Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Do you believe in popper action during the winter?

One more thing about Karl Schmidt:  He apparently was a great scientist until the very end!  He actually was bitten but still recorded on paper his symptoms all up until he wrote "I think I'm going to die" at some point.  With type II diabetes and heart problems, I'm not sure he didn't pick the better way honestly ;).  

Gene

On Tuesday, January 7, 2014 12:45:05 PM UTC-5, TurbineBlade wrote:

Most (all I think?) of the Nerodia (formerly Natrix) are harmless, aquatic colubrid (most colubrids are non-venomous, but some are *slightly to moderately venomous) snakes.  That Karl Schmidt guy died from a boomslang -- a venomous colubrid snake, but that's an exception to the rule.  I know the Missouri species pretty well, and out here there are some species/subspecies variations, etc. but for general purposes they fill the same role in the ecosystem.  Most of the ones I've worked with are primarily fish eaters, but also amphibians and some other odd items reported on occasion.  I've heard they'll eat mice/rats, but given that they don't tend to 'constrict' like many other colubrids (the ones in the lab and the ones I've seen eating fish in the field just sort of latch on and swallow), I'm not sure eating rodents is a reliable option (rodents can cause serious and/or fatal injury to snakes during feeding, particularly if they aren't subdued with constriction or venom).  Venom is actually really useful in "cleaning up" a lot of the microbes (gut flora) present in mammal (primarily rodent) prey that could otherwise harm the snake.  That's one of the lesser-known purposes of venom that may also help explain the "why is X snake so venomous when it only needs a little amount of venom to kill a prey item?" question (quick kill and quick relocation is another). Constriction kills via cardiac failure -- not suffocation BTW.  Good trivia question that one.  A human could potentially hold his/her breath for quite a long time, but he'll die in a fraction of that time if constricted by a large python, etc.  

Anyway -- they (Nerodia) also provide food for a lot of larger mammal predators and birds, including raptors and at least one owl (barred owls eat the crud out of snakes -- I've seen it a few times and other people commonly report it).  

If you grab one they pretty much immediately bite you (I've never once not been bitten by one that wasn't dead when I grabbed it), but all you'll likely suffer is several little teeth punctures in a "V" pattern on your hand or arm.  No biggie.  If it's cold enough they'll try to bite but probably miss and be pretty slow about it.  They like to musk too, and their musk is pretty foul-smelling. Better than a garter snake IMO, but way worse than Cottonmouth musk.  Actually, Cottonmouth musk isn't really bad at all -- it's got a kind of craft-store vibe to it.  Garter snakes (and the other Thamnophis species) reek!  I hate that stuff. 

One of the grad students at Missouri State found that "overhead sweeping movements" of the arms elicited the strongest defensive behavior responses in one of the Nerodia species (Northern Watersnake I think it was...).  They don't like that -- don't do it.  Probably because avian predators act similarly.  Oddly though, all our lab Nerodia would eat readily after grasping them, sweeping overhead, etc. even though you'd think they would be totally stressed out and would refuse food.  No, they eat just fine.  So what do I know?  Cottonmouths not so much.  You tinker with those guys and you might as well forget getting them to eat for another 7-14 days.  

I hope I never grow out of catching snakes.  

Oh! -- my only point was that no water snakes around here are harmful to humans and all are important to some other animal and the system as a whole.  They're good to see and are fairly interesting, grouchy creatures who are probably fishing better than you are.  Especially if you're using a fly rod.  

Gene

On Tuesday, January 7, 2014 12:13:46 PM UTC-5, Matthew Longley wrote:

Hey Gene, can we get a quick bio lesson on that snake?

On Friday, January 3, 2014 8:09:19 PM UTC-5, TurbineBlade wrote:

Nice! Don't worry about aquatic snakes in our region. They're harmless and beneficial to have around.  That's a pretty one actually!
Gene

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