Still seeing quite a few rubber boas around my neck of the woods Jack. Occasional garter, but not very often.

Jack , south of you just a few miles, Leadore, no buzztails but around your area there are from the reports I got while hunting.

Yesterdays little helpers.......jk

Cottonmouth (notice white inside mouth, hence the name cottonmouth)

Ok thanks. If cotton mouths are the most docile, what are the most aggressive? Does the heat you're getting change their moods?

I think maybe sarcasm was in Wanna Be’s post. I never found a docile cottonmouth in Arkansas or Texas.

No sarcasm. I’ve only been struck by one and that’s because I stepped on it. Should’ve been struck by a lot more. All they’ve done is coil up and show their namesake when they open their mouth. They’ve never chased me and if given the opportunity, will get the heck out of Dodge as quick as a Racer. I will also tell you that the white of their mouth also shows up in the dark. Walking around under starlight and see that right next to your leg will check your heart condition. Apparently my heart is good to go, lol.
Rattlesnakes seem to coil, rattle, and strike. Thankfully we don’t have many copperheads here. Been struck twice by them and never even saw them until they struck.

And yes, I wear snakeboots if it’s above 60 degrees.

This is a fascinating post I love snakes. Funny story when my brother ànd I were growing up in Central Oregon, two of our friends and us filled a 5 gallon bucket halfway full with garter snakes. That evening we decided to take them home while the parents were gone and bring them in the bathroom. We got the bright idea to dump them in the sink. There were snakes everywhere and escaping through the sink overflow and such. My mom came home and screamed bloody murder at us. Snakes were being found all through the house for the next day or two. Fun research project as I remember it.

I think I'll take my chances with a grizzle bear. After being by a few snakes, you don't figure it's time to quit messing with them?

Gulo can you elaborate on the research project you are working on?

It's simply gathering natural history data on five species of snake we have here in the area (prairie rattlesnakes, gophersnakes, rubber boas, western terrestrial garter snakes, and western racers). Little data are available in the scientific literature. I'm simply trying to advance the science, with no agenda attached. Mainly, I'm looking for population changes reflected in catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) transects. Since 2011, one species locally has declined 85%, while the other 4 species have remained relatively stable. Why is this? Natural, long-tern fluctuations or something else? In addition, I'm looking at diet and reproduction with snakes I find road-killed. Each snake is captured and measured (snout-vent length and total length), weighed, sexed, photographed (for "voucher"), and released. Road-kills are collected and necropsied for diet and reproductive status.

In Idaho, basic information like a species range and general habitat are lacking. For several species, I've been able to expand the known range through this work. In northern Idaho, I've documented dozens or hundreds of records of "rare" species, dispelling the idea that these species are "threatened" or "endangered".All my records go into a statewide database (Idaho Fish and Wildlife Information System [IFWIS]) so other scientists can use the data. I'm just trying to expand the knowledge base in a state that heretofor has paid little attention to herpetiles. I've spent literally hundreds of dollars, mainly on gasoline, driving thousands of miles documenting these snakes (and "other" herpetofauna. I am not working for any state, federal, or private agency, so I can't be swayed in my data collection or reporting. Has been fun and certainly interesting. Over the years, we've collected over 4,000 records on 32 species of herpetofauna (snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, salamanders, etc.).

Never bitten, they’ve all hit the snakeboots. I don’t mess with nor do I go looking for them. This is just every day walking around. Whether we’re on a quail hunt, or deer hunting, or walking around at night in the dark hog hunting, the snakes are out and about. With snakeboots I don’t even look for them, just go where I want to go and don’t really think about it.
The only time it crosses my mind is during turkey season. If I’ve roosted a bird the night before and go in under the cover of darkness, I’ll sweep my foot around quietly before I sit down. Almost sat on a Canebrake once, lol.

To me, it's extremely interesting to look closely at snake distribution. Yeah decoy, the rattlesnakes don't appear to get more than about 3 miles above Lemhi. The gophersnakes (bullsnakes) are along the main Salmon River, but don't get up the Lemhi River at all. Rubber boas seem to be everywhere, but in low numbers. I have a hard time trying to describe and predict distribution with any accuracy.

Sneaky, do your garter snakes have any red on them at all? We only have the western terrestrial garter snake here, but "official" range maps show common garter snakes as well. In over 1000 garter snake captures, I've never seen the common garter snake here in the Lemhi.

A swimming cottonmouth will look to climb aboard your jon boat around here.
A buddy of mine who is not a fan of any snake was catfishing on the river on a pitch black night. Him and his buddy were anchored up front and back with four lines out.
They kept hearing something rubbing on the side of the gunnel. Finally my buddy shined a light and saw what it was, fired up the outboard and commenced to drag both anchors and 4 rods on down the river.
His buddy, not knowing what was going and hollered, "What are doing?! All Curtis was able to say was, "Snakes!!!"
His buddy said, "What about the anchors and the rods?!
Curtis replied with something about reproductive properties of said equipment as well as relaying his opinion of the reproductive habits of said snakes.

I’ve seen water snakes try to get in boats, but never a cottonmouth. They are always misidentified as cottonmouths and folks freak when I grab them. I can promise I’m not grabbing a venomous snake!!

This one was in the vicinity of kids. My son was only one who could take care of it and he wasn’t going to attempt a relocation with a messed up left hand

That’s a pretty canebrake!

Jack, the reason you've been able to "expand the known range" is that you have been catching animals, since a very young age and know where to look. Sadly most wildlife researchers don't have the experience they need to do the research.

A friend of mine, who is a brilliant jet engineer, invited me to go to a Montgomery County, Ohio Stream Team check of Wolf Creek. Their team and others had been monitoring the creek, for several years. I went and observed while they checked water temperature, turbidity, dissolved oxygen level, PH and took samples for spectrograph pollutant analysis. My friend than got in the creek, with a seine, to try to catch a long list of macroinvertebrate species, that are indicators of water quality. He caught 6 of the 36 species on the list, which caused the creek to be rated poor for biodiversity. When he finished, I asked him what he had been trying to catch. The list of species he was trying to catch mostly live in slow water, in vegetation, roots, muck and under cover like rocks. He only seined in fast moving, heavily oxygenated water, in full sunlight. I took the seine out and worked in vegetation, roots, muck, under rocks and in the shade and in much less time, caught 34 of the 36 species on the list. The section of creek's rating went to excellent.

One of the women there was normally part of one of the other teams. She asked me to come to her team's check, the next day and see what I could catch. Their section of creek was also rated poor for biodiversity. I caught 35 of the 36 species on the list, causing their section of the creek to also be rated excellent.

The woman in charge of the entire program for the county heard about this and asked me to teach every person in the entire program, which I did the following week.

I also set up a native fish tank at the county office.

Keith