SNAKES In Your Garden
Wildlife in Your Moore County, NC Garden Snakes
Snakes visit my Moore County garden to cool in the shade and prey upon the toads, insects, birds and the other little critters that live there. Although startling to see, and not the wildlife I intended to attract to my garden, snakes do serve a purpose in reducing the rodent and bug population.
Approximately 37 species of snakes are found locally in North Carolina; many more nonvenomous than venomous. Six of the 37 species are venomous but only three of those are found in Moore County. They are copperheads, rattlesnakes, and cotton mouths.
They range in size from very small, worm like, to up to eight feet long. North Carolina's nonvenomous snakes have many tiny teeth. These small teeth make superficial biting cuts similar to briar scratches. The bite will look like a horseshoe of tiny scratches. Unlike venomous snakes, most nonvenomous snakes cannot bite through clothing.
In lieu of biting, however, some snakes smother their prey. Their tiny teeth point backwards, to help them swallow their prey. Snakes eat only living prey or eggs. They swallow their food whole, without chewing. A snake can unhinge the jaw so it can eat something up to one and a half times larger in diameter than the snake. After eating a large meal, a snake will not feed again for up to a month.
Snakes do not see well, and they have no middle ear so they don't hear sounds in the manner of humans. They can detect movement through changing color patterns and through vibration. Snakes see shapes, but not details. They find their food through their keen sense of smell. Unlike humans, snakes do not use their noses to smell. Instead, the snake smells through an organ on the roof of the mouth called the Jacobson organ. When a snake flicks its tongue in and out of its mouth, it collects scent particles from the air which the snake passes to the Jacobson organ.
Many people are frightened of snakes. Their first response is to grab a shovel! This is unfortunate, because rat snakes and others do no harm and help keep the rodent and insect population down. Most snakes are not aggressive and can only strike accurately within a distance of one-half of its body length.
Following are brief bios of some of the snakes I have found near my home.
Rat snakes: Rat snakes are good snakes. They feed on rats, mice, birds, and other reptiles. The young snakes frequently find their way into buildings. These juvenile snakes are frequently misidentified as copperheads, to which they bear only a slight resemblance.
Copperheads have distinctive spade shaped copper color heads. Rat Snakes vary greatly in color in different areas of North Carolina, but the two most common adult colors are black with a spotted gray and white belly, and greenish-yellow with four brown or black stripes the length of its body. More rare colors include an iridescent black that looks blue, and gray and black spotted.
Black Racer: The black racer is a smaller snake than a black rat snake. They have a small white patch under the chin and along the throat. They live in brushy areas, rocky hillsides, meadows, and underneath boards or tin around old buildings. Black Racers feed on insects, eggs, mice, frogs and lizards. Like their name implies, black racers can move surprisingly fast. They are very shy and have scooted away quickly whenever I have seen them.
Red belly water snakes: I have two red belly water snakes that I see in my garden every spring. They are nonvenomous and what I consider to be fairly big: 30 - 60 inches in length. They are pine straw colored on top with a bright red-orange belly. These snakes are known to be aggressive, vigorously defending themselves by biting and discharging a foul-smelling musk. My residents, though not friendly, have been very tolerant of my oblivious dogs and curious cats.
Cotton mouths (aka Water moccasins): Unfortunately I have seen more than my fair share of water moccasins and, in my experience, they are fiercely territorial. They can be found in the water or on the land basking in the sun or feeding on mice, birds, frogs, toads and smaller snakes. Their heads are spade shaped and they swim straight with their heads above water, not propelling forward in “S” curves like water snakes. Avoid this snake! Its bite is toxic and can be fatal. During August and September, the adult female cottonmouth will give birth to between 1 and 15 live young. They do not lay eggs, and the young are not cared for by the parent.
Copperheads: Although generally woodland dwellers, I horrifyingly found three copperhead snakes in my garden this summer. I have been told they were attracted to the water generated by my soaker hoses. Nevertheless, they are poisonous, unwelcome visitors. They feed on cicadas, caterpillars, birds, toads, frogs, etc. They were surprisingly tolerant of my curious kittens. This snake can be seen basking during the day when weather is cool but not cold. During summer heat, it will stay hidden during the day and become active at night. In October the Copperhead retreats to its underground den to hibernate until late February or early March. Dens are most often in rocky hillsides with southern or eastern exposure to the sun. These "snake dens" are returned to year after year and may contain a large number of snakes. In late summer through mid-October, between 1 and 14 young are born alive rather than hatched from eggs. Copperheads have distinctive copper; spade shaped heads and body markings that resemble chocolate kisses. They blend almost invisibly into large chunk pine bark mulch.
So, the message in this article is “Gardener Beware!”
More information on North Carolina snakes can be found in the following web sites. www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/reptiles/ncsnakes.htm www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/reptiles/snakepix3.htm www.bio.davidson.edu/projects/herpcons/herps_of_NC/snakes/snakes.html
