# Is this a dangerous snake ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 24, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103 "2004-06-24T23:03:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/21 "2004-06-25T14:51:09Z")
Garter snakes were the only snakes around my former hometown – though there were some areas with rattler populations a number of miles away. But North Carolina has been an education to me. In 2000 the market research group I was working for was besieged by a youthful copperhead, who took up residence immediately outside the door leading outside from our office. Eventually the group leader and I tackled and disposed of him using miscellaneous equipment from the office – I can state with authority that a sheet of Owens Corning hard foamed plastic pressed firmly down on a copperhead’s body will restrain him, and that leftover pieces of defunct dot-matrix printer with sharp edges will serve to behead one. A few days later, visiting our son’s mother and her family down the road, we made the acquaintance of the Black Rat Snake in residence there. These are large snakes – the one we met was approximately 6’6" long; Brandon identified it as being “ginormous” – but non-venomous and well-loved by locals unless they menace and interfere with human efforts, because they are among the finest of vermin control creatures. ---
**Author:** ![TarantulaGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TarantulaGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TarantulaGirl)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/22 "2004-06-25T17:26:40Z")
Garters definitely aren’t any harm to you or anyone else in your household. At worse, you’ll get a tiny scratch if one should be so bold as to bite you and that is extremely rare. Only time I could see it happening is if you or some one else tries to pick it up. Chances that you would walk onto or stumble on one are also quite unlikely as they are quite fast and good at keeping away from you 🙂 I believe that garter snakes are more insectivorous than they eat rodents, from what I’ve read on them and from those whom I know keep them as pets. If you want a perfectly natural and hassle free way to keep insect pests down around the house, you already have it with the garters! 🙂 Keep them around, they are actually more beneficial than harmful. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/23 "2004-06-25T17:40:47Z")
Here on the Bayou Teche in southern Louisiana, we’ve become very familiar with what water moccasins look like. When you see one gliding across the bayou with its head a foot above the water, you’ll probably never mistake them for anything else. By the way, how did the garter snake get its name? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/24 "2004-06-25T18:04:57Z")
I’ve been told that snakes avoid heavily populated, noisy areas because they hate a lot of comotion. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/25 "2004-06-25T18:08:48Z")
Dammit, I hit submit too soon. Basically, my dad always said you’re okay if you try to keep your grass very short, try to avoid having large clumps of plants where they can hide, etc. Which I’m hoping is all true-because I’m severely ophidiophobic, to the point where I can’t stand to think about snakes for longer than a few minutes or I start getting freaked out. (A friend’s little brother once brought a garter into her house when I was there. A few of our other friends were just down the street and STILL were able to hear me scream.) ---
**Author:** ![NutMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/26 "2004-06-25T18:48:21Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > **Jayjay** > Rattlers- > > I saw a rattlesnake on a camping trip in PA. At the time I thought ‘That can’t be a rattlesnake, those are only in the southwest’. I did a websearch when I got home and discovered that several species of rattler live in this state. On the positive side, I only saw it because it made the grass move while running away from us. **Doc** Imagine my surprise when I found one in my yard! (IIRC, it was a Mountain Rattler) In New Jersey, it’s illegal not only to harm one, but to even touch one. But I have kids, so… my BIL and I got it into a garbage can with a hockey stick, and drove it to a new home near the reservoir, which is fenced and posted. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/27 "2004-06-25T18:51:59Z")
Well, how about importing a mongoose? You can name it Rikki. 😛 Seriously, what natural predators are there of garter snakes and the like? And could you use something like a mongoose against a poisonous North American snake? And is it just me, or does “The Mongoose” vs. “The Rattler” sound like something I should be watching on WWF? ---
**Author:** ![NutMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/28 "2004-06-25T18:52:02Z")
Oops. Not Mountain. Timber Rattler ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/29 "2004-06-25T18:52:05Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > By the way, how did the garter snake get its name? Total WAG- It’s derived from the German ‘garten’. The garter snake is a common snake, you’re likely to stumble across in your lawn. It’s your garden variety snake. Either the garten somehow became garter or the current name is a shortened form of gartener. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/30 "2004-06-25T19:28:06Z")
I’d just like to add that garter snakes are, in fact, extremely dangerous… if you happen to be a small rodent or large insect. Quoth **Ilsssssa\_Lund** : > [@](#): > > If you have to remember a rhyme, leave the snake alone. I’d even go further than that: Just leave it alone, period. If it’s venomous, you want to leave it alone because it’d be dangerous to you to try to deal with it. And if it’s not, then you should still leave it alone, since it’s probably doing a good job and you shouldn’t interfere. As for the possibility of bites, garter snakes are probably safer than squirrels. Both of them would much prefer to not be that close to you in the first place, and squirrels have the possibility of rabies (which can’t be spread by cold-blooded creatures). So unless squirrels in your yard would bother you, too, I wouldn’t worry. ---
**Author:** ![Ring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ring)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/31 "2004-06-25T21:03:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So unless squirrels in your yard would bother you, too, I wouldn’t worry. Squirrels have legs and a bushy tail. Snakes don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/32 "2004-06-25T21:13:18Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > Here on the Bayou Teche in southern Louisiana, we’ve become very familiar with what water moccasins look like. When you see one gliding across the bayou with its head a foot above the water, you’ll probably never mistake them for anything else. > > By the way, how did the garter snake get its name? It is said to resemble a garter. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/33 "2004-06-25T21:38:00Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Seriously, what natural predators are there of garter snakes and the like? Some birds such as some hawks and kites. The swallow-tailed kite (found only in Florida, the SE Gulf coast, and the SE Atlantic coast) eats lizards, snakes, and small birds. The wide-spread northern harrier eats mice, rats, birds, snakes, frogs, and other small animals. The red-shouldered hawk eats small mammals, snakes, lizards, frogs, insects, and a few birds. The borad-winged hawk eats mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The latter two hawks are wide-spread in the eastern US. Swainson’s hawk eat some mammals, lizards, frogs, and birds. Ferruginous hawk eats some mammals, reptiles, and insects. (A snake is a lizard and not a reptile, so I don’t know about this one.) Ther merlin feeds, in addition to birds in the air, rodents, lizards, snakes, and insects. The latter three are wide-spread in the western US, but the merlin is also found along the Gulf coast and Atlantic seaside in the US. [source: _Stokes Field Guide to Birds, Eastern Region,_ 1996] Rattlesnakes are probably widespread in the US, contrary to some comments heretofore posted. Here in SC, there are several types of rattlesnakes, including the very large canebreak ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/34 "2004-06-25T21:57:42Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Well, how about importing a mongoose? You can name it Rikki. 😛 \Or Geoff.\ ---
**Author:** ![SnakeSpirit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snakespirit/32/7271_2.png) [@SnakeSpirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakeSpirit)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/35 "2004-06-25T22:48:19Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > (A snake is a lizard and not a reptile, so I don’t know about this one.) It seemed like a real intelligent post till I got to this part. Tell me it’s a typo, please! ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/36 "2004-06-25T22:51:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Seriously, what natural predators are there of garter snakes and the like? Anything carnivorous larger than the garter snake. Including other snakes like the Racer (_Coluber constrictor_) and the King Snake (_Lampropeltis sp._). Rattlesnakes populate functionally the entire continental U.S., as well as Southern Canada and most of Central America. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/37 "2004-06-25T23:50:02Z")
> [@Snakespirit](#): > > It seemed like a real intelligent post till I got to this part. > Tell me it’s a typo, please! I meant that a snake is a reptile and not an amphibian, but amphibians were not mentioned in that hawk’s diet. [Nineteen different types of rattlesnakes](http://www.enature.com/search/show_search_thumb.asp?sort=1&curGroupID=99&display=1&area=99&curPageNum=1&searchText=rattlesnake) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/38 "2004-06-26T00:42:29Z")
“See a snake, Pick it up, All the day, You’ll WTF.” Why do we call it a garter snake? Because it _garts._ :smack: * * * This completely useless post was brought to you by… Hey! What’d you say your foundation was? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/39 "2004-06-26T01:17:01Z")
> [@Ring](#): > > Squirrels have legs and a bushy tail. Snakes don’t. Well, not outside, at least. The larger ones often have legs and bushy tail internally, at least until they’re digested! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103/40 "2004-06-26T02:36:10Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Well, how about importing a mongoose? You can name it Rikki. It’s been tried before, it hasn’t worked out too well. From this [site](http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Jan99/species_costs.html): > [@](#): > > One of the first cases of the failure of biological control is the use of the Indian mongoose (_Herpestes auropunctatus_). It was first introduced into Jamaica in 1872 for biological control of rats in sugarcane (Pimentel 1955). It was subsequently introduced to the territory of Puerto Rico, other West Indian Islands, and Hawaii for the same purpose. The mongoose controlled the Asiatic rat but not the European rat, and it preyed heavily on native ground nesting birds (Pimentel 1955; Vilella and Zwank 1993). It also preyed on beneficial native amphibians and reptiles, causing at least 7 amphibian and reptile extinctions in Puerto Rico and other islands of the West Indies (Henderson 1992). In addition, the mongoose emerged as the major vector and reservoir of rabies and leptospirosis in Puerto Rico and other islands (Everard and Everard 1992). Based on public health damages, killing of poultry in Puerto Rico and Hawaii, extinctions of amphibians and reptiles, and destruction of native birds, we estimate that **the mongoose is causing approximately $50 million in damages each year in Puerto Rico and the Hawaiian Islands.** > > Emphasis added In this case, it seems like the cure may be worse than the disease. But, if you have to have yourself a mongoose, this [site from the USDA](http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ncie/pet-info.html) says you can go ahead and import one. > [@](#): > > We do not have any regulations or restrictions on the importation of fish, reptiles, lions, tigers, bears, foxes, monkeys, endangered species, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, mice, rats, chinchillas, squirrels, mongoose, chimpmunks, ferrets, or other rodents provided they have not been inoculated with any pathogens for scientific purposes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-dangerous-snake/252103.md?page=3)