Bob Mount: Watch out, amorous snakes are on the prowl

It’s snake-crawling time of the year. It’s the season when males of several species, including rattlesnakes, are actively searching for mating partners. Several years ago about this time a lady friend of mine called. “Bob, I need your help. Two large rattlesnakes are mating in my backyard, and they’ve been at it for nearly an hour. I need your help, please.”

She was obviously a maid in distress, so as quickly as I could I responded to her plea. When I arrived at her residence, there were two large rattlesnakes in her back yard. It was not a male-female relationship, but instead what’s called a combat dance involving two males. These so-called dances occur when two adult males of the same rattlesnake species encounter one another during breeding season. Initially they engage in what might be considered a pulling match following which they rear up and engage in a pushing match, as if to test each other’s strength. Biting in these contests does not occur.

Using a garden hoe I lifted each snake and placed it in a large empty plastic garbage receptacle for transport to my “rattlesnake refugium,” a tract of land I own in a heavily forested uninhabited area in eastern Lee County. I told the lady that I would return her receptacle.

“I don’t want it back. You keep it. It’s been contaminated by those snakes. And I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you’ve done.” She did reward me a day or two later with a half of gallon of Jack Daniel’s, a brand I can’t afford to buy with my limited supply of Green Stamps.

Last Saturday morning a lady from Opelika called and exclaimed, “Dr. Mount, there’s a ringneck snake in my pool skimmer, what can I do? I’ve called the police, but they won’t come; do you have a recommendation? I’m desperate!”

I told her that ringnecks are perfectly harmless, do not bite, and that she should just pick it up and toss it into the woods.

“I’m not about to pick up that snake! Don’t you have another suggestion?”

I told her to lift it out with a gravy ladle or something similar and toss it. I was tempted to suggest calling Bill Triplett for assistance because he’s unafraid of harmless snakes, but he’s been suffering from a bad cold so I decided against it.

Later that day another lady from Opelika called about a snake on her premises and provided a good description. It had longitudinal yellow stripes and was almost certainly a harmless garter snake. No venomous snake in our area has yellow stripes.

The next day I received a call about a snake under the vanity in the bathroom of an Auburn residence. It’s not unlikely that the snake gained entrance to the bathroom via the commode. On at least four occasions I am aware of, in our area, snakes, all harmless gray rat snakes, have shown up in toilet bowls, three of which I have been called to “rescue.”

Bob Mount is emeritus professor of zoology and entomology at Auburn University and writes a weekly column for the Opelika-Auburn News.