If you've been watching the channel, you know I've had an encounters with snakes on most of my outings since the weather got warmer. One of the local spots I go to often has an infestation of eastern water snakes. Yesterday on the walk back to my car a guy asks me if I'm taking pictures (I had my large tripod with me). I said sort of and he said take a picture of all these snakes. Ugh! I dislike snakes, I dislike them very much. I had already seen one, that was enough, but I went to see what he was talking about anyway when he asked what kind they were.
There's a small area on the pond they have railroad ties stacked to keep the bank from eroding. It's not very long, only two in length. He shows me the spot, and sure enough, there's at least 5 snakes laying on top, little snake heads poking out of holes in the wood everywhere. They were going in and out of the wood like something from a horror flick about snakes. All In all I did count at least 11 different snakes ranging from small maybe 8", to one that was about 4 feet.
The eastern water snake we have in my area isn't really venomous. Not technically. But, their saliva contains and anti-coagulant. They are strong, and because they can and do strike several times if they do bite you're going to bleed, a lot. It is recommended to get to an urgent care or hospital. I'd also personally recommend carry some like a blood clotting powder in your FAK if your in an area with them.
You also have to be careful as the colorings on the eastern water snake closely resembles a cotton mouth. Or in some instances, our eastern rattle snake and timber snake. I've seen them light colored like a rattler and darker like the cotton mouth, and almost black like the eastern racer. The latter is what I thought the first snake I saw yesterday was.
This was the first I saw yesterday.
