Ok - Here is how I recieved my first snake bit (for those curious) I knew it was going to happen (even before I stuck my hand in the aquarium). A friend of mine ran a apartment complex in Georgia. He had found a Red Tail Boa in a apartment that had escaped, and the owner had been evicted. He took it home, put it in a 10 gallon aquarium, the snake was a good 5' or more. He had crammed the tank full of towels, and put in a hot rock, and had a 150W light bulb shining in the poor snakes face 24 hours a day (for warmth he said) He added a coffee cup of water for the snake to drink out of - and of course - the snake had tipped it over. David, while his intentions were good - he was afraid of the snake. He had not fed it, and it was "not happy" I knew that I was going to get nailed before I even put my hand in the tank to remove the wet towels, and clean up the water. The snake did exactly what I expected him to do. He struck me, and wrapped my arm very quickly. I stood there (my daughter watching) with a snake stuck to my arm. I gently pryed his mouth from my arm - and after cleaning the cage, returned him to it. I made sure not to even cringe - as I did not want my daughter to develop a fear of snakes! I never made a sound, and I think my calmness helped both me, the snake, and my daughter. I told Richard and his elderly mother that the snake needed to be with someone familiar with handeling snakes (I had grown up with boa's because my brother had one when I was a little girl) They sold me the snake, I put it on a plane to Texas, took it to my brother - who then placed it with a person who handles boa's and takes them to schools as a part of a teaching program. I have a fondness of snakes, and would hate to kill it unless it poses a danger to our lives. My snake bite was expected, thankfully I do not meet any of the "reasons that people get snake bitten" - but thanks for posting - because I think you are exactly correct. Most (but not all) snake bites are due to stupidity - many of the others are probably just due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We almost stepped on that poor snake in my images before we noticed it. Its only defense would have been to strike - this would have just been - being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thank goodness for all of us - our situation ended up ok. I will just have to keep a closer eye out before I go treading through my garden. RT

viridis - thanks for the info. I've seen many pictures of adult Copperheads and a couple in real life, but just wasn't sure what they looked like when very young. There is a park in the North Georgia mountains called Unicoi State Park where you can visit Anna Ruby Falls which is a nice, fairly easy hike, and very beautiful. About 20 years ago I saw a Copperhead sunning itself on the rocks at the falls with people all around. Recently someone told me that there is now a warning sign on the trail for Copperheads.

It is a Black Rat Snake, a harmless eater of rats, mice, other pests, the occasional bird, and the occasional egg. They kill by constriction, and are completely harmless to humans. They are to be encouraged around the house as a natural pest control. As an adult (in your area) it will be coal black.

I concur with fhfchrish....ditch the glue traps! Those things are extremely barbaric and result in very slow, drawn-out suffering of captured animals, especially reptiles, which take a long time to die, but which also have very advanced sensory nervous systems, meaning that they feel pain very acutely. If you wouldn't do this to a puppy or kitten, it's just as wrong to inflict this torture on a reptile. IF you accidentally capture a snake or lizard on a glue trap, you can spray PAM cooking spray on it or pour cooking oil on it to dissolve the glue and gradually let the animal work itself loose, but often by the time they are discovered they have seriously injured themselves trying to escape.