chris said:
What kind of snake is this? I know but do you? Chris

Juvenile black rat snake.

Chris · May 22, 2017

Winner

I showed it to a person who thought it was a copperhead. It was just climbing up the side of the house yesterday. Chris

jjbduke2004 · May 22, 2017

Chris said:
Winner I showed it to a person who thought it was a copperhead. It was just climbing up the side of the house yesterday. Chris

I happen to enjoy the snake-ID forums on reddit. Everyone thinks everything is a copperhead. A copperhead this size would have a single-tone orange/copper head and a yellow tail.

BTW: I learned this afternoon that the northern-most reported range of a cottonmouth is Chesterfield County, VA

http://imgur.com/V9enl7a

cyclops · May 23, 2017

Here's my snake story...My most memorable encounter with a timber rattler was about 35 yrs. ago at Dans Rock in Allegany County. After driving there and parking my truck I intended to walk up to the top of the rock and enjoy the view. I opened my truck door put one foot on the ground and heard rattles, needless to say I pulled my leg back into the truck pretty fast. There beside some rocks about five feet away was a timber rattler. He gave me fair warning and I was grateful !!

BossmanPJ · May 23, 2017

remodeler1 said:
Eastern milk snake. Harmless and good to have around to help keep the rodent population under control

tallen702 said:
As remodeler1 said, it's a milk snake. Copperheads have a much more pronounced hour-glass shape to their reddish bands with it narrowing across the spine and spreading back out on the sides. Eastern milk snakes have more solid "rings" like you see in your picture.

Thanks guys. The head was gone (tractor) so I couldn't be too sure.

Striper69 · Jun 7, 2017

There was a pile of limbs that the previous owners of my house had used to place limbs that had fallen from my neighbor's tree when the wind got strong. My neighbor was also using it to throw the limbs from his yard.

I got tired of this and cleaned the pile up and burned them. There was also dead leaves there under the limbs- a perfect place for rattlers to use.

This week I found a Garter Snake laying in the grass I just planted where the pile of limbs were. I grabbed a small stick and poked at it. The sucker was pretty belligerent and was striking at the stick pretty hard. Finally it slunk back into my neighbor's yard.

We have rattlers around too...

Minuteman · Jul 10, 2017

Speaking of neighbors, one of mine told me to be careful, he's discovered and killed two snakes already this year. He didn't seem to know which species. Said he found one under the his downspout catch basin. He flipped it over (cutting the grass I guess), and found it.

Exercise caution walking around in the dark, and flipping stuff over.

j_h_smith · Jul 10, 2017

Minuteman said:
Speaking of neighbors, one of mine told me to be careful, he's discovered and killed two snakes already this year. He didn't seem to know which species. Said he found one under the his downspout catch basin. He flipped it over (cutting the grass I guess), and found it.

Exercise caution walking around in the dark, and flipping stuff over.

For the most part, you're going to be more startled than anything else. There is no reason to be afraid of snakes.

Abuck · Jul 11, 2017

Here is one at Point Lookout Green Ridge SF. I see lots of rattlers all through GRSF, and even stepped on one once there. Used to see copperheads often also, but it's been over 20 years since. I have a bunch of big black snakes around my cabin, and all the old timers said besides being good mousers they keep the others snakes away, so everyone has orders to leave them alone.

My buddies had contracts in the Poconos to cut in and doze many miles of roads to open up new developments 30 years ago. I helped out a few summers, and it was amazing how many dens we dealt with, especially going over the high rocky ridges. Scary stuff a few times, but none of us ever got bit.

Minuteman · Jul 11, 2017

tallen702 said:
Unfortunately I can only find the video on Facebook, but man oh man look at what this guy did: https://www.facebook.com/StillHunt/videos/1918683575042590/

Whoa. That's startling. The hunter payed his shotgun on top of that snake and didn't realize it. I wonder how long he had sat there with it right beside him, motionless.

Abuck said:
Here is one at Point Lookout Green Ridge SF. I see lots of rattlers all through GRSF, and even stepped on one once there. Used to see copperheads often also, but it's been over 20 years since. I have a bunch of big black snakes around my cabin, and all the old timers said besides being good mousers they keep the others snakes away, so everyone has orders to leave them alone.

My buddies had contracts in the Poconos to cut in and doze many miles of roads to open up new developments 30 years ago. I helped out a few summers, and it was amazing how many dens we dealt with, especially going over the high rocky ridges. Scary stuff a few times, but none of us ever got bit.

Very lucky too. Cool story.

Mightydog · Jul 11, 2017

Seen more poisonous snakes while I lived in Clearwater Fl. We had pigmy rattlesnakes, a couple of coral snakes all in my backyard. Them coral snakes can get feisty especially the female. Live in the country in Myersville and only had seen a few black snakes. Was running my riding mower in the back and thought I threw a motor belt. Something just flew to the side into the grass. Just a large black snake. Just left alone. Helpful snakes.

j_h_smith · Jul 11, 2017

Abuck said:
Here is one at Point Lookout Green Ridge SF. I see lots of rattlers all through GRSF, and even stepped on one once there. Used to see copperheads often also, but it's been over 20 years since. I have a bunch of big black snakes around my cabin, and all the old timers said besides being good mousers they keep the others snakes away, so everyone has orders to leave them alone.

My buddies had contracts in the Poconos to cut in and doze many miles of roads to open up new developments 30 years ago. I helped out a few summers, and it was amazing how many dens we dealt with, especially going over the high rocky ridges. Scary stuff a few times, but none of us ever got bit.

Was this picture taken in the cooler months? That's just an odd place for a snake to coil up. Usually you're not going to find them like that in the open. It didn't look like it was a particularly sunny day, so unless the ground there was very warm, they usually won't coil up in the open like that.

Just curious.

Abuck · Jul 11, 2017

j_h_smith said:
Was this picture taken in the cooler months? That's just an odd place for a snake to coil up. Usually you're not going to find them like that in the open. It didn't look like it was a particularly sunny day, so unless the ground there was very warm, they usually won't coil up in the open like that.

Just curious.

It was May a few years back, crossing the road when I startled it. It looked like a fallen tree branch at first glance, but quickly coiled itself like that and warned me to stay away.

Venomous Snakes in Maryland - Poll

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Which are venomous and inhabit Maryland?

Cottonmouths or water moccasin

Rat snake

Copperhead

Coral snake

Timber rattlesnake

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