Bitten by Snakes or Snapping Turtles while Swimming?

Hello, All:

I am located in southern Virginia. This afternoon, I saw a small snake
in the water near the edge of a pond while taking a walk there. The
snake swam near the edge and, for a few moments, got further away from
the pond edge and deeper into the water; then it was trying to get out
of the water and stopped half way out of the water. It then returned
back to the water and disappeared---maybe because it noticed that I was
approaching.

There are also quite a few turtles in the pond, and I have seen ones of
maybe 6 to 8 inches in size. Could these be snapping turtles?

Two years ago, I also saw otters showing up in the pond.

My question is: If one swims in such a pond, can one get bitten by
either snakes, or snapping turtles, or even otters? Are there any real
cases of swimmers who got bitten by these animals?

--Roland

In article . com,
says...
My question is: If one swims in such a pond, can one get bitten by
either snakes, or snapping turtles, or even otters? Are there any real
cases of swimmers who got bitten by these animals?


If you saw the turtles they probably weren't snapping turtles. Never
heard of anyone being bit if swimming, but if you were to take a break
and had your toes or fingers submerged near a turtle it might be
inclined to try a taste....snakes I would think you would have to
accidentally get tangled up with to invoke a bite...otters, doubt they
would allow you to get close enough for them to decide to attack.
--
Lar

to email get rid of the BUGS

"qquito" wrote:

My question is: If one swims in such a pond, can one get bitten by
either snakes, or snapping turtles, or even otters? Are there any real
cases of swimmers who got bitten by these animals?

I am in SE PA. A college student here was leading a high school science
class on a ecology trip down a local creek. While he was wading waist
deep in the creek, all of a sudden something made a beeline toward him
"like a torpedo". He fought it off with his fists, but it managed to
bite him in the back side. Another student was bitten trying to help
him. They both had to get rabies shots. They think it was a muskrat,
either rabid or defending its young. The game commission said that they
do get rabid because sometimes a fox will attack them when they are
smaller.

Rabies shots today are different. No shots in the stomach. He got a
series of shots getting shot in both arms, both legs and the buttocks.
They are not pleasant, but less unpleasant. The other young man had to
be held down to get his shots.
--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
18,000 gallon (17'x 47'x 2-4') lily pond garden in Zone 6
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA

"qquito" wrote...
Hello, All:

I am located in southern Virginia. This afternoon, I saw a small snake
in the water near the edge of a pond while taking a walk there. The
snake swam near the edge and, for a few moments, got further away from
the pond edge and deeper into the water; then it was trying to get out
of the water and stopped half way out of the water. It then returned
back to the water and disappeared---maybe because it noticed that I was
approaching.

There are also quite a few turtles in the pond, and I have seen ones of
maybe 6 to 8 inches in size. Could these be snapping turtles?

Two years ago, I also saw otters showing up in the pond.

My question is: If one swims in such a pond, can one get bitten by
either snakes, or snapping turtles, or even otters? Are there any real
cases of swimmers who got bitten by these animals?

Snapping turtles are found in Virginia waters, but unless you chance upon
some sleeping giant the size of a 15" auto wheel (or bigger), recorded
attacks are few (but then, it's the unrecorded attacks which might raise
concerns, the attacked not around to file for the record). The snakes?
Having once been bitten by a teeny' little one while "gilling" for catfish,
in the Southern US, the "Cottonmouth" (for the bright light mucosa inside
wide-open mouths as they strike) water moccasin certainly is found in
Virginia, and a big one will ruin your day. A little one certainly
discomforted mine, and the legend in which snakes can't bite underwater is
only legend.

Snakes and turtles are desperately people-shy. Most ponds can be "safed"
for routine swimming by arriving with a lot of noise, carrying on and
popping beer cans, the mild screams of dates in insufficiently sized bathing
wear being groped, etc., but wise swimmers have been known to cut a branch
with which to beat the water before entering, sending snappers and snakes
a'flying.
Moccasins have ahabit od sunning themselves on limbs and dead brush
over-hanging creeks and ponds, waiting for the occasional meal-sized
wanderer to show up below. Most folks never see them. They are there, just
as Rattlers abound in the woods of Virginia, most unheard and unseen, since
the snakes will have long before heard the human invaders and attempted to
depart/hide. That's the danger of copperheads, hiding instead of moving,
and on occasion right where you're stepping/reaching.

Rumor has it that alligators are returning to some rivers in Southern
Virginia, but the return of beaver in substantial numbers has not been
accompanied by many frenzied beaver assaults on unwary swimmers.

TM "Doesn't taste much like chicken, either." Oliver

TOliver wrote:



Snakes and turtles are desperately people-shy. Most ponds can be "safed"
for routine swimming by arriving with a lot of noise,

Contrary to popular belief

Snakes "can't" hear, noise is a worthless means of trying to run them off

Look it up, they have no ears, or means of detecting sound, they can
feel vibrations, but not at the sound levels.

One day I was canoeing and a big Cotton Mouth was just 20 feet away on
the bank, I pulled out the trusted 22 automatic pistol to dispatch it.
The trouble was my wife was squirming and rocking the canoe, I missed 6
times, that snake never moved,( the sound of the 22 going off did not
even wake it up) until I finally hit it, then it moved, but just for a
couple of seconds :-)





--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Mojo SpecTastic "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread,
Boomerang Fishing Pro. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, and the EZKnot
http://www.ezknot.com

"Rodney Long" wrote in message
...
One day I was canoeing and a big Cotton Mouth was just 20 feet away on the
bank, I pulled out the trusted 22 automatic pistol to dispatch it.

Reason being?

Don Freeman wrote:

"Rodney Long" wrote in message
...

One day I was canoeing and a big Cotton Mouth was just 20 feet away on the
bank, I pulled out the trusted 22 automatic pistol to dispatch it.


Reason being?




They, and man, have no place together, a cotton mouth does not fear man,
and will attack, non provoked, I've had it happen to me more than once,
but I have always been able to avoid the strike, because I saw the snake
before it got in range. I even had one try to get in the boat with me,
because I was anchored across his path, I could not even beat him away
with a fishing rod, he kept fighting it and me, I ending up shooting
him, although he was in an area where he would not have harmed anyone
else,, he just would not leave, and would not keep from trying to get
into the boat with me, and I couldn't move the boat with the two anchors
out, I couldn't get them in and fight the snake off at the same time

I "NEVER" kill non poisonous snakes, (and I know the difference) and
only kill the poisonous ones when they are a threat, by just their
location, sometimes. a cotton mouth within 50 yds of a swimming area,
house, or area where people frequent, DIES ! It's not worth the chance
of someone getting bitten. If they were rare, perhaps I would catch and
transplant those that are on the bank in these areas, if it hits the
water, there is no catching them, and you will get bitten trying

--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Mojo SpecTastic "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread,
Boomerang Fishing Pro. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, and the EZKnot
http://www.ezknot.com

"Rodney Long" wrote in message
...
Don Freeman wrote:

"Rodney Long" wrote in message
...

One day I was canoeing and a big Cotton Mouth was just 20 feet away on
the bank, I pulled out the trusted 22 automatic pistol to dispatch it.


Reason being?

They, and man, have no place together, a cotton mouth does not fear man,
and will attack, non provoked, I've had it happen to me more than once,


Yet you state that the snake was on the bank, and you were 20 ft away, on
the water, and in a boat. Now THAT sounds non-provoked.

--
-Don
Ever had one of those days where you just felt like:
http://cosmoslair.com/BadDay.html ?
(Eating the elephant outside the box, one paradigm at a time)

Don Freeman wrote:
"Rodney Long" wrote in message
...
One day I was canoeing and a big Cotton Mouth was just 20 feet away on the
bank, I pulled out the trusted 22 automatic pistol to dispatch it.

Reason being?

Being out with the pistol, he was itching to shoot it at something.

jmcgill wrote:



Being out with the pistol, he was itching to shoot it at something.


Not at all, I'm always "now" out with a pistol, I rarely shoot anything

The reason for that is this http://ezknot.com/raccoon.html

It's a funny story now, but it was not when it happened

--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Mojo SpecTastic "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread,
Boomerang Fishing Pro. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, and the EZKnot
http://www.ezknot.com