Venomous Snakes in Maryland - Poll

Cobra venom can paralyze the muscles that control your heart & lungs & can be quite painful as well. Not much of a trade off IMHO.

remodeler1 said:

Cobra venom can paralyze the muscles that control your heart & lungs & can be quite painful as well. Not much of a trade off IMHO.

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Yeah, a neurotoxin’ll do that...

Either way, unlike the inHabitants of a hornets’ nest, snakes is big enough to be shot.

Sling Blade said:

Dunno ‘bout copperheads, but I want no parts of rattlesnakes. I’d rather be bit by a cobra.

Rattlesnake venom is disfigurin’.

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i wanna avoid all venomous snakes haha

IronEye said:

here's my Northern Water Snake

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aw, poor guy. had a couple of those from time to time way back when i was a kid. at my local golf course last summer one of the caretakers was going nowhere near a stream runoff as he said there was a big copperhead there. i went down and looked and sure enough, northern water snake.

Minuteman said:

Let's test your Maryland snake knowledge!

Of the twenty seven kinds of snakes inhabiting Maryland, how many are venomous, and which are they?

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Is there a snake called the Frosh? I heard it's one of the worst.

Josey Wales said:

In PA the rattlers are protected. There were three types that I encountered. The Yellow, The Timber and The Black. Yes, the damned thing looks just like a Non-poisonous Black Snake from a distance.

Since they are protected it did not take long for them to travel to Maryland. Catoctin has more than a few. Patapsco Park has Copperheads as well as Columbia.

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Grew up and still live in moco, there's copperheads all over our farm. I never got a chance to see it, but my grandmother swears she saw a rattlesnake in our field. It wouldn't completely surprise me but I would not expect it.

Bsmtboy2 said:

Seen my fair share of moccasins here in Harford County when I was a kid. .

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No, you didn't.

joma352 said:

luckily copperheads and timber rattlers venom isnt very strong so even if you do get bit your survival chances are very high.

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Survival, yes. But there are PLENTY of painful, unpleasant, long lasting effects to croatus-type venom.

I met a woman last year who was bitten on the foot by a baby copperhead walking into a steakhouse near Fredericksburg VA. Two weeks afterwards, even with antivenin treatment, her foot was still incredibly swollen and intensely itchy. There was no noticeable tissue destruction, but t was clear she'd be dealing with effects for weeks to come.

The venom might not be strong enough to kill a large, healthy adult, but it will still make you miserable at the site of the envenomation for weeks or even months.

Sling Blade said:

Dunno ‘bout copperheads, but I want no parts of rattlesnakes. I’d rather be bit by a cobra.

Rattlesnake venom is disfigurin’.

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My understanding is Rattlesnakes will avoid humans if possible. Copperheads have a nastier disposition and aren't as quick to avoid humans.

d33rhunt3r said:

Grew up and still live in moco, there's copperheads all over our farm. I never got a chance to see it, but my grandmother swears she saw a rattlesnake in our field. It wouldn't completely surprise me but I would not expect it.

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Doubtful but anything can and will get lost I suppose.

Fredcohunter said:

My understanding is Rattlesnakes will avoid humans if possible. Copperheads have a nastier disposition and aren't as quick to avoid humans.

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Correct. So much so that rattlers are reason to call in a sighting to the WV DNR in that state so that they can attempt to conduct a census. I've seen plenty of copperheads in my life, and I've heard rattlers, but have only actually seen 2 rattlers in the wild here in the Appalachian region.

I've had encounters with both Timber Rattlers and Copperheads, luckily I've never been bitten... at least the Rattlers warn you.

Maybe Minuteman got bit by a venomous snake ......

Come back, Little Sheba!!

yakfish said:

Survival, yes. But there are PLENTY of painful, unpleasant, long lasting effects to croatus-type venom.

I met a woman last year who was bitten on the foot by a baby copperhead walking into a steakhouse near Fredericksburg VA. Two weeks afterwards, even with antivenin treatment, her foot was still incredibly swollen and intensely itchy. There was no noticeable tissue destruction, but t was clear she'd be dealing with effects for weeks to come.

The venom might not be strong enough to kill a large, healthy adult, but it will still make you miserable at the site of the envenomation for weeks or even months.

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Definitely true, there is also a possibility of allergic reactions to the venom itself or antivenin, plenty of people have died from a reaction to the venom of both species. Copperhead venom is mostly hemotoxic with some cytotoxic properties, it can mess with blood pressure and complicate a heart condition, they can cause necrosis, and a bite to a finger or toe can cause it to need amputation. There have also been studies that found permanent kidney damage. Canebreak/Timber rattlers are studied because of the relatively large variance in their venom, even in specific regions, they have cytotoxic, hemotoxic, AND neurotoxic properties in varying degrees, the variety also means cro-fab antivenin isn't as effective. If a bite can cause enough complications, the hospital will give cro-fab at $10,000 a vial with up to a dozen vials needed, plenty of relatively simple bites result in 6 figure hospital bills, thank the FDA for that, most other antivenins might cost $100 a vial everywhere else in the world, but aren't "approved" in the US(although still are stocked and used by zoos and private collectors).

Fredcohunter said:

My understanding is Rattlesnakes will avoid humans if possible. Copperheads have a nastier disposition and aren't as quick to avoid humans.

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Both avoid any animal to big to eat, both have a primarily passive defense, venom is biologically expensive to produce, so both usually will not strike until they are basically under attack and a predator or human is making physical contact with them. Rattlesnakes obviously rattle and will bluff-strike if rattling doesn't work, but copperheads rely on camouflage. When in danger they stay still, some will hiss, puff, slap the tail or musk before striking, but many will stay completely still, till someone steps on one, or tries to kill it, then they can strike nearly the length of their body in almost any direction.

cyclops said:

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 !!

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Grew up in Cumberland on Haystack Mountain, and always had a snake or two I'd keep for a week or two max in the summer. After my freshman year of high school I had the biggest black rat snake I had ever caught...kept it for about two weeks feeding it mice.

After the two weeks, hiked out with a couple of my friends to the overlook at Lovers Leap and let it go. Was just sitting on the cliffs and one of my friends says "hey look, there's a snake next to you". Crawling through a crevice in the rocks about 12 inches from my leg was a copperhead. Needless to say I probably got up off my butt faster that time then any other.

I think Dan's Rock area still has the reputation as being the timber rattler capital of Maryland. Remember seeing something on MPTV about MD DNR doing den surveys there. One area you definitely don't want to bend over and stick your face under a rock to check out what's there...

melikou1 said:

Grew up in Cumberland on Haystack Mountain, and always had a snake or two I'd keep for a week or two max in the summer. After my freshman year of high school I had the biggest black rat snake I had ever caught...kept it for about two weeks feeding it mice.

After the two weeks, hiked out with a couple of my friends to the overlook at Lovers Leap and let it go. Was just sitting on the cliffs and one of my friends says "hey look, there's a snake next to you". Crawling through a crevice in the rocks about 12 inches from my leg was a copperhead. Needless to say I probably got up off my butt faster that time then any other.

I think Dan's Rock area still has the reputation as being the timber rattler capital of Maryland. Remember seeing something on MPTV about MD DNR doing den surveys there. One area you definitely don't want to bend over and stick your face under a rock to check out what's there...

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I live close to Dan's and hunted all over it as a kid. I have seen lots of copperheads. My grandma lived on Haystack close to the mall. If you are familiar with the mall, you may have noticed the little road off to the right that goes to the K of C. Anyway, my grandma killed some huge rattlers in her yard. She said that they hung out in her well house.

CombatAK said:

I live close to Dan's and hunted all over it as a kid. I have seen lots of copperheads. My grandma lived on Haystack close to the mall. If you are familiar with the mall, you may have noticed the little road off to the right that goes to the K of C. Anyway, my grandma killed some huge rattlers in her yard. She said that they hung out in her well house.

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Well, I'm old enough that I remember Cover Valley GC...one of my best friends lived on Johns Lane on the East side of the golf course/mall. Saw all kinds of wildlife up there.

Ironic though, the whole time I was living up on Sunset View, I think I only saw 2 or 3 deer by the time I graduated from Allegany in '74. By the time I moved my elderly parents out in 2009 their neighbors counted 43 deer in their back yard one day. And i don't think I ever saw a fox alive up there. Only ones that got hit on the road and that was rare.

Now I live in suburban Pasadena and have at least 4 Red Fox and a mating pair of Grey Fox that routinely come through my backyard. Of course I see them now because I have a trail camera out. It is amazing how the wildlife has really adapted to humans...certainly better than how humans adapt to wildlife.