I'd never heard of an American brown snake before... just the Aussie
kind. Had to look it up which was difficult because my Peterson's field
guide has some index errors. As it turns out we have Northern brown
snakes in the east but I've never seen one... not surprising since
they're supposedly very secretive. Iowa also has Northern browns snakes
and two sub-species, the Texas and Midland brown snakes.
Chuck Norcutt
On 6/29/2012 10:18 PM, Joel Wilcox wrote:
> They are incredibly shy, hard to sneak up on, and wear bib overalls.
> Aside from harmless garter snakes, brown snakes appear on one day in
> spring and re-appear in fall. I rousted out a huge black snake last
> summer in Kentucky and a timber rattler, but I've never come across one
> in Iowa in all my years of crawling around in places I shouldn't be.
> This is friendliest place you ever saw, nature-wise.
>
> The young-ling brown snakes are cute as puppies. They'll rise up like a
> cobra and make to strike you, but there's nothing there. The adults
> just flee for their lives.
>
> Joel W.
>
> On Fri, Jun 29, 2012, at 08:44 PM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
>> I've never previously investigated what type of venomous snakes are in
>> Iowa. It seems you have Copperheads and 4 species of rattler (Florida
>> only has 3 species). But the range maps say they're located near the
>> western and eastern borders and timber rattlers in maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of
>> the southern part of the state. Doesn't look like there's much to worry
>> about in central Iowa but it's probably wise not to walk around in waist
>> high grass in shorts and sandals. :-)
>>
>> Chuck Norcutt
>
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