Poisonous Snakes in Michigan

“I was swiming at my in-laws last night and my mother in-law was telling me something about a poisonous snake that was found to be deadly in Michigan. I told her that I knew of a couple of different types, but I have never heard of anything being deadly. Well, being the type of person that she is (always likes to put a crimp in any tpe of plan/fun I might have), she was very insistant on the fact and stated that she heard this on NPR yesterday. Did anyone else hear this or know of what she's talking about?”

“I listened to NPR as I drove across Michigan yesterday (Kalamazoo to Marquette) and didn't hear any snake story. But the only poisonous snake I know of in Michigan is the massasauga (sp) rattlesnake, found in swampy areas of the southern Lower Peninsula. It is small, shy and fairly rare. A bite is not considered deadly, though any toxin injected into a small enough child or person with otherwise compromised health could be fatal I suppose, if not dealt with right away. I lived in southern Michigan for years and tramped through much ideal massasauga rattler habitat, including numerous small critter collecting expeditions (my brother and I had several "pet" snakes in our youth), and never encountered one.

This doesn't rule out any "exotic" poisonous snakes that some dipweeds might let loose when they get tired of having such a "pet." Those could last through a season I suppose.”

“Tell her that driving to the trailhead is 8.4 times more dangerous than actually hiking. I have absolutely no supporting documentation.”

“There are no poisonous snakes that I've ever heard of. There are some that be venomous. ;-)

I know nothing about snakes myself, but this spring while on a GreatLakesHikes group hike, we stumbled across 2 of the Missauka (sp?) rattlers you speak of. One of the other hikers ID?d one of them, and was quite sure. It lay in the middle of the trail giving us a good long opportunity to look at it. They have tiny rattles you can barely see. They also fan out their head like a cobra. Very intimidating. I was told they are not deadly unless you?re a kid or aged or very weak to begin with.

Another interesting tidbit mentioned was that injecting venom is very costly to a snake in terms of energy used to replenish it. A mature snake will often strike without using venom, to save theirself the trouble. A young one, not knowing better, may inject their whole supply, thus making a young snake much more deadly.

All of this is word-of-mouth from someone I only met once and should be not be taken as absolute fact. I found it interesting, though.”

“While cooking dinner this evening, I was chating with the fellow next door and he said that he too had heard something like that and that it happened in the city of Southfield (almost right next to my city). Now, I know that you have to watch out for the venomous (thanks for the correction, Le Subtil.) massasauga, but she (my mother in law) swore that that was not the snake. I "informed her" the same thing as pekka suggested, l think that it was just somebodies "pet" let loose and bit someone. I think that I just have a case of a "venomous" mother in law. I concluded the disscussion by saying that we carry a 1/5th of whiskey and a snake bite kit.






I don't think she got it.....



Thanks for the info, everyone. It's hard trying to deal with non-hikers in situations like this.......”

“LeSubtil - could be that snake on the trail was a hog-nose snake if it "puffed up" or flared it's head when approached. Hog-nose snakes are fairly common. They look a lot like Eastern Massasaugas, will coil, may strike. The rattlers just have a wide triangular shaped head and don't flare.

Ditto on the young rattlers packing more of a punch in amount of venom injected. Those youngsters just don't control themselves well!

Overall, there aren't many rattlers in Michigan and they are protected by state law. You might tell the mom-in-law that SE Michigan has been prime habitat for them....... but as housing developments encroach on wetland areas the rattlers are on the losing side. Bois Blanc Island is supposed to have a lot of them but I've crashed around in the forest up there and haven't noticed any.”

“laqtis, There was a news story about a woman in Macomb CO who found a rattler in her backyard. The rattler's bite is rarely deadly. You have to be very small or get bit just in the right place for it to kill you. Our MI variety is pretty low on the dangerous snakes scale. I bet you won't ever see one. If you do it'd probably be real interested in getting away from ya quick instead of striking. Just watch your step on sunny trails.”

“The adolescent snake injects it's venom too soon?

Why does that remind me of MY youth? ;^)

Sorry 'bout that; couldn't resist.”

“I, too, would bet that it was a hognose if it flared like a little cobra. The tail markings on a hognose may be mistaken for a nub of a rattle at times. Their coiling and hissing is intimidating (duh) and they will strike, though they only have bony ridges in their mouths. I used to catch them in my suburban backyard, and once had a tug of war with a 3-footer that "raced" me to its burrow in a berm at the back lot line -- it got in part way, but I had it by the tail. I was probably 8 or 10 and it won gradually. They love eating frogs and toads.

On the venom issue, the young may be profligate with their juice, but in snakes, at least, the volume of venom is relative to the size of the snake. So baby rattlers have a bit of venom from the start, but the big ones have large amounts. The amount injected varies from strike to strike, and I recently read that the majority don't involve any, at least in non-prey directed strikes.”

“Actually it was a rattler. They had it removed by some nature center or something.”

“Joy, I think Cow Patty and I were refering to the one LeSubtil said he saw flare its head/neck on a group hike this spring rather than the Macomb incident.

One thing is for sure on this subject, though; know your snakes before you pick one up or poke at it.”

“Yeah, what pekka said.”

“Oh...okay”

“My neighbor says he sees massasaga rattlers in the swamps on my lake occasionally. I see lots of snakes, but I don't know enough to really identify them.

But, if you want prime viewing, maybe try Onsted State Game Area in Lenawee County.

They also have them at the Matthei (sp?) Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor. Supposedly, one got inside their building and scared some of the interpretive staff.

They are out there, but nothing to be scared about.”

“A woman was bit this week , twice by the same massassagua (sp?). She then had the clarity of mind to catch it in a 5 gal. bucket.”

“I have taken a couple of classes on vertebrate pests, as continuing education for my Pest Control License. The instructor (Dr. Michael Glassey, Medical Entomologist)has a huge collection of rattlers
and other species of venomous snakes, etc.
It is amazing how many myths and rumors there are about these snakes.

But he stated some interesting facts.. that something like 80% of rattlesnake bites are on the right hand, not on ankles ...but hands, Why? ... people trying to pick up or kill the snake. Rattlesnakes are Pit Vipers the pit is a heat sensitive structure, so when you reach down to clobber it... it doesn't see the stick or knife or whatever... it senses your hand...oops. A severed head can still bite by reflex action for up to an hour and heartbeats in different species of rattlesnakes have been recorded for periods ranging from 15 hours to 59 hours ( Klauber 1956 )”

“Cool info, Wind Walker. And worth applying to our behavior around rattlers.”

“Thanks WW I will use a much longer stick the next time I play Steve Irwin...”

“Hyper...I love to watch that crazy Aussie.”

“I wouldn't be able to identify any snake in Michigan. It's something I've always thought I should learn more about. As pekka says... "know your snakes..." I found this website from U of M that has photos of the snakes found in Michigan. Pretty great if, like me, you are not a Mich snake expert.

Anyone know of any website that have more info... such as habitats, etc of the different snakes in Mich?”

“According to Tarabull's pic link, and from what I can remember, I think it was a HOgnose. THanks for all the info.”

“Can anyone tell me how I screwed up that link?? It shouldn't have underlined everything... UGH

I followed directions from a thread called THe HTML Thread. I thought I did everything it said...”

“You forgot to close off your HTML with an </a> after the thread title.”