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Poisonous Snakes of Kansas
by Robert F. Clarke
Many persons either do not know anything at all about the poisonous snakes of our state or have a distorted group of misconceptions concerning them. These misconceptions run from plain misknowledge about the range or identification of poisonous snakes to fancifully elaborate stories in which there may or may not be the barest thread of fact.
The prime reason that every person should know the poisonous snakes of his region by sight and know something about their habits, distribution, and abundance is that it will ease the mind of the average individual in all of his outdoor pursuits. Most persons have heard so many false stories about snakes that they develop a fear of all snakes. This fear is unfounded! A person who knows what poisonous snakes he can expect to encounter in a given area need only learn to identify these and realize that all other snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, salamanders, and turtles do not have a poisonous bite, and, therefore, he need not fear them. With a knowledge of the poisonous snakes, a person can avoid places where these snakes might be found. Another aspect is the conservation of snakes. Too many people kill snakes just because they happen to be snakes. This is uncalled for destruction—a non-poisonous snake should no more be killed than a song bird. In many cases, the harmless snakes are of direct economic value.
In general, all snakes are similar in habits. In Kansas, they retire for the winter in places where the temperature will not get below the freezing point. These may be in rocky ledges, beneath the soil, below the roots of trees, or in protected places of human design, such as grain bins, cisterns, cellars, and silos. With the warm days of spring, the snakes emerge from their winter quarters and set about finding food and mates. After mating, the sexes separate and each individual snake goes its own way to forage for food for the rest of the year. Some snakes lay eggs and others produce the young alive. There is about an even division of these types in Kansas. The king snakes, rat snakes, bull snakes, racers, and many smaller snakes lay eggs in early summer. These eggs are deposited in a spot suitable for hatching, generally beneath a rock or in the soil. When they hatch, the young fend for themselves. In Kansas, water snakes, garter snakes, poisonous snakes, and some smaller snakes give birth to living young in late summer or early fall. Again, the young are on their own after birth. With the coming of cooler weather the snakes leave their summer feeding grounds and travel to places where they will hibernate for the winter.
MYTHS: Probably no other group of animals has had the variety and expanse of tall tales credited to them as have the snakes. As the stories go, there are snakes that can put their tails in their mouths and roll downhill hoop-like, snakes that are capable of milking cows dry, snakes that fly into pieces when struck and later reassemble into whole snakes again, snakes that charm their prey, and others too numerous to mention here. Some of these tales deal specifically with the poisonous power of snakes or with snakes that are venomous. There is the “Blow viper,” whose very breath is poisonous! The butt of this fable is the utterly harmless hog-nosed snake, pictured on [Page 13]. Many persons think that the poisonous “fang” of a snake is the structure which is frequently flicked in and out of the snake’s mouth. This is really its tongue, and is present in all snakes. The “fang” is an enlarged tooth in the upper jaw (see diagram, [page 5]). Four of the many untruths about poisonous snakes are (1) rattlesnakes cannot cross a horsehair rope—they can! (2) cottonmouth water moccasins cannot bite under water—they can! (3) rattlesnakes always rattle before they strike—not always! (4) the rattles present on the tail of a rattlesnake indicate the snake’s age—no, a new segment is added each time that the skin is shed, which may occur several times during a year.
FOOD: Most of the adult poisonous snakes of Kansas consume only warm-blooded prey, consisting primarily of small rodents: white-footed mice, shrews, voles, and cotton rats in the fields, and house mice and rats about human habitations. Small birds and young rabbits may be taken, as well as occasional lizards and insects. The copperhead is more insectivorous than the rattlesnakes, and the cottonmouth feeds upon other creatures that inhabit the edges of waterways.