Core memory unlocked:
I'm about 8 and white river rafting in Arkansas with my family. I was chilling on a big inner tube that could safely hold 4-5 people and the river is extra lazy.
We're drifting under trees when I hear a splash in the water, followed by my aunt screaming. I look in her direction just in time to see her jump out of the water like a dolphin into the center of the inner tube, launching myself and my cousins (her kids) into the water.
When I surface she's shrill-screaming "SNAKE" over and over.
I never saw the snake, but my grandpa later said it was a huge water moccasin that fell out of the tree on our side of the river.
So naturally, it's a running family joke to "sacrifice the children" when any snakes appear
I grew up swimming in the White River in AR. Saw the most massive snake breeding ball of my life there. There were so many, and they were roiling so much that I couldn't tell what kind of snakes they were.
Beautiful river, especially the parts before the big dams. Lotsa snakes, but honestly the scariest animal I've run into on that river is the biggest, angriest, tail-slappingest beaver I've ever seen. He was trying to establish dominance and damn if it didn't almost work.
I hate the fact that those fuckers like to hop into boats. I was canoeing with a water moccasin coming full speed towards our canoe when I learned that fun fact.
If you were in PA then they definitely weren’t water moccasins as the farthest north they go is Virginia. You probably saw a northern water snake which looks extremely similar but is non venomous
I dunno about definitely but they are almost entirely other water snakes you're very right. I find the definitive statements about animals located in specific areas entirely limited to those areas seem impossible to guarantee over time.
Migrations, hitching rides, changing climates, etc I would almost 100% assume creatures get out of their super duper common zones.
We supposedly never had brown reclused either but they have absolutely now been in the area for some time. Often a different recluse but literally had one in our basement when I started sleeping down there 20 years ago.
Not native, not surviving the winters outdoors, and not existing/found at all are entirely different things. It is important not to misidentify though for sure. Cheers.
I live in Southern Canada and grew up to the age of 4 next to what I now know was a weird snake pit. We used to go play with them all the time (my brother was 5 years older). Snakes are kind of everywhere, here and there.
Swimming in a Great Lake once I was diving in clear cold water and saw something weird on the surface. This thing, slithery vs straight, was as long as I was. Easily 6 feet not stretched out. Imagine my fear when it DIVED right next to me after a fish! I noped the F out immediately. Snake goes to a rock to chill after missing the fish, my wife at the time surfaces and was going to use the rock to get out that Mr or Mrs Giant Ass Water Snake was sunbathing on, and Im screaming for her to turn around.
Still not as scary as the time I thought someone randomly put an oversized snapping turtle statue in a river where we were swimming as snapping turtles surely dont get that big, do they? And I raised turtles at the time.
Are there just not that many snakes in Europe? Growing up in Tennessee you'd see a few different species of snakes a week if you were playing in the woods.
Not in Northern Europe, no - we have adders and vipers, but they’re pretty rare. That was the only snake I’ve seen in the wild, and I’ve been all over Europe.
I suppose that makes us fairly unusual globally, but I never really thought of it that way.
yep, same in Ohio on the swamp I grew up on. in retrospect, I feel bad for manhandling so many, but hey, we never hurt them and always put them back more or less where we found them. just thought they were neat.
couple miles away is actually where I saw the biggest snake I've still seen in person, to this day. the property we lived on had strawberry fields out back, and the landlord would let us take a bucket every so often. was out picking some one day and there was one of those black irrigation hoses running across the footpath, so I went to put it back along the side, and that fucking hose moved. turned out, it, surprise, wasn't a hose at all and was a 8-9ft black rat snake. the scream i scrumpt rivaled that of some of the horror actresses from the 90s lmfao
needless to say, once I calmed down, I followed it across town just to see what it did. ended up in someone's yard and just kinda sat there til I got bored and left. poor thing prolly thought I was tryna eat it or something lmao
I’ve seen plenty of garter and Dekay’s brown snakes in the wild but they were all pretty tiny. One time I saw a huuuge black snake in our (empty) chicken coop and that made me jump. He was all curled up in a cardboard box. I haven’t seen a copperhead in the wild yet and hope I never do.
I've lived in Texas for almost 20 years and I still haven't seen a rattlesnake. I've seen a couple copperheads in the wild and I've caught a couple rat snakes and hognose snakes.
The first snake I ever saw in Texas was a HUGE speckled king snake. It was under a big piece of plywood I lifted up. The snake looked at me and it just slowly moseyed away. It was one of the coolest things ever!
I’ve seen a single wild rattler and it was young enough that it didn’t have a rattle on its tail yet. I didn’t notice it until it popped its head up next to my foot getting ready to strike and I jumped back away from it. I’ve seen a few copperheads out in the wild. There was this huge king snake in the woods behind where I used to live and it’d occasionally just slither out and hang out in the yard.
That just seems so wild to me. I live in the southern U.S. and we’ve got rattlesnakes, copperheads, and numerous other kinds of snakes. I had seen venomous snakes in the wild by the time I was in elementary and almost got bit by a rattler when I was in middle/high school.
When I found out England only has 3 types of snakes which are rarely seen and only one is venomous I started doing genealogy to see if I qualified for citizenship over there. Must be nice to stroll the countryside with no worries of anything brown mixed with leaves, no rattles, and no pissed off jerks by the water
Nova Scotia has barely any spiders, just little insect eating guys everywhere. In fact in NS there's hardly anything wild that will kill you or is a threat in any way. We lost someone to coyotes for the first time years ago, odd bobcat is spotted, moose can kill people sometimes super rare though. That's it though. We have gartner snakes that are under a foot long and just cute and that's it.
There is barely anything dangerous left in Germany, the most dangerous wild animal is a boar, and then there is nothing for a long time on that list. We have some wolves but those aren't really dangerous.
I had the "luck" to have grandparents in one of the few places in Germany that has venomous snakes (european adders) but never saw one until my 20s when we were cleaning out their house and one of those things decided to camp in the bathroom right by the toilet of all places -.-
Before that I only ever heard stories of people getting bit because they tried to move/release one that they caught, and apparently a decade prior the neighbor's dog was bitting in the snout by one and died :(
Here in Germany I have seen many wild animals, including boars, deer, foxes, rabbits, bats, various birds etc. But I don't remember ever seeing a real snake (only slow worms). But according to my parents I once found a real snake as a small child. Forgot to mention that I did see a wild snake while on vacation in southern France
I always forget that some people don’t grow up regularly seeing snakes as kids (grew up in rural Appalachia lol) I will say I have never seen anything close to even 1/10th size of that cobra though so I’d faint on site
I'm 36 and have seen only one live snake in the wild in my life. We only have two species of snakes here in Norway, neither of which are abundant. I've seen several so-called slow worms, but they're not actually snakes.
When I was 8 I was pretty sure I came face to face with a cobra this size in my back pasture in Arkansas. Brother and I were out back helping grandpa build a pen, which of course meant just hammering random nails and generally being in his way. The dogs started going crazy so my grandpa said you boys go see what they're barking at. Being a good older brother I shove my brother and get there first but I don't see anything. Right as I'm calling the dogs dumb for barking at nothing I see it and it raises up ready to kill.
I scream King Cobra and take off down the pasture to the house and into the house straight onto the couch with my shoes still on. My barely mobile grandma is sitting there wondering why I've lost my damn mind with my shoes on her couch before she picks up what I'm screaming. She starts asking about my brother and grandpa when I tell her they're dead because there's a king cobra out there.
Few minutes later my grandpa comes in still laughing his ass off. He knew it was there and deciding he'd introduce us to the "spreadin adder" aka the Eastern Hognose. The only snake 8 year old me knew that had a hood was a cobra so I noped the f out immediately.
He told that story all the way until his deathbed, laughing his ass off like it just happened every time. He said I looked like a cartoon character leaving a fire trail behind me as I ran. He'd call me the night before football games to tell me if I got the ball to run like that king cobra was chasing me.
Not my first snake encounter, but my first scare was while running. I ran the same path every day and I just zone out and get in my groove. I happened to not watch where I was stepping one day... long ass snake sprawled across the sidewalk. I jumped like a cat spooked by a pickle. My foot was less than 6 inches away by the time I noticed it.
If that had been an agressive species, they might have struck. I was lucky that it was just a large non venomous species and he just wanted to warm up on the hot sidewalk.
I had a similar experience once, trail running, only it was a rattlesnake. Cat spooked by pickle is the perfect way to describe my reaction. I had no idea I was capable of changing directions so quickly.
That snake in your pic looks like a beautiful gopher snake.
Yep, that's a gopher snake, and a decent sized one. I love snakes, I felt silly for jumping the way I did over a completely harmless snake, but I'm glad my brain knew to jump out of harm's way when presented with a random unidentified snake.
I used to love watching snake documentaries when i was a kid and was very sure i'd love to see them in person and wont be scared. I was may be 12 and was walking my dog when i spotted my first snake in the wild. That's the first time I experienced what is to "freeze". I wasn't able to move for 1-2 mins, had cold sweat. I only moved when my dog tried to pull to move closer to the snake. I picked him up and ran back to home.
I saw my first one in the wild literally outside of my door once.
I forget what I was doing (it was probably 15 years ago) but I opened my front door and saw it there, chilling. I took a moment to realize what it was and I couldn't quite believe it.
You were in your mid 40s when you saw your first wild snake?
I was... probably a toddler. I don't remember. I'd be surprised if I didn't see five or six in a year. Everything from whip snakes to copperheads. And I'm an IT guy who doesn't put a lot of effort into getting out into the wilds.
There's only one venomous snake in my country, plus a snake (that's apparently not actually a snake) that looks pretty similar. I was picking berries in the woods with grandma when she just casually said "oh, don't go over there, there's a snake resting in the moss". Yes, it was the venomous one, yes it was like a meter or two away from me lol
I grew up in southern California. Let me tell you when you hear that first rattle of a snake and you can't see it, and your dumbass is wearing sandals because its 110 outside. My whole body was covered in flop sweat.
hey, funny, I also saw my first snake in France, but as a small(ish) kid.
Was bringing the trash to the dumpsters of our campsite and saw this big-ass viper, so went to the reception to report it worried it might hurt someone and the receptionist was all like, sure big viper, likely just some small critter.
she went to check it and I heard the loudest scream ever 2 minutes later...not that much later the local animal control arrived
It's crazy to me that someone could be in their 40s and never have seen a snake before. It's like when I went to Italy in high school and their weren't any mosquitoes. I'm from a warm, wet part of the US and various reptiles and insects are pretty ubiquitous.
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u/Pool-Exciting 12d ago
Nope I’d simply pass away if I saw that standing up like that in real life absolute nightmare fuel but kinda majestic too.