Can I shoot the snake??

Dangerous habit... It's like a drug addiction... :eek:

First it's innocent snakes :mad:

and then you graduate to higher forms of life... :D
 
Im fairly sure thats bogus. Even if its true, do you really want to get up that close to find out?? After all, that is the dangerous end.
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Not bogus and you don't have to get that close, it's pretty obvious from a safe distance
 
One observation, and one question:

Observation: I have seen cotton mouths that are agressive. I have had them go out of their way to come straight at me on a couple of occasions, and I know of several reliable anecdotes from family members that also indicate that cottonmouths are agressive. I have seen lots of rattlesnakes and have never experienced one to act agressively at all - they will certainly strike at you if you pester them or frighten them, but have not had one come after me the way cottonmouths have. I have seen lots of copper heads as well, and have never experienced an agressive one.

Question: I have heard that snakes build up venom until the venom sack is full and then it stops building up, until some is released and replenishment is needed, except for copperheads. I heard someplace that copperheads continuously build up venom even after the sac is full, causing pressure that the copper head releases by striking at anything conveniently nearby. Does anyone know if that true or false?
 
Butch50

Your observation is correct, at least as interpreted by humans. But this phenomenon is only observed in males during mating season, and it's thought that horny snakes will go towards anything that moves. Maybe they see you as a sexy, female cottonmouth? :eek: :D Hey, I never said they had good eyesight... or were smart :rolleyes: . One thing has been recently proven though, and that's that the copperhead is actually much quicker to bite than the cottonmouth. In fact, a recent program on the National Geographic Channel billed the cottonmouth at the "Reluctant Warrior", and footage showed that while they won't run, neither are they quick to bite.

As to the question of venom build up, I've never heard that in more than 40 years as an amateur herpetologist. I would tend to disbelieve that after having had numerous copperheads in captivity, and I've never observed this "biting" behavior. Anybody else have any ideas on this?
 
Anybody else have any ideas on this?
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Out of my league Capt - at least using what I know about evolution (where I feel more comfortable than herpetology) :D My first thought is that this would seem to be a "weakness in the blueprint", and so isn't likely.

It certainly isn't impossible though - evolution proceeds with random changes propagated into each individual, and those changes that lead to a greater probablility of survival until reproduction tend to be conserved, while those that lead to a lower probability of survival until reproduction tend to be eliminated.

But, (A) Those changes that are neutral with regard to survival can stick around, and (B) evolution isn't finished yet - it never will be - so long as you have a viable population moving forward through time with reproduction cycles, and that is subject to survival pressures, the blueprint will be improved. Although overall designs are excellent and sophisticated, there are many examples of useless (like our vestigial tail) and problematic (like our inflammatory/immune response) design features that remain today .

So, to make a short story long :p - IMO, possible, but not likely.
 
and it's thought that horny snakes (cottonmouhts) will go towards anything that moves.
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Now I am afraid of cotton mouths :eek:

I don't recall where I heard about the copper head venom build up. Makes an interesting story and may have been related on one of those deer hunting nights around the camp fire. :)
 
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