Bryan, that cottonmouth was trying to lure you into the brush, THEN it was going to chase you! Glad you didn't fall for the wily snake's strategy. Beautiful snakes, thank you for teaching us & sharing the wonderful critters around us.
The RSS cotton mouth survey: "Are you going to chase me?" "Guess not." "How about you? Are you going to chase me?" "Nope, not this one either." Repeat . . . all night. Beautiful water snake!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Bryan. I was just talking to my mom about this a couple weeks ago and she was telling me how her and my dad had a cotton mouth come out of the water and chase them. I already sent her this video 😂
Texas Gulf Coast here. I used to walk and fish next to a bayou with big trees next to it. In the heat of the day there were plenty of cottonmouths in the shade. I just walked around them. I left them alone, they left me alone.
"Uh, oh, it was ready to strike!" I grew up where the only snakes packing venom were rattlesnakes, and they were so rare that I never saw one, although my first encounter was across the river in Ontario when I nearly stepped on one that was getting some sun after several cold, rainy days. Boy Scouts prepared us for "the big four" though, and while I still haven't met up with a coral snake, I've had two cottonmouth encounters in East Texas in a year. That quick "snap" of the mouth at 2:30 really was an attention getter from the coiled little guy I saw in a cemetery near Dalby Springs, and all that was required was to step back and give him some space. I've never had a snake of any kind chase me. Bad dogs, on the other hand, plenty. Hopefully you got some good Tex-Mex *and* some good barbecue while you were here.
I think a lot of the animus towards venomous snakes is from long ago when there was no effective treatment for snakebite. Very few people in the US die from a snake bite now, or suffer dire consequences, because we have available antivenom serum that can reverse the effects of being bitten. I have seen the effects of bite from a large Eastern Diamomdback and it is scarey. I was a nurse in Florida many years ago and we admitted a kid who got bit. He was in ICU for several days and required very careful monitoring to save his life and his leg. Love your work and watch every video you put out.
I'm a cemetery walker, always on the lookout for headstones that list a cause of death. I've seen plenty of "scalped" and the occasional "Died from rabies", but I saw my first "Bitten by a rattlesnake" here in Texas over the last years. What you're saying was going through my head as I stood there, wondering as to the absolute hell that the little kid endured while the family could do absolutely nothing.
@QuarrellaDeVil Interesting hobby you have there. Children were especially at risk due to smaller body mass. It would not have been a pretty sight to be sure.
I'm 77 yrs. old & grew up on the west side of Houston. As a kid, my buddies & I had "baby" (young) alligators as pets. We would have an outdoor pen with a pool for them most of the year. However when the temps dropped I would set up a large galvanized tub in my bedroom for mine. We would hunt for minnows & crayfish almost daily to feed them. When we weren't hunting food for our gators, we were hunting snakes. Our favorite was the hognose. Our parents taught us how to recognize venomous snakes & how to safely catch snakes. My mother always told me to treat every snake as venomous until you were sure. Good advise as due to shedding, etc. we sometimes made mistakes & found ourselves holding a pygmy rattler or a copperhead. My personal observations about water moccasins regarding the "chasing" stories. 2 scenarios happen quite often. 1.) Moccasins will seek shelter under boats pulled up onto the bank & turned over. When startled the moccasins will race for the water. If you are between the snake & the water, it appears as if the snake is chasing you but in reality it is just trying to get to safety. However, when turning your boat over you want to be careful where you place your hands to avoid being bit. I do believe that water moccasins strike more frequently & with gusto like a rattlesnake. 2.) When in a boat on the water. Numerous times, I have come across moccasins crossing rivers & other large bodies of water. They often head straight for your boat & are quite determined to get on-board. I believe that they see a boat as no different than a piece of driftwood & are just seeking a place to rest. I have had experiences growing up in Texas with pygmy rattlesnakes, copperheads, water moccasins, & corral snakes. While their venom is quite potent, I believe that your odds of being bitten are minimal with the corral snake. The only reptile I was ever bitten by was my alligator.
Florida girl here, but I've seen a coral once. It was on my driveway while I was walking the dog, and was bolting in the other direction before it even registered what it was I was looking at. I think you'd either have to somehow manage to step on one (real feat since they're elapids) or be a complete idiot to get bitten by one.
You know, I wish snakes actually chased me so I could have a better look at them. In reality they always slither away before I can get a decent picture.
I got the same show that Bryan got when I saw my first cottonmouth, making the identification easy. Just a month later, I thought I'd gotten lucky and had seen another one, but as you say, they slither off so quickly and there was no exhibition from the snake. A later look at the fuzzy pictures and well ... the eyes were round, no pits, we've got us a cool water snake here!
One of the things I really like about you is that you are straightforward to the point of being blunt, because there are some people that can’t comprehend anything else. Of course, there are some that can’t comprehend even that. 🤔
I've seen one cottonmouth here in Florida; it didn't gape at me and waggle its tail, but it didn't chase me at all. It was interested in fish swimming in deeper water down the swalel, and that is where it went. Great video on teaching about cottonmouths
My own grandmother, when I was a child, told me she was chased by a cottonmouth when she was a child living in Southern Arkansas. It figures snakes too are confused in the South (just kidding). My experience is mostly all snakes get defensive and run away when confronted by humans and that’s because humans are the worse predator on the planet.
I live in West Central Missouri and I rarely see snakes. I think they see me first. For a few years I had a resident garter snake that lived in my garden. Always startled by him but I enjoyed seeing him. I know he had a job to do. My cat caught a small garter snake and I chased that cat down to rescue the snake. I hope he is still alive.
While I have never had one chase me. I have had one over and over again try to climb into that back of my bass boat. I had to push him away over and over again. Finally I flipped him away with a dip net handle and cranked the boat and left where he was. I wouldn't really have called it an aggressive snake, just deliberate or either desperate?
I also took a little road trip through Texas recently, and knowing you were somewhere nearby (in this massive state), I kept my eyes open for a Rattlesnake Solutions car... but duh, you were renting. How cool would it've been to randomly run into you. Glad you found some agkistrodons while you were here!
I worked in the woods of East Texas for several years and encountered tons of snakes, especially cotton mouths, copperheads, rattlers, coral snakes, and many non-venomous ones. I was never chased by any of them. The cottonmouths I happened upon, especially larger ones, were more likely to stand their ground, so very easy to go around. The closest I came to being bit was when I jumped into a creek washout, failing to spot the cottonmouth before hand. I landed about 3 ft from it. It coiled, posed and tracked my movement as I climbed backwards up the 8 ft embankment. It never struck at me. 😮💨
Personally, I think cottonmouths are skittish and easily spooked into a panic... and while looking for somewhere to hide in a panic... they seem to "chase" sometimes because they don't see all that well and they mistake you for cover or you are standing between them and their usual hiding spot. They care about finding cover... you are just in the way. Using venom defensively is a big L for them and they know it. Keeping venom for prey is a W. As if a cottonmouth is the scariest thing you could encounter in those woods.... let's be real... the actual scary things out there walk upright on 2 legs.
I feel like snakes and other animals sometimes are unable to perceive your entire body as one singular entity as they'll sometimes exhibit defensive behavior towards your face, then attempt to take cover under/near your feet, or even attempt to climb up your legs in the case of some arboreal species like frilled lizards.
I just came across this one as I had missed it. Now, come on, you know cottonmouths only chase local people cause they prefer homegrown! (Keeping a straight face here. 😐😁) But seriously, thank you for making this video to show cottonmouths just want to be left alone. I'm sorry you didn't see any corals but that was a lovely water snake.
Lived in Oklahoma half of my life and saw plenty of cotton mouths, but I have never heard of them chasing you. I will say that when you're swimming in a pond as a kid and they start coming your way it is not a comforting feeling.
So what are Cottonmouth's striking distance? If Rattlesnakes, can do at least half their length, what about Cottonmouths. So which venomous snakes do chase people....
Clint's Reptiles has a video where he replied to tik tok videos. One was a dangerous aggressive snake chasing a woman. (Iirc, it was a black racer?) I believe the video cut out early, but that you could see that as the woman veered a bit off the path, the snake kept going straight, which indicated (paraphrasing here) that it was trying for a spot it knew was safe and it happened to be that the woman ran the same direction. Once the threat moved the other way, the snake didn't keep "pursuing" her, but instead continued to flee towards the spot it knew would provide it with some sort of safety. Any coincidence of the snake following the woman's path was less aggression and more that it knew it'd lose a fight with a large predator, and since it only knew of THAT spot, it was hoping (more instinct vs. actual thought) that the predator's response time would not be good enough to catch it, or perhaps that it "knew something the predator did not" and that going the same direction as the predator, it might seem dangerous enough to make said predator hesitate for just those couple moments needed for it to be back in its safe place again.
Opossums VERY rarely have rabies. Their body temperature is a bit lower than most mammals, so it doesn't seem to be able to take hold in them as readily. That is NOT to say they are immune to it, but just that it is almost completely unheard of. Definitely not a reason to go pet them (though they're so cute) but probably don't have to worry about it.
I'm surprised you go to Texas and look for a corral the corral snake should be in the same places you find rattle snakes there or that's how it worked when I lived down there
Bryan, that cottonmouth was trying to lure you into the brush, THEN it was going to chase you!
Glad you didn't fall for the wily snake's strategy.
Beautiful snakes, thank you for teaching us & sharing the wonderful critters around us.
The RSS cotton mouth survey: "Are you going to chase me?" "Guess not."
"How about you? Are you going to chase me?" "Nope, not this one either."
Repeat . . . all night.
Beautiful water snake!
Imagine the cottonmouths that night : alert, alert, there is a crazy human chasing after us, RRUUUNNN !!!!! 😂😂
I've watched a lot of videos of cottonmouths. They are always trying to get away. They are a very skittish viper.
If they’re not trying to get away, they are being lazy and gaping! 😝
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Bryan. I was just talking to my mom about this a couple weeks ago and she was telling me how her and my dad had a cotton mouth come out of the water and chase them. I already sent her this video 😂
Same, only with me it was my boss!
Texas Gulf Coast here. I used to walk and fish next to a bayou with big trees next to it. In the heat of the day there were plenty of cottonmouths in the shade. I just walked around them. I left them alone, they left me alone.
"Uh, oh, it was ready to strike!"
I grew up where the only snakes packing venom were rattlesnakes, and they were so rare that I never saw one, although my first encounter was across the river in Ontario when I nearly stepped on one that was getting some sun after several cold, rainy days. Boy Scouts prepared us for "the big four" though, and while I still haven't met up with a coral snake, I've had two cottonmouth encounters in East Texas in a year. That quick "snap" of the mouth at 2:30 really was an attention getter from the coiled little guy I saw in a cemetery near Dalby Springs, and all that was required was to step back and give him some space. I've never had a snake of any kind chase me. Bad dogs, on the other hand, plenty.
Hopefully you got some good Tex-Mex *and* some good barbecue while you were here.
That’s right, Bryan you tell them. 😂
Love your channel and videos! Thanks to your team and hard work.
I seen a Funny video story about the cotton mouth chasing a Guy, LOL LOL the cotton mouth beat him to his truck LOL LOL.
I think a lot of the animus towards venomous snakes is from long ago when there was no effective treatment for snakebite. Very few people in the US die from a snake bite now, or suffer dire consequences, because we have available antivenom serum that can reverse the effects of being bitten. I have seen the effects of bite from a large Eastern Diamomdback and it is scarey. I was a nurse in Florida many years ago and we admitted a kid who got bit. He was in ICU for several days and required very careful monitoring to save his life and his leg. Love your work and watch every video you put out.
I'm a cemetery walker, always on the lookout for headstones that list a cause of death. I've seen plenty of "scalped" and the occasional "Died from rabies", but I saw my first "Bitten by a rattlesnake" here in Texas over the last years. What you're saying was going through my head as I stood there, wondering as to the absolute hell that the little kid endured while the family could do absolutely nothing.
@QuarrellaDeVil Interesting hobby you have there. Children were especially at risk due to smaller body mass. It would not have been a pretty sight to be sure.
I'm 77 yrs. old & grew up on the west side of Houston. As a kid, my buddies & I had "baby" (young) alligators as pets. We would have an outdoor pen with a pool for them most of the year. However when the temps dropped I would set up a large galvanized tub in my bedroom for mine. We would hunt for minnows & crayfish almost daily to feed them. When we weren't hunting food for our gators, we were hunting snakes. Our favorite was the hognose. Our parents taught us how to recognize venomous snakes & how to safely catch snakes. My mother always told me to treat every snake as venomous until you were sure. Good advise as due to shedding, etc. we sometimes made mistakes & found ourselves holding a pygmy rattler or a copperhead. My personal observations about water moccasins regarding the "chasing" stories. 2 scenarios happen quite often. 1.) Moccasins will seek shelter under boats pulled up onto the bank & turned over. When startled the moccasins will race for the water. If you are between the snake & the water, it appears as if the snake is chasing you but in reality it is just trying to get to safety. However, when turning your boat over you want to be careful where you place your hands to avoid being bit. I do believe that water moccasins strike more frequently & with gusto like a rattlesnake. 2.) When in a boat on the water. Numerous times, I have come across moccasins crossing rivers & other large bodies of water. They often head straight for your boat & are quite determined to get on-board. I believe that they see a boat as no different than a piece of driftwood & are just seeking a place to rest. I have had experiences growing up in Texas with pygmy rattlesnakes, copperheads, water moccasins, & corral snakes. While their venom is quite potent, I believe that your odds of being bitten are minimal with the corral snake. The only reptile I was ever bitten by was my alligator.
Did you turn them over to HMNS. If so the animal keepers at HMNS told us about a bunch of teens who kept gators then gave them to HMNS
Florida girl here, but I've seen a coral once. It was on my driveway while I was walking the dog, and was bolting in the other direction before it even registered what it was I was looking at. I think you'd either have to somehow manage to step on one (real feat since they're elapids) or be a complete idiot to get bitten by one.
You know, I wish snakes actually chased me so I could have a better look at them. In reality they always slither away before I can get a decent picture.
I got the same show that Bryan got when I saw my first cottonmouth, making the identification easy. Just a month later, I thought I'd gotten lucky and had seen another one, but as you say, they slither off so quickly and there was no exhibition from the snake. A later look at the fuzzy pictures and well ... the eyes were round, no pits, we've got us a cool water snake here!
One of the things I really like about you is that you are straightforward to the point of being blunt, because there are some people that can’t comprehend anything else. Of course, there are some that can’t comprehend even that. 🤔
💯 correct!!
I've seen one cottonmouth here in Florida; it didn't gape at me and waggle its tail, but it didn't chase me at all. It was interested in fish swimming in deeper water down the swalel, and that is where it went.
Great video on teaching about cottonmouths
Don't feel bad, they won't chase anyone else either. ;-)
My own grandmother, when I was a child, told me she was chased by a cottonmouth when she was a child living in Southern Arkansas. It figures snakes too are confused in the South (just kidding). My experience is mostly all snakes get defensive and run away when confronted by humans and that’s because humans are the worse predator on the planet.
Just love
Your videos. Always learn something new.
The Snakes of America, "Run Away! Run Away!". The Politicians of America, "Hey, Come Here Buddy!"
I live in West Central Missouri and I rarely see snakes. I think they see me first. For a few years I had a resident garter snake that lived in my garden. Always startled by him but I enjoyed seeing him. I know he had a job to do. My cat caught a small garter snake and I chased that cat down to rescue the snake. I hope he is still alive.
Good information, and video.
While I have never had one chase me. I have had one over and over again try to climb into that back of my bass boat. I had to push him away over and over again. Finally I flipped him away with a dip net handle and cranked the boat and left where he was. I wouldn't really have called it an aggressive snake, just deliberate or either desperate?
Maybe it wanted out of the water so as not to drown?
Had a 4 footer try to get in my boat!! Scared the crap out of me.
I also took a little road trip through Texas recently, and knowing you were somewhere nearby (in this massive state), I kept my eyes open for a Rattlesnake Solutions car... but duh, you were renting. How cool would it've been to randomly run into you. Glad you found some agkistrodons while you were here!
I worked in the woods of East Texas for several years and encountered tons of snakes, especially cotton mouths, copperheads, rattlers, coral snakes, and many non-venomous ones. I was never chased by any of them. The cottonmouths I happened upon, especially larger ones, were more likely to stand their ground, so very easy to go around. The closest I came to being bit was when I jumped into a creek washout, failing to spot the cottonmouth before hand. I landed about 3 ft from it. It coiled, posed and tracked my movement as I climbed backwards up the 8 ft embankment. It never struck at me. 😮💨
Personally, I think cottonmouths are skittish and easily spooked into a panic... and while looking for somewhere to hide in a panic... they seem to "chase" sometimes because they don't see all that well and they mistake you for cover or you are standing between them and their usual hiding spot. They care about finding cover... you are just in the way. Using venom defensively is a big L for them and they know it. Keeping venom for prey is a W.
As if a cottonmouth is the scariest thing you could encounter in those woods.... let's be real... the actual scary things out there walk upright on 2 legs.
Cool very informative video. What part of the Lone Star State did you film all the wildlife?
What about if they have babies nearby?
What if you are fishing off of the bank and a fish coming in, will it chase then?
❤❤❤
Those snakes were all aggressively trying to get away from you. Maybe they were all chasing you, but they have a terrible sense of direction?
I feel like snakes and other animals sometimes are unable to perceive your entire body as one singular entity as they'll sometimes exhibit defensive behavior towards your face, then attempt to take cover under/near your feet, or even attempt to climb up your legs in the case of some arboreal species like frilled lizards.
I just came across this one as I had missed it. Now, come on, you know cottonmouths only chase local people cause they prefer homegrown! (Keeping a straight face here. 😐😁) But seriously, thank you for making this video to show cottonmouths just want to be left alone. I'm sorry you didn't see any corals but that was a lovely water snake.
Fear is a Powerful Tool.
🤠🐍🐍
Lived in Oklahoma half of my life and saw plenty of cotton mouths, but I have never heard of them chasing you. I will say that when you're swimming in a pond as a kid and they start coming your way it is not a comforting feeling.
So what are Cottonmouth's striking distance? If Rattlesnakes, can do at least half their length, what about Cottonmouths.
So which venomous snakes do chase people....
Zero.
Clint's Reptiles has a video where he replied to tik tok videos. One was a dangerous aggressive snake chasing a woman. (Iirc, it was a black racer?)
I believe the video cut out early, but that you could see that as the woman veered a bit off the path, the snake kept going straight, which indicated (paraphrasing here) that it was trying for a spot it knew was safe and it happened to be that the woman ran the same direction. Once the threat moved the other way, the snake didn't keep "pursuing" her, but instead continued to flee towards the spot it knew would provide it with some sort of safety. Any coincidence of the snake following the woman's path was less aggression and more that it knew it'd lose a fight with a large predator, and since it only knew of THAT spot, it was hoping (more instinct vs. actual thought) that the predator's response time would not be good enough to catch it, or perhaps that it "knew something the predator did not" and that going the same direction as the predator, it might seem dangerous enough to make said predator hesitate for just those couple moments needed for it to be back in its safe place again.
Bryan, is it a myth and fake info that an opossum out in the daytime has rabies?
Opossums VERY rarely have rabies. Their body temperature is a bit lower than most mammals, so it doesn't seem to be able to take hold in them as readily. That is NOT to say they are immune to it, but just that it is almost completely unheard of. Definitely not a reason to go pet them (though they're so cute) but probably don't have to worry about it.
I'm surprised you go to Texas and look for a corral the corral snake should be in the same places you find rattle snakes there or that's how it worked when I lived down there
It's a different genus of coralsnake!
@@RattlesnakeSolutions Both the Eastern and Texas Coral Snake are in the same genus, Micrurus.
The Arizona Coral Snake is in the genus Micruroides
@@Alan-gi2kuyup
No....snakes usually don't chase you.
Nope. Most are outta there asap. 😂
No.....snakes Don't chase you.