Milk snakes and garters.

[chris-uk]

Wow. Not bad. Those are snakes of Poland:

• Coronella austriaca - very rare
• Elaphe longissima - extremely rare (only in the mountains)
• Natrix natrix - pretty common
• Natrix tesselata - recorded ONCE in Poland
• Vipera berus - uncommon

So - I envy you, Marnie. I have a chance to see only 2 species and MAYBE 3.

You have one more than we do in the UK, we don't get the Elaphe here, and I wouldn't really count the tessellata based on a single sighting. However, I have seen all 3 of our native snakes. The smooth snake I've only seen once, grass snake once, and the adders maybe 4 or 5 times. None of them are common enough to go herping here.

[EasternGirl]

Adders are venomous correct? Yes, so we have the smooth snake...I didn't write any of the scientific names...I think I will look up pics of the different species and post today...oh what fun! Am I a snake nerd or what??? .

[EasternGirl]

Here is a more accurate list of our snakes: (notice they included the garter on this list)

• Eastern Worm Snake Carphophis amoenus amoenus
• Northern Scarlet Snake Cemophora coccinea copei
• Northern Black Racer Coluber constrictor constrictor
• Southern Ringneck Snake Diadophis punctatus punctatus
• Red Ratsnake (Corn Snake) Elaphe guttata guttata (Pantherophis gutattus)
• Black Ratsnake Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta (Pantherophis allegheniensis)
• Eastern Hognose Snake Heterodon platyrhinos
• Eastern Kingsnake Lampropeltis getula getula
  Coastal Plains Milksnake Lampropeltis triangulum temporalis *
• Northern Water Snake Nerodia sipedon sipedon
• Keeled Green Snake Opheodrys aestivus
• Northern Brown Snake Storeria dekayi dekayi
• Northern Red-Bellied Snake Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata
• Eastern Ribbon Snake Thamnophis sauritus sauritus
• Eastern Garter Snake Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
• Smooth Earth Snake Virginia valeriae
  Crotalids
• Northern Copperhead Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen *
  Canebrake Rattlenake Crotalus horridus atricaudatus *

[snakehill]

Yes Marnie! You are officially a Snake nerd!!!

[chris-uk]

Adders are venomous correct?

Yes, they're a viper with weak venom. The last known death in the UK due to an adder bite was mid-70's (unless there's been one in the last few years that I didn't hear about).

[Stefan-A]

Yes, they're a viper with weak venom. The last known death in the UK due to an adder bite was mid-70's (unless there's been one in the last few years that I didn't hear about).

The venom itself is not that weak, but the yield is fairly low and the venom is not exactly tailor-made for humans.

As for how dangerous a bite is:

Scandinavian Journal of Surgery 92: 171–174, 2003

ADDER BITES.
A REPORT OF 68 CASES
J. Grönlund, A. Vuori, S. Nieminen

ABSTRACT
Background and Aims: The adder (Vipera Berus) is the only venomous snake that exists
naturally in Scandinavia. The aim of this study is to estimate the severity of adder bites,
to form a general picture of symptoms of bites and to find out how effective the present
treatment methods of adder bites are.

Material and Methods: 68 true adder bites treated in Turku University Hospital during
the years 1995–2000 were reviewed retrospectively.

Results: There were no deaths in this material. A bite caused severe symptoms to 10 %
of the patients. The symptoms were moderate in 21 %, mild in 34 % and minor in 35 %
of the cases. Children under 10 years were the proportionally biggest age group and
severe poisonings were most frequent among small children. Rapidly progressive oedema,
gastrointestinal symptoms, hypotension and early leucocytosis were signs of more
severe poisonings. Antivenom therapy with specific ovine Fab antivenom proved to be
an effective and safe treatment in severe poisonings.

Conclusions: An adder bite may also cause severe symptoms for adults. All patients
should be observed at least few hours after the bite and parental fluid therapy should
be started at an early stage. In the treatment of severe poisonings an antivenom therapy
should be considered. Rapidly progressive symptoms and early leucocytosis may serve
as a warning signal for higher probability of severe reactions.

[EasternGirl]

Interesting. I forgot one on the list that I did mention earlier...Agkistrodon piscivorus...the water moccasin, or cotton mouth. These are venomous, pit vipers, and they are all over in the swamp areas in Delaware. I lived in a town briefly where every day around dusk the tide would come in and water would fill the roads and you couldn't drive through town...you were basically stuck in or out of town until the tide went out...when the water filled the roads, it would be filled with water moccasins...You did not want to go anywhere near that water as they are pretty aggressive.

A little album I put together of the snakes in Delaware is attached.

First is the canebrake rattlesnake, the coastal plain milksnake, the eastern kingsnake, the eastern hognose, and you know the last.

[EasternGirl]

More pics:
ewormsn1-Eastern_Worm_Snak.jpgEastern worm snake. juvblkratsnake1m1.jpg Black rat snake. keeled green snake.jpg Keeled green snake.

northern scarlet snake.jpg Northern scarlet snake. Northern%20Copperhead%20bird%20eye%20view.jpg Copperhead.

[EasternGirl]

Northern_Black_Racer_coiled.jpg Northern black racer. northern_water_snake_library.jpg Northern water snake. northernbrown.jpg Northern brown.

red rat snake (corn snake).jpg Red rat snake (corn snake). redBelly.jpg Northern red-bellied snake.

[EasternGirl]

smooth_earth_snake_imagelarge.jpg Smooth earth snake. So_Ring-NeckedSnake_MattClose.jpg Southern ringneck. Timber_Rattlesnake.jpg Timber rattlesnake

(which is the same as the canebrake but this is a cool pic) wormsnake1r.jpg worm snake. water-moccasin.jpg Water Moccasin.