Like Wayne I have done a fair amount of swamp slogging in south Florida, and haven\'t had any worries. I have occasionally seen cottonmouths, on or beside the trail, but not enough to worry too much about. But on a hike in Big Cypress National Preserve a couple of weeks ago I had to rethink that. On a 2 mile hike I counted 16 cottonmouths coiled on or beside the trail, before I stopped counting. There were so many that they felt like the cheering section on the sidewalks of a marathon! I\'ve never seen anything like this before.
I think what is happening is that drier-than-usual conditions this year have resulted in less favorable conditions in the prairies and cypress stands surrounding the trail. Because it is eroded a few inches lower, the trail still has a bit of standing water. The snakes apparently are concentrated around the water, waiting for small prey. This was right at sunset, so I think they were coming out for an evening meal.
That said they were not aggressive, so long as I didn\'t step on them (which I didn\'t try). They were always highly visible and I usually saw them right when they saw me. They always give an open-mouth display to intimate any threat that happens by, but showed no eagerness to follow it up, even if I poked them with my sticks. They always let me pass at a safe distance on the trail. But since it was getting dark and I couldn\'t be so sure of seeing them first, so I decide to end early and not finish by headlamp.
I think I may have a pair of snake gaiters at least along with me next time, just in case I run into a similar odd convergence of snake concentrating conditions.
Dave
Feb 19, 2013 at 09:38 AM
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