CritterChatter™ Blog
Midwestern Snakes Cause Unnecessary Fear
Snakes are often thought of as dangerous and frightening reptiles; and many people think the only good snake is a dead snake. Snakes are, for the most part, fairly misunderstood, indicators of ecological harmony and rarely dangerous.
According to Purdue University, there are around 45 snake species in the Midwest and only six are venomous. The venomous snakes include copperhead, cottonmouth and four different kinds of rattle snakes. In Iowa, specifically, there are 28 different species, ranging from tiny seven inch worm snakes to the bullsnake – which can be over five feet long.
More people die of lightning strikes than venomous snake bites in the U.S. every year. According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2002), about 7,000 to 8,000 people are bit by venomous snakes in the United States each year and about five of them die.
Iowa has extremely rare siting of venomous snakes, according to Iowa State University, and with only six venomous species in the Midwest, they are rare across the entire area and almost absent in the upper Midwest.
A local news station in upper west Iowa recently reported, in June, that residents were seeing an excessive amount of snakes in their yards and across the community, yet there was not a report from local experts of an over-abundance of snakes this year. May and June are breeding months for snakes, so it is common to see more during the spring and summer months; but generally, snakes are a sign of a healthy environment.
While the presence of these top-level carnivores does not mean everything in the area is environmentally sound, it does denote that the plant-eaters (herbivores) are doing well – also indicating that plant life is doing well. This, overall, indicates a high functioning and successful food web.
So instead of running for the garden hoe when at the sight of a snake, take time to recognize that its presence is most likely not life threatening and is an indicator of a prosperous environment.
