Snakes Anyone?

Snakes Anyone? Earl Plato

What continues to fascinate an almost five year old little girl? As parents and grandparents you would probably say dolls. Not so entirely with Ashlyn. This little granddaughter loves nature - bugs, worms and yes, snakes! Her parents watched in amazement as she latched onto the tail of a garter snake as it entered its burrow. Ashlyn pulled and pulled. She wanted to see the snake up close. The snake won out. No fear only curiosity for her. Let’s not dampen this gift of learning about new things but temper it with good advice. Not all snakes appreciate a pull on their tail! This article is about an ugly but relatively harmless snake found in Niagara. It’s the Northern water snake. I say ugly but late naturalist, Ed Teale, said, “a rather pretty banded reptile.” I have met the water snake as a youth at the Plato pond on Bertie Road and recently on Point Pelee Island. It’s not attractive to me. I remember cousin Sam yelling out, “It’s a water moccasin!” Sorry Sam, no water moccasins ever existed naturally in Niagara but we all reacted. “Try to stone it!” The water snake will strike repeatedly at you when cornered. It is often killed because of this defensive reaction. No, it’s not poisonous but can inflict a puncture that bleeds freely. This snake has an anticoagulant quality to its saliva. I remember Johnny showing us his bitten finger as the blood flowed freely. Ashlyn, avoid any snake that does not flee and tries to strike at you. Yes, even a garter snake can coil as it tries to defend itself. Be curious but be careful. In May look for this snake around area ponds. Ed Teale, who lives on about the same latitude as us, wrote the following in early may back then: “Up until yesterday we had one resident water snake in our pond. ... yesterday morning I saw it had been joined by a stranger. By noon a second newcomer had made its appearance. By evening a third had arrived. This May pond is a rendezvous, a mating place, that has drawn water snakes from the surrounding area. ... our snake is a female, thick bodied, older, and almost black in colour. The males are younger, brighter, more reddish in hue. ... the males try to mate with the one female without any evidence of fighting among themselves. Next dawn we will see only one, the resident female.” My memory as a youth says that that ugly, thick bodied, black snake at Plato pond was a female water snake. If you have a reptile guide look it up. Check your snakes around our May ponds. Let me know if you see any Northern water snakes.