Well, NC is a "different bag of snakes"!! First step might be to identify what you have. According to: North Carolina's Coop Extension (http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/reptiles/watersnakes.htm) Of the 37 species of snakes throughout North Carolina, only six are venomous: Copperhead (found throughout NC) Canebrake Rattlesnake (found throughout NC) Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (found in southeastern NC) Pigmy Rattlesnake (found in southeastern NC) Cottonmouth or Water Moccasin (found in wetland areas in the eastern half of NC) Coral Snake (the rarest, found in the south and southeastern areas of NC) Hopefully you are splashing around in the northwestern part of NC - fewer poisonous snakes! The site below, Snakes of North Carolina, has good pictures of the snakes you will find there. Good luck and stay safe! Anne Here is a link that might be useful: Snakes of North Carolina

You guys demonstrate my theory that cottonmouths are "passive-aggressive." Dangerous in that they don't move out of the path, often, and people who are not alert can step on them. Tales of them chasing people are usually highly exaggerated. This isn't to say it can't happen. Just that it's not a common behavior. My best cottonmouth story involved canoeing by myself on Rock Springs Run. I was in an area we call the Flats. Very shallow water, with a lot of grassy vegetation. Makes for slow canoeing as you try to glide through without digging up the bottom. I spotted a cottonmouth in the water, about 2 1/2 feet long, and close to the shore. It had a dead fish in its mouth. I don't think it killed the fish, but I can't be sure of that. But the fish looked REAL dead. It was a panfish of some type (bluegill, shellcracker, one of those) and quite wide, and this snake was trying its best to figure out how to swallow it. The snake worked its mouth slowly around the body of the fish, which was way, WAY too wide for it to swallow, and even tried to force it down sideways. The fish was probably ten inches long and no way was that snake going to get it down sideways. I let the canoe drift over fairly close, as I was enjoying the show. The snake finally began working its way towards the head of the fish, where it would have had the best chance to get it down, but suddenly noticed me or my canoe slowly nearing. If snakes could change expression, this one's eyes would have bugged out and his mouth would have dropped open. If they could talk, he would have been yelling "Holy Sheepdip! Where'd THAT come from??" He did a backflip away from the fish and took off for the weeds like a streak! It was so funny looking, I almost fell out of my canoe laughing at him. I always wondered if he came back later to finish working on the fish. But I didn't wonder about who was more scared by our encounter. He definitely was! Still...I am very careful on the river or in places where cottonmouths might lurk. They normally don't care if you approach them. I admire them, but I don't want to step on one or come face to face with one at any closer range than what I just described. I'm not NEARLY as brave as Wayne! Marcia

Love the picture, Floral! There are patterns to warn and to hide. This is a hiding pattern. I'm not a herp person so I can't tell you the species but it is one of our very small, northern snakes. The snakes pictured are only as big around and my index finger. Glorified worms in size. They could only eat bugs and tiny amphibians and be prey to birds, larger snakes, and a variety of mammals. Growing up we always called them "garter snakes" or "grass snakes" but neither may be right. We have an old hand-dug well that is no longer used and these snakes den each year in a fair number there. We rarely have these snakes around so they collect up at our place in the fall. And in the cold and frozen North, good winter denning spots would be something to travel for. I don't always see the collection or them waking up and leaving but I've caught it enough times to suspect it happens every year. Here is some pictures from one spring jamboree wake-up that lasted through a whole weekend. Subtle patterns to be sure.

In most incorporated areas that actually have an Animal Control Department, that's where you start. If AC doesn't deal with venomous snakes in your area, you can call the local police department or sherriff's office, depending on whose jurisdiction you live in. Some of them do not respond on venomous snake calls, some do. If you cannot get any help that way, check the Yellow Pages for pest control companies for someone like this one that I found by Goggling: Wildlife and Pest Control/Removal Where we live, in an unincorporated part of a rural county, the only Animal Control officer in the county is employed by the city of Marietta, so that employee only responds to animal complaints within the city limits. Out here in the rural areas, we have to deal with them ourselves, which is not a problem since you can shoot guns in unincorporated areas. In some of the smaller towns, like Thackerville, the local police sometimes respond to help a citizen who has a problem with dogs at large or wildlife issues. Good luck. My experience with snakes is that if you don't kill it or trap it when you see it, then it will be gone when you fetch a gun and come back 3 or 5 minutes later. They don't just sit there waiting for you to come back. To get around that when I am home alone, I just call the nearest neighbor who is home and they come over and shoot the varmint, which I have been standing and watching so it can't get away or go into hiding before they get there. Good neighbors like that are worth their weight in gold.