Snakes Alert!
02-18-16, 04:38 AM
#26
bentrider
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The animals I worry more about than snakes are moose and bear. Very common on the trails around here. Moose being the most aggressive.
02-18-16, 07:29 AM
#27
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If you live in western PA the one you might have seen is the massasauga rattlesnake pictured here: Interesting Facts about the Massasauga
I found a tiny little snake, about six inches long, in my yard, last summer. It coiled up and "rattled" its tiny little tail. I thought it was a baby rattler, but, after catching it and looking it up, it appears to have been a harmless milk snake with a tiny little attitude. I let it go. I couldn't figure out how to milk it!
02-18-16, 07:33 AM
#28
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I've found live cottonmouths/water moccasins hiding indoors under furniture a few times in Texas over the years. Usually only the small ones. My grandparents' home was on a lake front so it wasn't unusual. I've often fished in the evening on lake shores with water moccasins slithering around my feet. I wear boots but don't worry about 'em. They're just curious and lose interest when they realize you're too big to eat.
02-18-16, 09:49 AM
#30
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This should ease your fears: The chances of dying from a venomous snakebite in the United States is nearly zero, because we have available, high-quality medical care in the U.S. Fewer than one in 37,500 people are bitten by venomous snakes in the U.S. each year (7-8,000 bites per year), and only one in 50 million people will die from snakebite https://www.google.com/search?q=numb...utf-8&oe=utf-8 One guy in my army unit was bitten by a cottonmouth moccasin while installing a dock in Florida. According to him it was extremely painful and left him with nerve damage in his hand.
02-18-16, 11:22 AM
#32
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We saw a very large snake on the paved Great Allegheny Trail, outside Connellsville, a couple of years ago. Lots of people out, and a pretty warm day, and everyone just kept going, like it was a town pet that they all knew. Not sure what type of snakes live in PA, but this one was about five feet long, and thick-bodied, with dark gray to black scales.
If you live in western PA the one you might have seen is the massasauga rattlesnake pictured here: Interesting Facts about the Massasauga It is dark in color and looks pretty sizable. The timber rattler lives in eastern PA. Many years ago I was on a hike with a bunch of kids in northern NJ near the Appalachian trail. The kids in the lead came across a timber rattler and quickly dispatched it much to the horror of the older guys who were following behind. Timber rattlers and copperhead snakes were both very common there. I never knew anyone who got bitten.
The copperhead I ran over was just outside of Emlenton at the beginning of the Allegheny River Trail. They are everywhere there. The guys at Petrowax right where the ART begins when it was in operation would kill them all the time.
There's only 3 venomous snakes in PA. The Massasauga, the eastern rattler, and the copperhead.
Last edited by mrodgers; 02-18-16 at 11:26 AM.
02-18-16, 11:57 AM
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Had a wild pig run out in front of me once. Pretty big one , too. I managed to brake in time to miss him, but he ran onto the highway ( I was on the service road) and a semi didn't miss...
02-18-16, 05:54 PM
#34
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02-18-16, 06:14 PM
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06-30-20, 04:05 PM
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Great first post Welcome to BF
Likes For shelbyfv:
06-30-20, 04:29 PM
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Could've been a rat snake - we would occasionally find 4+ footers in the yard when we lived in Pgh. One even crawled (?) up into the engine compartment of the car. Rather than running the car and risking snake guts all over the motor. I popped the hood and ran a cold water hose over the motor - snake got the message, dropped out onto the ground and slithered away.
07-02-20, 10:07 PM
#41
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I bunny hopped a green snake in the road at 22 mph (my speed, not the snake's!) not too long ago. I was hoping I wouldn't misjudge things and come down on top of it with the rear tire, but I cleared it just fine.
Talking about rattlesnakes, I lived in Texas for 45 years and never once saw a rattler in the wild. I heard some rattling, but never saw any, even though I spent plenty of time in rattlesnake country. Odd, that. I suppose I might have been lucky not to come across any while doing all those trail runs for decades.
Talking about rattlesnakes, I lived in Texas for 45 years and never once saw a rattler in the wild. I heard some rattling, but never saw any, even though I spent plenty of time in rattlesnake country. Odd, that. I suppose I might have been lucky not to come across any while doing all those trail runs for decades.
07-03-20, 11:22 AM
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My wife and I used to go to several of the rail-trails in PA with a good friend of ours. Remember (don't remember the name of it) where each side had a few people with snake bags and poles. Asked what was with the bags and poles-they were catching rattlers to be "milked" of venom to be made into snakebite treatment. The guy we spoke with told us if we proceeded, to avoid the left side of the path, as he spotted a snake ahead which we didn't see. We didn't proceed after that.
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