The bull snakes here can get over 6 feet but they are a bit south of me...more towards Iowa. But they look a lot like a rattlesnake, thats their self-defense. But they are harmless.

...beat him to death with a fishing rod. After he tried to bite me.

In that area yeah thats a moc.~~~~~Think I'd find a new beach house~~~~

I know... they are about 4 hours south, and 4 hours west of me. I hope they stay there and dont decide to go for a roadtrip!

I'm terrified of snakes. So happy my parents moved back to Canada from Texas after I was born.

I'd pee my pants! Im always swimming so a water moccasin would be my worst nightmare....creepy enough they hang around the water, they got to be poisenous!

This time of year people get puff adders in their basement. They are not big. But they got a rattlesnake bite. Another nasty little bastard. Being cold blooded they try to make nests in subfoundations. Rare but nasty.

Nah . I've yet to actually see one. I see a lot of banded water snakes, though.

yeah I was wearing nothing but swim trunks- thought he was dead till he opened his mouth. Didn't crap my pants but came close.

Egad!

We have cotton mouths in the Missouri Ozarks...a friend of mine had to be treated at a hospital for a bite. I was told they are water moccasins but am not really sure.

Most poisonous snakes have diamond shaped heads that are bigger than their bodies, but if it sees you and is in a defensive pose, most snakes flatten their heads to give a diamond appearance, so this is only an effective way to judge if the snake has not seen you. Eyes are the best judge since all venomous snakes have vertical, cat like pupils and non poisonous snakes have round pupils. All pit vipers have a hole between the eyes and nose.

I would only look once you've safely caught him though...preferably after you've been bitten, since you'll get much faster care if you can bring the snake to the hospital with you. Testing for what anti venom to give you takes time as your condition worsens. A good body shape and size description is always helpful.

Good word of advice.

updated 5:06 p.m. CT, Thurs., July. 17, 2008

GORHAM, Maine - A woman got the shock of her life when she found an 8-foot snake mixed in with clothes in her washing machine. The snake, identified as a reticulated python, somehow got into the water pipes of Mara Ranger's 1800s-era farmhouse and slithered into the machine.

After Ranger took her blue jeans out of the machine Wednesday, she reached back into the load and felt something move.

"I jumped back and all of sudden its head starts coming out of the washing machine and it looked huge," Ranger told WMTW-TV.



Ranger quickly closed the lid and called police and an animal control officer, but they didn't want anything to do with the serpent.

When Richard Burton, who operates Maine Animal Damage Control in Lewiston, arrived at Ranger's house, he could barely believe his eyes.

An 8-foot snake
Burton reached into the machine wearing a pair of welding gloves, expecting to come out with a 4-foot snake. But when he pulled the animal out, it kept coming and coming — all 8 feet of it.

Once out of the machine, the angry snake wrapped itself around Burton's hand, cutting off the blood flow. Burton then wrestled the scaly reptile into a plastic bag, tied it shut and brought it to Lewiston.

That's where Jen Lewis, a wildlife rehabilitator who works at the Kennel Shop, identified it as a python. The snakes kill prey with their teeth but are not poisonous, she said.

Lewis and Lewiston's animal control officer planned to find the snake a home at a wildlife refuge.

But how the snake ended up in the washing machine remains a mystery. Burton guessed it was somebody's pet and that the owner ended up tossing it out into the wild when it got too big. It then made its way through the water pipes and into the washing machine, probably after the load was done, he said.

In the meantime, Ranger said she's a little paranoid.

"Now that it's gone, I'm going to be checking crevices and corners," Ranger said. "I'm going to be looking in the tub first — before and after, maybe even during, the rinse cycle."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25725071

rattlesnakes and a lot of water moccasins.
Or around here they're called cottonmouths.
There are lots of creeks and swamps in the region where I live