Miscellaneous Causes of Death
Munro (1949:71-72) reported on the lethal effect of 10 per cent DDT powder on two young cottonmouths which were dusted with it to kill mites. Herald (1949:117) reported an equal effect caused by spraying a five per cent DDT solution in a room with several snakes. All but three large cottonmouths, which were under shelter at the time of spraying, were killed.
One individual that refused to eat was dissected soon after death, and a short piece of a branch on which two large thorns were located at 90° angles was found blocking the intestine at the posterior end of the stomach.
An unexpected and probably unusual circumstance caused the death of two captives. After cleaning a cage containing five cottonmouths and placing several mice in the cage for food, I noticed two of the snakes lying stretched out, partially on one side, and almost unable to move. At first I thought they had been bitten by other snakes which were in pursuit of the mice. The two died after two days. When a similar incident occurred in another cage, I removed the "bitten" snake and it fully recovered after 11 days. When the same symptoms were observed in a garter snake in another cage, I realized that in each instance the cage had been cleaned and fresh cedar chips placed in it immediately prior to observation of these symptoms. Fine cedar dust on the chips had evidently poisoned the snakes.