Sweetwater’s Scaled Neighbors

It was the last morning of a visit by our son, Travis, his awesome wife, Danielle, and their four children, 10-year-old Emma, 8-year-old John, and 3-year-old twins Isabelle (Izzie) and Carson to our cabin at Sweetwater.  It was the first time their whole family had been there.  We had decided to take one more, short walk before they jumped into their vehicle for the long ride home.

As 8-year-old boys do, John was ahead of the rest of us.  And, being an 8-year-old boy on a property strewn with a gazillion rocks, he stopped to turn some over.

Well, 65-year-old grandpas have their habits too.  Just as I was about to issue a warning about what he might find under the rocks, John yelled, “Snake!”

——————————————

Annie and I love it when our grandkids visit us at the cabin.  Depending on the time of year we give the little ones various warnings.  When there is a fire in the wood stove, don’t touch the stove.  If you see a gun, don’t touch it.  And, if you see a snake, don’t touch it.

The wood stove rule is pretty easy for grandbabies to get.  When there’s a fire in the stove, it gets pretty dog-gone hot, so they don’t even want to touch it. 

As for the gun rule, loaded weapons are never allowed in the cabin.  Still, just in case someone should ever accidentally leave a round in, we certainly don’t want the little ones to pay for it.

We’ve seen a dozen or so snakes on Sweetwater.  Not one has ever tried to bite anyone.  We don’t tease or otherwise molest our reptile neighbors and they have thus far treated us likewise, as followers the golden rule.  For the first two years we owned Sweetwater, we never saw a venomous one. 

Kids can’t tell the difference in a venomous snake and a non-venomous one.  So, basically, knowing that children can be quite curious at times, I tell them to leave ANY snake they see alone and tell me.  I will check it out and perhaps catch it.  If it is safe I may even let them touch it. 

Some of my readers are probably cringing right now.  Don’t worry, I don’t MAKE ANYONE touch a snake if they don’t want to.  However, I believe education keeps us from raising children who are afraid of things unnecessarily.

——————————————

Last summer, our eldest son, Scott, was visiting with his two kids, Pfiefer and Payden.  Our grandchildren all love to play in the creek and frequently see the critters who call the cold, clear waterway home.  That’s usually frogs, salamanders, lizards, crawdads, and tiny fish.  Now and then they’ll see a snake.  Thus far all have followed our, “don’t touch, call an adult” rule very well.

It happens that I was with my descendants at the creek that day and it was me who saw the copper-colored 2 ½ foot snake.  Without studying the reptile any more I demanded that the kids get out of the water and stand with their dad, who was just a few feet away.

In mere moments the copper-colored beast would find safety under an overhanging rock and be out of my reach, only to crawl back out at any time, perhaps with one of my precious descendents within striking distance.  Using a nearby stick, I pinned the snake’s neck and grabbed it right behind the head in preparation for a swift and sure death…for the snake.

But something wasn’t right.  My mind raced a mile-a-minute.  Nothing in my admittedly incomplete knowledge popped up.  Copper colored with tan-ish bands.  Noticeable arrowhead shaped uh, head, although not as pronounced as I would expect.  I held the beast a little closer as I told those in attendance that it looked like a copperhead, which is capable of killing with a single bite.

But wait!  The pupils of venomous snakes in that area should be elliptical.  This snake’s pupils were round.  Only non-venomous snakes in my area have round pupils.  In very dim light elliptical pupils can expand to look round but…this was a bright, sunlit day.

Most of what I could access in my memory-bank said I was holding a copperhead.  However there was a weak, but very real, question.

The fact that Scott was moments away from taking his little family home made my decision easier.  I decided to depend on the intelligence of a reptile.

Now, snakes have a very small brain.  Despite its miniscule size, that brain has allowed them to survive for millennia.  They may not be capable of complex mathematical calculations but they are plenty smart enough to try to get away from danger.

I tossed the reptile off to the side of the creek, uphill near a thick patch of fallen leaves and rocks.  It quickly disappeared.

——————————————

The next week we were back at Sweetwater, with some more grandbabies visiting us. 

One of Annie’s and my favorite sites to visit with grands is the Fred Berry Crooked Creek Nature Center in Yellville, Arkansas.  We took that week’s visitors to the center where Ken Forman, Education Program Specialist, happily showed us around and even gave the little-ones a hands-on tour of the displays.  He also introduced them to some of the harmless animal residents of The Natural State.  Ken was knowledgeable and eager to help familiarize my grand-younguns with nature, and hopefully to understand and love it.

I took advantage of Ken’s knowledge and friendliness by showing a photo I’d taken of the snake I had tossed into the woods beside the creek.  He quickly supported my decision to spare the snake’s life when he easily identified it as a harmless northern watersnake rather than the venomous copperhead.

I thanked him profusely.

Snakes can come in several different shades of color.  I later searched long and hard for photos of northern watersnakes and fi-i-i-inally found one with the copperhead-like colors of the one I had found and let live.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

——————————————

Another snake interaction at Sweetwater didn’t end quite as well.  Annie and I were working to clear the brushy hillside behind the cabin.  I was burning a brushpile when I heard my normally unflappable spouse shout, “Snake!  I don’t know what it is!” 

I covered the few steps separating us and looked where she pointed at a pretty little colorful snake…which I could not identify.

Now, I would never recommend for anyone else to do what I did, but I have had a lot of experience with snakes and I am very, very careful when I do what I did next.  I pinned the tiny snake’s head, grabbed it at the base of the head, and gently picked it up.  The eyes were clearly elliptical, which told me it was a venomous variety.  Trying to show that it could defend itself if necessary it opened its mouth wide to reveal huge (well, for a six-inch-long snake) fangs.

I instantly knew what it was.  The smallest of the three species of rattlesnake in Arkansas was trying to tell me to leave it alone.  The pretty little western pygmy rattlesnake was just a newborn, thus the miniscule size and the brightness of its colors.  Also, rattlers are born with a single tiny button rather than the length of rattles we see in old western movies.  This makes identifying newborns as rattlers less clear-cut than one might think.

Now, I’m a hunter so obviously I am not totally averse to killing things but, as a nature lover, I don’t like to kill anything needlessly.  Annie made the decision easier when she demanded, “Kill it!  We have grandkids coming.”

The brushpile burning nearby gave me but little time to question what I was doing and the tiny reptile was soon wriggling its last.

——————————————

Yes, pygmy rattlers are venomous and thus dangerous to humans, but their small size and relatively weak venom makes them only moderately so.  Don’t get me wrong, the venom is bad enough that anyone bitten should seek medical help because the effects are incredibly unpleasant, but adults are not likely to die if they do get medical help.  Children however are a different story.  The bites are more dangerous for them.  Besides that, kids don’t tend to understand the idea of being careful and…well, you get it.

Thus the incinerated baby rattle, uh, baby rattler.

——————————————

This post started with a teaser about my grandson John shouting that he’d uncovered a snake.

I yelled, “Don’t touch it!” but Travis was at his son’s side before I could finish the sentence.  I was right behind my son and, as John pointed it out, I saw the little scaled crawler.

I could barely contain my delight and bent to pick up what I knew was an old friend.  “That’s a worm snake.  It’s one of the friendliest species there is.  They are not venomous and have never been known to bite a person.”

My grandchildren were unafraid and asked to hold the tiny reptile.  After doing my grandpa thing and warning them never to touch a snake unless their parents or grandparents said it was safe, I handed the balled-up serpent to its finder. 

John was delighted and managed to hang on as the snake tried to crawl out of his hands.  He handed off to his dad who shared it with the other children.  When I got it back I pointed out the tiny body and announced that it was fully grown, making it also the smallest breed of snake in Arkansas.

I was excited to share my knowledge while being alert for any mistakes the little ones might make that could be risky to themselves or the friendly snake.  However I couldn’t help but think that the miniscule critter was a little longer than any of the other three worm snakes I had ever seen.  I also made note that it had a ring around its neck which I couldn’t remember worm snakes having.

After my family had left, my suspicions grew.  Finally, when Annie and I got home, I did some more research.

As it turns out, I had confused the delightful little worm snake with its equally pleasant-natured cousin, the ring-necked snake.  My suspicions about the identification I’d made were confirmed.  Worm snakes are usually from 7 ½ inches up to 11 inches long, whereas ring-necked snakes are typically 10 to 14 inches. 

——————————————

So, what’s the point of this post?  Good question.  I wanted to share some of our experiences with the numerous snakes at Sweetwater while hoping that my astute readers will make note that these experiences were completely without any harm to us humans.  Nope, it was the reptiles who were in the most danger, and one paid for that experience with his life.

Poor little guy.  I’m truly sorry, but better you than my grands.

Just sayin’.

——————————————

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE AT THE UPPER RIGHT. IT’S FREE!

You will ONLY receive notifications when I post new entries to my blog.

Go to the top of the right hand column where it says, “SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG VIA EMAIL”.  Fill in your email and hit the “Subscribe” button.  You will receive a verification email.  Please confirm that you want to subscribe by clicking, “Confirm Follow” and you will be set!  Thanks!

It doesn’t seem to work from a cell phone, only a computer.  I don’t know why.  Sorry.  If there’s a problem, send me your email address and I’ll sign you up.

——————————————

(above) A western wormsnake and (below)a prairie ring-necked snake. I think you might understand my confusion. (photos courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation)