So, I've lived in a number of places during my life, from being born in the Panama Canal Zone, to 3 1/2 years in Turkey during my early years, to Montana, to living most my life in Alaska and now, Mississippi! The only place I did NOT see ANY snakes, was Alaska! So much so, that I entirely forgot altogether about snakes and during our travels moving south from Alaska, I went to kick what I thought was a stick in the trail only to be shocked when it started squirming away and I realized it was a snake! My wife and I were so surprised we didn't even get a good look at it before it was out of sight so, to this day, I have no idea if it was even dangerous or not!

Since moving to Mississippi, the snakes I see most often, so far anyway, have been the racers, both the Southern Black Racer and the Black-Masked Racer and, of course, the unforgettable Copperhead!  The Racers are not a threat or danger to humans and actually assist in pest control so we never bother them at all.  Actually, overall, easily, the majority of snake sightings are of snakes that do a lot more good than harm!

However, try as we may to be aware of ALL snakes, just in case we do find ourselves in an awkward situation with a venomous snake, they are all still much better at being completely invisible than I am at spotting them from any real distance. Unfortunately, most of my snake sightings are at fairly close range!

My first sighting of a Copperhead, and yes, they do actually have a copper colored tint on their heads, was right behind my shop where I have a lean-to where I park my zero-turn and place large items I am not ready to be rid of just yet.  I also, several years back, built a temporary spray-booth where I could spray a lot of the items I was building, whether it be to stain, paint or topcoat them.  The downside, which did not occur to me until later, was that snakes may be interested in also using my little spray-booth.  I found this out when I walked right up on a Copperhead that was just coming out from under the booth! Thankfully, I stopped and eased back away. I then grabbed a really long piece of scrap 1"x1" board and used it to "guide" it back towards the thicker portion of the woods that make-up the back portion of our property.

My next run-in with a Copperhead was when I saw this feral cat that has adopted us, just sitting perfectly still and staring at something.  As I approached, I realized she was staring at a fully grown, mature Copperhead! Once again, I grabbed a long scrap piece of 1"x1" wood. This time I actually lifted it off the ground and gently "tossed" it a short ways into the wooded area, hoping it would get the message!

My most recent run-in with a Copperhead was when I was walking from my yard over to my neighbors home to talk with her about a project she had asked me about. What I initially saw was this smallish pointy thing barely sticking up above the grass.  I had no idea what it was, but I wanted to know, so I changed course and, sure enough, it was another Copperhead! This time I simply picked up a fairly long dead branch that had fallen and used it to guide the snake back into the tree line and into the woods. We have two dogs and my neighbors on both sides have dogs so I felt pretty confident that none of us wanted a Copperhead entering an area where our dogs might be wandering around and playing!

This may sound a bit odd, but I have to admit to finding it both amazing and beautiful to watch a snake moving in a hurry. It just looks so impossibly smooth, graceful and efficient!

Something I was not aware of until recently, is that anti-venom is not always given to a Copperhead snake-bite victim. Apparently, up to 50% of Copperhead snake bites are what they call dry bites, meaning NO venom is injected into the person being bitten! So, because of this, patients are kept under close observation to monitor symptoms, swelling, pain and so forth. This way they can determine if it was a dry bite, a bite with minimal venom being injected or if it was a full blown amount of venom injected! Apparently the younger snakes are guilty of not being able to control the amount of venom being injected and, therefore, the younger snakes of the various venomous snake species are the ones guilty of handing out full doses quite freely! Not sure why that is...possiby it is part fear from being young and not accustomed to being near some types of creatures, like humans, or it may simply be that injecting their venom is, like so much of life, is a skill that is learned and refined over time!

So, that is my experience with venomous snakes thus far in Mississippi! I do not have any great fear of snakes, but I sure do not trust my knowledge of snakes well enough to run up on a snake and assume they are harmless only to attempt to pick them up and be not only bitten, but have a deadly venom injected into me.  So, I have a tremendous respect for snakes and have no intention to kill any of them unless it is absolutely necessary. After all, in the bigger scheme of things, I suspect ALL snakes do more good than harm!

Thanks for visiting and please share this site with others! Also, if you have had an interesting experience with a snake, please feel free to share it!  Also, please feel free to make comments, suggestions or ask questions! I'll do my best to answer you quickly and, if I do not have the answer, I will certainly help you get to the folks that may have the answer!