The black "rat" snake found around N. Delaware.
Harmless, but still a slithering snake...
Yesterday while riding the Woodlawn Wildlife Refuge here in Wilmington I saw my first snake of the year. It was a medium sized black snake. I believe they call these snakes black "rat" snakes, and they can grow to be quite large, up to 8 feet in length! I saw a 6+ footer in Brandywine two years ago, it might have been the largest snake I have seen in the wild. The black snake I saw yesterday was next to a small creek and it jumped in the water once it sensed my presence, and yes, it could swim...
I don't have a problem with any wild animals, but snakes give me the willies, for as long as I can remember they always have. I don't mind the way snakes look, they don't frighten me (well, most don't), but the way they move make my skin crawl... they slither... I don't like the slither. I also don't like how they coil themselves up and unwrap themselves quickly when they sense you coming and totally surprise the crap outta ya. My wife, Kathleen, doesn't like eels, for some reason eels don't bother me, strange.
The Mattawamkeag River, great habitat for eels, not snakes.
Luckily my run-ins with snakes have been very few. Most encounters would be just a peek at the snake just before it slithered into the underbrush. I recall my first snake run-in when I was quite young. I was walking home from elementary school in Mattawamkeag, ME and a fairly large green garden snake slithered across the road in front of me. I waited for the snake to into the tall grass then I clutched my Garfield lunch-box and ran the rest of the way home. A few days later there was a flattened snake in the road near my encounter... the snake was the same length, but a bit wider from being rolled over repeatedly by logging trucks... yuck!
There aren't too many poisonous snakes here in the northeast portion of the US, but there are a few places that have rattlesnakes, mainly copperheads. I've only seen a few of these, but have heard quite a few rattling off in the woods... they are very loud! In the mountains of PA there are quite a few rattlers. West Virginia also has a healthy rattler population. I have been wanting to go to WV to do a mountain bike race called the "Revenge of the Rattlesnake"
A few years ago I had a close encounter with a rattler. It was scary, and I hope it doesn't happen again. The rattler was coiled up in the middle of a fire road near State College, PA at about mile 95 of the Wilderness 101 race course. This fire road was the last descent before the race course turns and follows a creek for the remainder of the 101 mile loop. I was trying to stay ahead of local State College fast guy, Bill Alcorn, Bill was hot on my tail and knows every rock, root and log in the area. At first I thought the snake was a tire in the middle of the road, as the snake was coiled up an staying quite still. I realized it was a snake when I heard the rattle... oh crap! At 30+ mph on a mountain bike I wasn't gonna stop, so I pointed to the right hand side of road an hoped for the best. The snake lunged at my bike as I passed, but it didn't get me, or even worse, gotten into my wheel's spokes... that would have been a mess... whew! I yelled back to Bill that there was a snake, and somehow he maneuvered around the rattler unscathed. After the race finished I asked Bill if he saw the rattler, and he replied simply by saying "yup." Guess Bill is a bit more used to snakes than I. Personally, I could do without 'em!
