# The puff adder & other snakes



## Hamilton Reef

The puff adder: One of several snakes killed for mistaken identity each year

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=35903

04/28/07 BRIAN MULHERIN - DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Larry Smith sees several examples of what people call rattlesnakes every year.

The Department of Natural Resources biologist from Baldwin usually doesnt like what he sees because most of them have been cut in two by an axe or a shovel and they dont have a rattle. 

Spring is sunning season for snakes. After months in hibernation, they emerge and seek hills with southern exposures, open fields, roads, driveways and backyards.

They dont eat much that people would care about  insects, frogs, other snakes, mice, rats or moles. But each year, several of them are chopped up and brought to the DNR for identification. 

Among the most common victims of mistaken identity are the hog-nosed snake, the fox snake and the milk snake. They all have blotchy brown and beige patterns on their backs that to the untrained eye may look like the pattern of a Massasauga rattlesnake  Michigans only venomous snake. 

Blown out of proportion 

Eastern hog-nosed snakes are often mistakenly called puff adders because they puff up like a cobra when disturbed. But theyre as harmless as the average garter snake. 

We have a lot of them brought in as rattlesnakes because they have that defensive stance, Smith said. Their coloration is what everyone envisions as a rattlesnake. 

Usually the thing that gives them away is theyre a short, kind of stubby kind of snake, not usually long and lean. Most of the ones we get around here are a foot and a half or so. But they do that coiling so right away everyone thinks theyre a rattlesnake. 

But if you play with a hog-nosed snake long enough, youll know for sure that its no threat. 

Their last line of defense is if you keep poking them with a stick, they roll over and everyone thinks theyre dead, Smith said. 

Added Schumacher, If you really play with it, it will regurgitate. 

True rattlers rare 

Smith has worked in Baldwin for nine years and has never seen a Massasauga  alive or dead. Chris Schumacher, his U.S. Forest Service counterpart from the Manistee National Forest Manistee Ranger Station, said hes only seen one in three decades living and working in the area.

That snake was in Manistee County and surprisingly close to town, he said. 

The only one Ive ever seen was on private property several years ago, Schumacher said. 

Schumacher, who covers miles of territory on foot during breeding bird surveys each year, said the snake he saw was a female that had coiled up in a pallet. 

I dont have any idea what the overall population is on them, Schumacher said. 

A few years ago, staffers from the Michigan Natural Features Inventory visited Lake County to search for rattlers in all the likely places and they came up empty. 

The best way to tell if youre looking at a Massasauga rattlesnake, assuming you cant see the tail, is to look at its head. 

Theyre pit vipers, Smith said. Between the nostril and the eye, theres another hole. Thats the pit, thats a sensory organ for that snake to be able to detect prey. 

If somones not so panicky, they would take the time and look at the head, Smith said. 

Schumacher said even if you are dealing with a Massasauga, its unlikely youll be hurt. 

That particular snake is so rare hardly anyone ever sees them, Schumacher said. Their fangs are relatively short  they cant go through a good layer of clothing. Probably the only time you might have a situation with problems is if a child picked one up and got struck multiple times. 

In general, an adult with clothing on is not going to have a problem. Generally, you have to antagonize them to get them to bite. The only one I saw, we measured it and counted the rattles and it never tried to strike. 

Too young to ID 

A snake many people encounter along roads in the early spring isnt tricky to identify as an adult, but in a few months, young blue racers will be killed for their coloration. They, too, have a blotchy brown coloration on their back. 

Young blue racers arent blue when theyre born, Smith said. They have that checkered pattern too. 

They arent that solid color until theyre three feet long. 

Smith said blue racers are among the most interesting types of snakes because of their quirky behavior. Theyll stand up and scout the land like a periscope if they detect noise. 

Theyre deceptive, Smith said. Those things climb trees, the whole kit and kaboodle. 

Smith came across eight of them on a search for a radio collared deer one year. 

They heard me coming and they went up like a cobra and stuck right up above the grass like that, Smith said. 

That was kind of startling, walking into a group of them, Smith said. 

Smith said anyone who encounters a blue racer in a tree unexpectedly will never go through the woods the same way again. 

You kind of walk around looking in the branches when youre busting the brush, Smith said. 

Theres nothing like a 40-inch snake overhead to give you a start. 

But theyre harmless. Garter snakes and racers kill their prey by chewing it to death with small pin-sized teeth  or they just swallow it whole. 

A couple years ago I had a blue racer that I saw was laying in the field and it had the tail of another blue racer about the same size sticking out of its mouth, Schumacher said. 

More mistaken identities 

Our other common ones around here that we see a lot of are the milk snake and the fox snake, again because theyre pretty much colored like rattlesnakes, Smith said. 

That milk snake will coil up and try to bite you, but they have real small teeth, Smith said. If they bit into you it would be like a papercut. 

A milk snake has a y-shaped yellowish mark on top of its head. 

The rest of the body looks like checkering, unless you know what youre looking for. Theyve got this banding of whites and grays on their back. 

Fox snakes are actually beneficial because they dine on rodents, Smith said. 

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources considers fox snakes a threatened animal. According to the departments Web site, fox snakes will coil like a rattle and shake their tail when threatened. 

The other biggie in this area is the (northern) water snake, Smith said. Theyre on the water, theyre dark gray, mottled like a Massasauga, people kill them because theyre curious. Theyre very curious. Theyre like they want to check things out. 

Smith said he sees the snakes often when working to drain waterfowl ponds and considers them harmless. 

They have really small tiny teeth for catching critters in the water, he said. 

Schumacher considers them more aggressive than curious, but not a threat. 

Dont kill them 

Both biologists said theres no need to kill most snakes. Killing an adult snake can have a long-range negative effect on their population because the animals are so long-lived. 

I think theyre really neat animals, Schumacher said. I really hate to see them  especially big blue racers  getting killed on the road. 

Smith said people who dont want close encounters with snakes should keep their lawns mowed around their house and not store woodpiles next to the home. 

Dan Rohde, a Mason County Drain Commission employee, recreational trapper and nuisance wildlife trapper, said theres no license to allow someone to remove snakes for you, but most snakes can be herded out the door with a broom. 

If you locate the hole where a snake entered your home, the best way to plug it is with expandable foam. 

The way I like to plug holes, I like to get a piece of wire fabric  I prefer rabbit cage material, Rohde said. I cut a piece I can shove into the hole, then I put the expandable foam into it.


----------



## M1Garand

It's a shame that many's reaction to a snake is to kill it. The Northern Water Snake is another that is frequently killed.


----------



## PWood

Eastern Hog-nose.

Eastern hog-nosed snakes are often mistakenly called puff adders because they puff up like a cobra when disturbed. But theyre as harmless as the average garter snake. 

We have a lot of them brought in as rattlesnakes because they have that defensive stance, Smith said. Their coloration is what everyone envisions as a rattlesnake."


----------



## kcarlson

I took the family to Yankee springs in barry county saturday.
We came across 6 snakes some of them were pretty large if you ask me.
The largest being close to 6 or 7 foot long with a 6 inch girth. I don't know much about snakes, can someone give me a link so I can try to figure out what kind they were. 
3 hours looking for morels,NOTHING!:sad:


----------



## lkmifisherman

I have lived here my whole life and have seen all the snakes mentioned. We used to call the water snakes cotton mouths as kids as the inside of their mouth is white. Blue racers used to "chase" us down by the pond. And I see adders everywhere. I have seen only one Massaugua and it was a small one approximately 26 inches long sunning itself in the road. I stopped and got a stick and "herded" it off the road before it got hit. Kind of cool to see, just to know that they do exist. But then I am one of those that stop and move a turtle so it doesn't get hit....

LMF


----------



## Outdoorzman

I'm really sorry for this, but resistance was futile.



> Added Schumacher, If you really play with it, it will regurgitate.


:yikes:


----------



## N.E. Outdoorsman

Outdoorzman said:


> I'm really sorry for this, but resistance was futile.
> 
> 
> :yikes:


A snake is a snake


----------



## buckslayermichigan

alright that was to funny made my day


----------



## FishMichv2

ill never understand a persons need to kill a snake on sight. its such an easy animal to ignore and probably never see it again. even if you do identify it as a rattlesnake, they are a very easy species to just pick up with a stick and put in a bucket for relocation. by the way, a cottonmouth is a name given to the venomous water moccasin not native to michigan, and a puff adder is a venomous viper that is not native to this continent.


----------



## FishMichv2

kcarlson said:


> I took the family to Yankee springs in barry county saturday.
> We came across 6 snakes some of them were pretty large if you ask me.
> The largest being close to 6 or 7 foot long with a 6 inch girth. I don't know much about snakes, can someone give me a link so I can try to figure out what kind they were.
> 3 hours looking for morels,NOTHING!:sad:


the longest snakes we have here in michigan are fox snakes, copperbellies and racers with racers being the most common. these snakes are long but usually quite slender and rarely exceed 5 much less 6 feet. if you saw a long and fat snake it was probably a northern water which are quite common. its easy to exaggerate especially when you only see the snake for a second or two. there is really no snake in michigan that can reach 7 feet. a five foot northern water would be quite a find and might appear larger than it actually is.


----------



## wildcoy73

it is sad to say but rattlers in michigan are a rare sight in deed from all the time i have spent in the field i have only seen on and that was back in the 80's and it was right between my feet while walking accross some logs deer hunting. a well place shot from my dad ended its life. for a while it was in the freezer over the years i'm sure it has been thrown out


----------

