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At such a time she naturally thinks of snakes and snake lore.
May is such a busy time for gardeners, and Old Wives are seriously dedicated gardeners. After an especially severe winter (coldest in twenty years with twice as much snowfall), Miss Stacy must decide which shrubs and perennials to replace while clearing up after several days of a really, really heavy rain.
[ General Lore;
Rattlesnake;
Copperhead;
Cottonmouth Moccasin;
Coral Snake;
Garter Snake]
General Lore
Where snakes are found, snake lore is found. They are symbols of evil. They are symbols of wisdom. Their ability to shed their skin and look young again makes them symbols of immortality. Meanings change with culture, but snakes always are significant.
Miss Stacy grew up in Georgia, a part of the USA where there are many non-venomous snakes as well as members of each of the families of venomous snakes found in the country. Although finding a snake in one's home was rare, encountering a snake was not uncommon. These conditions gave rise to many folk beliefs.
Schoolmates were full of stories and warnings. All were known to be true and had happened to someone who knew someone who knew the storyteller's uncle or first cousin.
Hoop Snakes These snakes take their tails in their mouths and roll after their prey. The child who became Miss Stacy could not understand how a snake could keep its body in a circle. When she expressed skepticism, the other children assured her that she was just being silly. Again.
The idea that snakes would contort themselves into a circle to chase prey when they can glide along at considerable speed is hard to imagine. Miss Stacy has had several experiences of chasing and catching a snake, and it is not easy. But snake-catching is best discussed later.
Coach Whip Snakes Watch out! One of these snakes will wrap itself around a person and whip it to death. Can't imagine why, can you? Should parents warn their children, "Eat your sprouts, or a coach whip snake will get you!"?
Gramma's Approach to Snakes Growing up with her grandmother ("Gramma"), Miss Stacy spent many happy hours gardening with her. From time to time Gramma would order, "Go in the house and stay until I tell you to come out." Then she'd take her hoe and go decapitate the snake that had dared to trespass in her yard. Soon, she'd come inside, announce the kind and size of snake, and take the young Miss Stacy to see it so she'd learn identification.
Gramma ignored several beliefs about snakes. First, it was widely believed that a snake with its head cut off does not die until sundown. "Nonsense," said Gramma as she buried the snake. This violated another taboo. One was supposed to nail the snake to a fence post as a warning to other snakes that this was a place to avoid. The third was that a snake would bite you after death with as much venom as when it was alive. She explained that one should just be careful not to come in contact with the fangs, which still contained venom, as one would avoid coming into contact with an ice pick. Any contact with fangs would involve less venom that from a bite.
Gramma's advice about avoiding snake bites: "Keep your hands and feet in sight at all times."
All rattlesnakes have a set of fangs with which they inject large quantities of hemotoxic venom. The venom travels through the bloodstream, destroying tissue and causing swelling, internal bleeding, and intense pain. Most species of rattlesnakes can control how much venom to inject. BTW, more people are killed each year by lightning strikes, bee stings, and domestic dogs than by snake bites.
Although not endangered, the species clearly is in trouble primarily because of habitat destruction. Some people hate snakes so much that they go out of their way to kill them. We should remember that in addition to controlling the rodent population, the Eastern Diamondback provides food for king snakes, eastern indigo snakes, red-tailed hawks, great horned owls, and many other species.
Myth Mother snakes stay with their young for the first year and will attack anything that comes near.
Myth You can tell a rattler's age by counting its rattles. There's one for each year.
Myth Snakes must rattle before striking.
Miss Stacy Meets a Rattler The Eastern Diamondback is the only venomous North American snake Miss Stacy has encountered in the wild. As she sauntered down a dirt road looking for wild fennel one girlhood afternoon, she saw a coiled rattlesnake basking in the center of the road only a couple of yards away. She briefly was mesmerized before collecting her thoughts and backing slowly away.
The rattler did not chase after her or send a Coach Whip to chastise her for disturbing its siesta. Nonetheless, she was more observant of that road during future collecting outings.
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus)
Rattlesnakes are highest in lore circles and are the source of both fascination and repulsion. It is wise to fear the Eastern Diamondback since it is the most venomous snake in North America. It's also the largest rattlesnake on Earth, and its fangs are of greater length in proportion to its overall size than any other poisonous snake in North America. It has a very high venom yield, often several times the amount lethal to humans.
In fact, these snakes give birth to live young, anywhere between six and twenty at a time, with an average of about twelve. The newborns are born underground and typically are between twelve and fifteen inches in length with long, fully functional fangs and venom. They leave the mother just hours after birth and must fend for themselves thereafter. Most do not survive their first year.
In fact, a snake sheds its skin about three times a year and may acquire a new rattle each time. Rattles often are lost because of life circumstances. The number does not indicate age.
In fact, they are quite capable of striking while remaining completely silent. In fact, according to one hypothesis, individuals that remain silent are less likely to be heard, seen, and killed, so are more likely to pass on their genes to the next generation, leading to the idea that natural selection for rattlesnakes that do not rattle is ongoing. (Miss Stacy senses a horror film about a world overrun with silent killer rattlesnakes.)
Copperheads generally are not aggressive, and their bites are rarely fatal. Tests on mice show that venom potency is among the lowest of all pit vipers. It is weaker than that of its close relative, the cottonmouth. Copperheads often employ a "warning bite" when stepped on or agitated and inject a relatively small amount of venom, if any at all.
"Dry bites" involving no venom are particularly common with the copperhead, though all pit vipers are capable of a dry bite.
Miss Stacy didn't hear any lore about copperhead snakes while she was growing up. She did learn about people called Copperheads.
The Copperheads were a vocal group of Democrats located in the Northern United States of the Union who opposed the American Civil War. They wanted an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates. Republicans started calling antiwar Democrats "Copperheads" and likened them to the venomous snake. The Copperheads' goal was to negotiate a peace and restore the Union with slavery. They were very vocal during the 1864 Presidential election. After the fall of Atlanta in September 1864, military success seemed assured, and Copperheadism collapsed.
Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix)
Adults usually grow to about two feet in length, but some have been reported to be three feet long. Like most North American vipers, these snakes prefer to avoid humans. Given the opportunity, they will leave the area without biting. However, they will often "freeze" instead of slithering away. It can be very difficult to notice a copperhead because of its camouflage abilities; they often strike because they've been trodden upon.
Sometimes called a water moccasin, it's the world's only semiaquatic viper and usually is found in or near water, particularly in slow-moving and shallow lakes, streams, and marshes. The snake is a strong swimmer and will even enter the sea.
Country Legend / Urban Legend – There is one tale, apparently widely told, that Miss Stacy heard several times while living in the South and even more often outside the area. It's one of those "happened to someone who knew someone who knew the storyteller's uncle or first cousin" stories Miss Stacy mentioned earlier.
Seems that a group of young people were out swimming and water skiing on [local lake or river] one summer afternoon when Skier lost the rope and fell into the water. When the others realized what had happened, they returned to find their friend in a "nest of water moccasins." The ending seems to differ by region.
When related in the South, Miss Stacy was told that the Skier was "screaming her head off" and, after being rescued, had to stay in a mental hospital for several months.
When the story was related outside the South, Miss Stacy was told that the Skier was dead. The Medical Examiner found he had been bitten "over seventy times" by the snakes.
Miss Stacy finds the regional differences quite interesting. She likes to pour herself a nice mint julep, sit outside in the shade, and ponder them.
Cottonmouth Moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus)
A venomous pit viper found in the Southeastern USA. Unlike other vipers, when antagonized, they will stand their ground by coiling their bodies and displaying their fangs thereby exposing the white insides of their mouths. Their aggression is exaggerated, but on rare occasions territorial males will approach intruders in an aggressive manner.
New World coral snakes possess one of the most potent venoms of any North American snake. However, relatively few bites are recorded due to their reclusive nature and the fact they generally inhabit sparsely populated areas.
Coral snakes have a tendency to hold on to a victim when biting, unlike vipers, which have retractable fangs and tend to prefer to strike, letting go immediately. Coral snakes are not aggressive or prone to biting and account for less than one percent of the number of snake bites each year in the United States.
Coral snakes are most notable for their red, yellow/white, and black colored banding. Very similar coloration exists in several varieties of snakes. Miss Stacy once thought she saw a coral snake near the kitchen door. She quickly recited the couplet, "Red to yellow, kill a fellow. Red to black, venom lack."
It was a harmless milk snake. No need for Gramma to chop off its head.
Coral Snake
The coral snake is most closely related to the cobra and not to the other venomous snakes in North America. Unlike the pit vipers discussed above, coral snakes have a powerful neurotoxin that paralyzes the breathing muscles; mechanical or artificial respiration, along with large doses of antivenom, are often required to save a victim's life. There is usually only mild pain associated with a bite, but respiratory failure can occur within hours.
Little wonder that the snake symbolizes immortality in many cultures.
Miss Stacy hadn't heard any stories about garter snakes so she had the joy of discovery. Garter snakes are slim with the characteristic head-to-tail stripes. They are shy in the wild and not often seen. Mr. Snake ate a pinkie-finger sized strip of raw fish about twice a month. He shared whatever kind the people were eating; most commonly, trout or blue fish.
He periodically escaped from his cage, but he always was found before getting outdoors and thereby was saved from encounters with birds of prey or malicious people.
One memorable day Mr. Snake tried to swallow Miss Stacy! She opened the cage to put in some fish — the usual procedure. As she worked in the cage cleaning and refreshing water, she felt a tingle on her little finger. Mr. Snake had her finger in his mouth and had worked his way almost the whole way up the finger. It wasn't painful, and it didn't draw blood.
A snake's teeth are curved inward (helping prevent the escape of prey) so it was a bit tricky working the finger out while trying not to hurt the snake. No harm was done, and the two remained friends for some years afterward.
Garter Snake
Miss Stacy's beloved pet garter snake had a specially built cage with driftwood for climbing, a place to hide, and a hand-made, unglazed stoneware water dish in which he could soak and then slough off its old skin. Molting occurred several times a year. The skin looked old and drab. Then the eyes seemed covered with a milky-looking tissue. A few days later an old skin was in or near the water bowl, and Mr. Snake looked young and brightly colored again.
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When to Plant; Weather Signs; Hummingbirds; Herbal Teas; Catnip.
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Apples, Word & Phrase Origins, Companion Plants; Yarrow.
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Snake Lore: Rattlesnakes, Copperheads, Cottonmouths, Coral, Garter Snake.
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In process - topics so far this month: Death & Burial Customs
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