You Know You're Really Intruding On My Personal Space, Don’t You?

August 4^th, 2012. We encountered this Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) as we were driving out of the Oconee National Forest late in the afternoon. We saw it from a distance and could see by its markings that it was a timber rattler. A fat, happy timber rattler. We hopped out and walked up to it. Unlike the Timber rattler we encountered last year that

We were driving down the road looking for wildflowers and we almost ran over it. W saw it just in time and by the time he stopped, we were close enough to it that I couldn’t see it. I didn’t know why he’d stopped. But when I did, I clambered out to negotiate a photo shoot.

It was minding its own business – making its way across the road.

*****

 A closer views

'You Know You're Really Intruding On My Personal Space, Don’t You? I’d really rather you left.'

It rattled fairly vociferously when we stepped too close and stopped immediately when we stepped back one pace. 

A different view of its head that shows the ‘viper-shapped’ head clearly.

A closer view of the pattern on its back

And the rattles on its tail. This snake had twice as many rattles as the snake we saw in Hancock County last year

It remained in the same position while we walked around it taking photographs. It didn’t coil into a defensive pose like the snake last year.

We won’t leave a snake on the roadway - it's a variation on moving a turtle off the road. We prodded it gently in the hope it would leave.

*****

 It recoiled suddenly and then threw itself forward and at a slight angle away from us, and then…

 *****

moved with surprising speed and agility across the road, and...

up the embankment on the other side and then angled sharply off to the right. When it reached the edge of the woods, it...

 coiled up in a defensive posture, tense, but not showing any signs of striking. 

It was testing the air with its tongue and would rattle if we got to close. I’m sure that could have changed quickly if it had felt the need.

A final shot. It’s head is on the right and its rattles are visible on the left.

We walked the few yards back to the truck and by the time we’d started to move, the snake had disappeared into the woods. Yet another example that the Timber Rattlesnake is not aggressive and just wants to get on with its life.

We'd been commenting that we hadn’t seen a Timber Rattlesnake this year and we were glad to see such a healthy one. It does serve as reminder though not to walk carelessly in grassy areas without being on the lookout for snakes. Don’t depend on the snake to rattle before you get too close. This snake wasn’t at all eager to rattle. So by the time you hear the rattle, it might be too late.

We tend to only walk in areas where we can clearly see the ground not only in front but also to the side of where we are walking. If we have to walk through thicker grass/brush, we use a snake hook to sweep the area in front and to the side, and tap on fallen logs or rocks under which snakes might be lying in wait for an unsuspecting mouse. I learned these lessons early, growing up in Australia, and they’re lessons well learned and never forgotten and, hopefully, they’ll continue to keep me out of trouble.

Click on an image to view a larger image

Identification resource:

University of Georgia: Savannah River Ecology Laboratory: Canebrake / Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) – Venomous

Related post:

- Close Encounter Of The Crotalus Kind

Close Encounter Of The Crotalus Kind

Crotalus horridus, that is; the Timber or Canebreak Rattlesnake. Let me hasten to say it was an encounter of the elective kind. The chosen kind. The nice kind.

We were driving down the road looking for wildflowers and we almost ran over it. W saw it just in time and by the time he stopped, we were close enough to it that I couldn’t see it. I didn’t know why he’d stopped. But when I did, I clambered out to negotiate a photo shoot.

It was minding its own business – making its way across the road.

The sight of a big creature looming above it made it nervous and it stopped,

A closer view of the head. If the color pattern wasn’t a dead give-away, the characteristic pit viper-shaped head says ‘venomous.”

It started to rattle fairly vociferously. This was the first time in four encounters with Timber Rattlesnakes that I’ve really heard one rattle. Obviously I’d entered its personal space. When I stepped back a pace or so, it stopped rattling. (Interestingly, other snakes vibrate the tips of their tails; they just don’t have the rattles.)

It coiled up in a defensive posture, tense, but not showing any signs of striking. I’m sure that could have changed quickly if it had felt the need. Happily it didn’t.

Another close look at the handsome head with the fierce-looking eyes.

After a few minutes, it tested the idea that it might be safe to leave. We had no interest in interfering with it any further.

And off back into the brush at the side of the road.

If anything, this last shot is the scariest to me. I keep thinking of encountering this snake in thick grass or brush. It can be hard to determine the location of a rattling snake that you can’t see. And it’s possible to step on one before it rattles if you surprise it. So….

We tend to only walk in areas where we can clearly see the ground not only in front but also to the side of where we are walking. If we have to walk through thicker grass/brush, we use a snake hook to sweep the area in front and to the side, and tap on fallen logs or rocks under which snakes might be lying in wait for an unsuspecting mouse. I learned these lessons early, growing up in Australia, and they’re lessons well learned and never forgotten and, hopefully, they’ll keep me out of trouble.
Click on an image to view a larger image

Identification resource:
- University of Georgia: Savannah River Ecology Laboratory: Canebrake / Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) – Venomous

Canebrake Rattlesnake: Long Distance Swimmer

On a recent trip to Lake Oconee, my husband Walt and son Justin were escorting me in a pontoon boat as I was sculling from the Redlands Wildlife Management Area boat ramp to the Old Salem Park. The first section of this trip takes me through a sunken forest on the east shore of the lake. The pontoon boat can’t follow me through this area so Walt and Justin cross the lake and travel along western shore to meet me at the railway bridge from which point we can travel together.

Normally the pontoon boat makes its way slowly but deliberately from the boat ramp to the railway bridge. This day, however, the pontoon boat was not where I expected to see it. I looked back up the lake along the route they would take and could see the boat making its way back and forth along a short section of shore. Only later did Walt and Justin explain what they were doing – with pictures to prove it.

As they were making their way through the area marked by the arrow, they saw a snake swimming purposefully across the lake. It was approximately one-quarter way across the lake when they spotted it and there was no doubt that it was a rattlesnake.

As the boat approached cautiously, the snake turned, assumed a more defensive pose and raised its head out of the water to face the intruder. When the boat was about 6 feet (2 meters) from the snake, it coiled into a striking pose. In both of these photographs, the ripples from the motion of the rattle are clearly visible on the water surface. When the boat retreated, the snake continued its way across the lake. Based on the brown stripe running down its back, they identified the snake as a canebrake rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus atricaudatus).

.

Canebrake rattlesnakes inhabit flood plains and swampy areas; their cousins, the timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus horridus) tend to inhabit drier forests. These rattlesnakes are not aggressive by nature. I’ve heard of other encounters and have wrangled both baby and adult canebrake rattlesnakes while they were photographed. These snakes showed no aggressive tendencies; they showed little tendency to coil or to threaten or strike even when they were corralled for a considerable length of time.

These snakes are currently common in Georgia but are subject to being killed on roads particularly in the vicinity of homes in rural areas. I have seen many killed on roads in rural areas. In some cases, these snakes were not killed ‘accidentally’ but, based on where the carcasses were located, motorists had deliberately driven out of the normal traffic lanes to run over them. As development encroaches on rural areas, habitats in which these snakes live will be destroyed. More frequent encounters can be anticipated between man and snake as rural areas are increasingly developed. These encounters will inevitably result in an increased reduction in their numbers over time.



What is most intriguing about this encounter, however, is that the snake was not simply swimming along the shore; it was swimming quite deliberately across the lake. After the encounter, the snake continued on its way - in the direction it was going when first sighted. How did the snake know that there was something on the other side to swim to? Had it swum from the other side to this side? Was it on its way back? Did it make this journey frequently?

Photographs: Walter W. Knapp; Maps: Google maps