West Virginia Wildlife from Eyewitness News

West Virginia Snakes

Identify and learn about snakes in the Mountain State.

September 10, 2008
Reporter: Patrick McMurtry
Videographer: Brad Rice

EYEWITNESS ONLINE WEBCAST VIDEO
C L I C K T O P L A Y

If you walk the woods of west virginia or even just stroll around your neighborhood, chances are you'll pass some snakes on your trek...Even if you don't know it.
But you probably won't see one that can hurt you.
Jim Fregonara Wv Dnr Says:
"In WV, we only have 2 venomous snakes, the northern copperhead and the timber rattlesnake, the 2 that are venomous, all the others are non-venomous and most snakes in general are pretty harmless. They're not going to bother you unless you try to bother them. Most of the snake bites that are recorded are people usually harassing the snakes."

That's generally not a good idea. In fact, jim says a lot of those snakes are harassed because of a good old fashioned case of mistanken identity. He says a lot of folks kill snakes they think are copperheads, but they're usually wrong.

Jim Fregonara Wv Dnr Says:
"The very best way, and this works 100% of the time in WV, if you look at a snake's eyeball, if it has a round eye like a human's does, if it's round, it's not venomous. If it's shaped like a cat's eye, a slit or a football standing on it's end, it would be either a copperhead or a rattlesnake."

Jim says since a snake can only strike half it's body length, it's usually ok to get close enough to look a snake right in the eye. You don't usually want to kill a snake because they do so much good.

Jim Fregonara Wv Dnr Says:
"They play a very important role in the environment. They help control the rodent populations. Farmers especially really value, especially the black rat snake for rodent control. They can kill more mice and rats that eat farmer's crops than any cat can."

That's something to think about the next time you see a snake slithering around your yard....See a snake outside, you probably won't see any mice inside.
For west virginia wildlife, i'm patrick mcmurtry, eyewitness news
<