THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408240752
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 186 lines
SNAKE ENTHUSIAST Gary Williamson was all alone, canoeing on Merchant's Mill Pond in North Carolina, when he saw a poisonous cottonmouth moccasin swimming by.
It was a hot summer day and the Seashore State Park interpreter was wearing only walking shorts and tennis shoes - no shirt or socks.
A self-taught herpetologist, Williamson was unable to resist the opportunity to observe the ``handsome specimen'' for a moment. He stuck his paddle out in the water, hooked the animal over the end and held the big snake up in the air to look at it.
``Then all of a sudden,'' Williamson said, ``it slid down the paddle and landed in the canoe right between my legs!''
Williamson did not turn the canoe over, did not jump overboard nor did he bash the snake with the paddle. Most importantly, neither was he bitten. He calmly lifted the snake up again with the paddle and tossed it back in the water.
``That was the most harrowing experience of my life,'' he said, ``and I was proud of the way I handled it. I didn't lose my cool.''
Although the experience really was a heart stopper, even for a snake lover like Williamson, the fact that he made it through such a close call should give a little heart to all those with snake phobias out there. He survived the encounter, none the worse for the wear, probably because he was heeding his own advice.
``People just get paranoid when they see a snake. Back off. Relax,'' Williamson said. ``Snakes are not aggressive. Most will first try to hide or take off. Even rattlesnakes and cottonmouths, which will stand their ground, are not aggressive.''
In fact most snakes in the grass in this area don't deserve the image the phrase brings to mind. Folks like Williamson, who know snakes, are strong supporters of the reptile that has been feared by humans since the serpent in the Garden of Eden convinced Eve to take a bite of the apple.
They give snakes high marks for pest control. The reptiles dine primarily on insects and rodents, and Williamson said he'd take a snake over a cat any day when it comes to the numbers of rodents consumed. Besides, snake supporters say, the reptiles have a place on this earth.
``Snakes are part of the overall scheme of things,'' said Williamson.
And the striking looking king snake with its glossy black and white designer colors fits into the scheme of things best, as far as humans are concerned, he added. For five years, Williamson has had a king snake, named Solomon. Docile and easily handled, Solomon accompanies Williamson on educational programs.
``If you have a king snake on your property, you're better off,'' he said. ``It controls the snake population as well as the rodents. It's known as a snake predator and will even eat poisonous snakes.''
If the king snake were to depend solely on poisonous snakes for a meal, it would go hungry much of the time, however. Of the two dozen species of snakes in this area, only three are poisonous.
They are the cottonmouth moccasin that gave Williamson such a scare, found around freshwater areas like Back Bay; the state-endangered canebrake rattlesnake, found mainly in the Blackwater area, Chesapeake and the Dismal Swamp; and the copperhead, found citywide in wooded areas.
Harmless local snakes include secretive little animals that spend time under the leaves, like worm snakes and earth snakes, and are rarely seen by humans. Or, green snakes, that also are hard to see, camouflaged against greenery, as they feast on garden insects. Or, the more visible black rat snake and striped garter snake.
The city's Animal Control Bureau receives snake complaints daily in the spring and summer, said Supervisor S.M. Snyder and most of them concern the black snake and garter snake. However it matters not to the public that most of their close encounters are with harmless snakes.
``Everybody thinks they have a poisonous snake until we get there,'' Snyder said. ``They don't care what kind of snake it is, they just want you to get it.''
The copperhead is the most common poisonous snake about which the bureau is called. They've had a half dozen or so complaints this year. Snyder has seen only one rattlesnake in the 11 years he's been with Animal Control and only a few little cottonmouth moccasins.
``I haven't ever seen a big moccasin,'' Snyder said. ``Yet people who live along canals always think they have a moccasin.''
What most people are seeing instead, Williamson explained, are Northern water snakes, the most common water snake in the area, brown water snakes or red-bellied water snakes, all of them nonpoisonous. The red-bellied snake is even saddled locally with the name ``water rattler.''
On the other hand the cottonmouth is found only in the freshwater ponds at Seashore State park and in Back Bay and in the North Landing River drainage area. The snake is not found in the Elizabeth and Lynnhaven river drainages because the water is too salty, Williamson said.
``When I go out canoeing,'' he went on, ``I see twice as many nonpoisonous snakes as I see poisonous ones.''
Williamson said a cottonmouth is easy to spot in the water because it tends to swim with its whole body up on the water. Other water snakes swim with just their heads out of the water.
All three poisonous snakes here have vertical pupils in their eyes, he added, while the nonpoisonous snakes have round pupils. The poisonous snakes also have triangular-shaped heads as opposed to heads of nonpoisonous snakes that blend into the body shape. But if you don't care to get close enough to a snake to see those characteristics, Williamson said, you can still learn to identify Virginia Beach snakes.
``Take the time to learn the markings and patterns,'' he said. ``Some snakes have a different color phase but their patterns are the same.''
If you can't face up to a snake at all, good or bad, don't call Williamson to the rescue. He doesn't go out on snake removal calls. Animal Control will pick up a snake for you if you know where the snake is but they won't search for it.
Michael Weeks, who owns a business called Snake Removal, searches out and removes snakes from odd places such as inside a clothes dryer motor or in the dead space above the ceiling tiles.
Oddly, with all the fear of meeting up with a snake, it's usually humans that cause the encounter in the first place, Weeks said. For example, habitat destruction is responsible for most of the calls he receives. When adjacent woods are cleared for development, snakes move into nearby residential areas.
``The snakes are just a step or two ahead of the bulldozer,'' Weeks explained.
Most folks who fear snakes would not like to think they are encouraging them but in many cases they are, Weeks went on. Humans create yards with lots of ground cover, old woodpiles and other sheltered places where tasty rodents gather. ``The optimum environment for snakes,'' he said.
Whatever the reason, you will be seeing more snakes this time of year because the young are being born now. Also as the weather cools, some snakes may seek a warm spot, like the crawl space under a house, in which to hibernate. But not to worry, said Williamson.
``If people would just watch where they put their hands and feet, they'll never get bit,'' he said. ``You just have to be aware of your surroundings.
``Snakes have had bad P.R. since Adam and Eve,'' he went on, ``and I've got 35 years of information in my head, and I like to set the record straight.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphics
ON THE COVER
The reptile on the cover is a corn snake, owned by Gary
Williamson.
ABOUT SNAKES
Gary Williamson, Seashore State Park interpreter, will be setting
the record straight at a program called ``Snakes Alive'' at 8:30
p.m. Aug. 31, at the amphitheater on the campground side of Shore
Drive. The program is free, but parking is $2.50 a car.
Two of the three poisonous snakes that can be found in Virginia
Beach - a copperhead and a canebrake rattler - can be seen close up
(behind glass) in the Coastal River Room at the Virginia Marine
Science Museum.
Although the Virginia Zoological Park in Norfolk does not keep
poisonous snakes, it does have several local snakes on exhibit.
Among them are a king snake and a corn snake.
``The Reptiles of Virginia'' by Joseph C. Mitchell, a
comprehensive guide to the snakes, lizards and turtles of Virginia
with full-color illustrations, is due out Sept. 1 from the
Smithsonian Institution Press. Books are $40 plus $2.25 for postage.
Call 1-800-782-4612.
Among local businesses that dispose of snakes humanely are: Snake
Removal, 427-9864; and Snakes Alive, 486-2102.
Staff color photos by MORT FRYMAN
Gary Williamson, Seashore State Park's interpreter, shows off a corn
snake that can be found west, north and south of us - and at the zoo
in Norfolk - but not in Virginia Beach.
AT LEFT: John Olah Jr., owner of Snakes Alive, grabs his equipment
to answer a call from a home in Kings Grant to check a woodpile for
a snake.
ABOVE: A non-poisonous red-bellied water snake takes a sunbath
alongside a trail in Seashore State Park.
A Northern water snake moves closer to a pool of brackish water at
Seashore State Park as it tries to catch a flying insect.
LEFT: This four-foot cottonmouth is one of the area's poisonous
varieties.
BELOW: This brown water snake is among the non-poisonous
varieties.
Photos courtesy of Gary Williamson, Seashore State Park
LEFT: This is a black rat snake.
BELOW: A Southern copperhead is one of the area's poisonous
varieties.
by CNB