Honey Harbour Water Snake

[ttzr]

Anyone know what kind of snake this is? It swam into the side of our boat while bass fishing in honey harbour.

 

[RedSkullz]

Eastern Fox Snake...many, many of them up in the honey harbour area!! Some of them get absolutely massive. I have read that they only grow to 8 feet long, but i know for a fact that they get much larger than that for i saw one that was as long as the canoe.(i swear)
We went camping a few weeks back at Mcrae Lake provincial park and saw at least 5-6 of those.(all small ones 4 feet or less) We also got to see a nice thick 3' Massassauga Rattlesnake!

 

[CurtAce]

I too saw a Mississauga rattler snake in Honey Harbour in 2010. It was MASSIVE, thick as a popcan in the middle. Was curled up so could not tell how long it was, it just held its position until we went away. I know snakes well, and it was def on the bigger end of a rattler.

 

[Coreyhkh]

Both of these beautiful animals are in trouble people kill them for no reason. I have been around Mississauga rattler snakes a lot and they are pretty harmless you really have to be stupid to get bitten and even if you did there venom is not nearly as toxic as other spices in the family. If you see one one just keep going and let it go about its life.

Here are some shots I took.

 

[RedSkullz]

Both of these beautiful animals are in trouble people kill them for no reason. I have been around Mississauga rattler snakes a lot and they are pretty harmless you really have to be stupid to get bitten and even if you did there venom is not nearly as toxic as other spices in the family. If you see one one just keep going and let it go about its life.

Here are some shots I took.

Yeah many folks fear makes them want to kill the snakes.(or in some cases ignorance) I have no problems with either snake. I have heard some stories of fox snakes overturning canoes. We've never had any try to get in before...lol. I have no doubt that if the monster we saw at mcraes tried to get in the canoe it could have seriously disrupted the weight and could possibly have flipped the boat.
The only issue i have with rattlers is the territorial issue. They like to stay in one close area. So if you end up camping in a camping spot and get set up then you see one, you might be roommates for the weekend.(which really sucks if you have a pair of dogs with you)

The one thing i can say about all snakes is this...i'd rather that we have a bunch of snakes, than a legion of rodents.


You said you've been around alot of snakes...have you seen any size like the Fox snake i described? I would have never believed that there was wild snakes that size, especially after some research.(which suggests an 8'-9' max for fox) When this sucker went across the lake at 2am it created a 3" wake on near glass conditions on a near full moon lite night. Anyways my buddy and I went out for a night time canoe fish for some bass action with poppers. We decided to start throwing casts at a small island about 300 yards from our campsite and work our way up the shore where the water is usually between 6-10 and really weedy with cabbage and coon tail. Armed with 2 setup rods each(both hula poppers for me), a very bright moonlite night and a flashlight with dimming batteries, we hit the night time hawg bass search.Initially we spooked the snake off a small island that we have now renamed as "Ratsnake rock"(always see snakes there...usually like to stop and throw some casts for pike/bass and stretch the back during the day on this tiny island) I was paddling slowly and silently toward the island and as we about 8 feet from the island i head "something", then all of the sudden we heard a fairly loud slap on the surface of the water and the monster came out of the camoflauge of the rocks on the island and into the water where it created a wake and we were able to see it in the moonlight. A ssoon as i saw movement in the water i grabbed my flashlight and shone it toward the beast. The snake was about 6 feet away from us and it reared its head up, like something you would see from a cobra or anaconda in the movies...when the snake was reared right up to its highest point its head was about chin level with me in the canoe. Its head was the size of a small mans fist...i'd estimate 3" at the widest point. Both my buddy and i power back peddaled to get away from it after seeing the whole snake as it was as long as the canoe. We raced back to shore as it almost seemed like the snake was following us....lol We made it back to shore in record time and sure enough the snake was in hot pursuit!!(or so we thought...lol) The monster veered off our point by about 30 or so yards and followed our shorline into a thich weedbed thats all lily pads and finally arrowhead weeds and the mangrove like plants. What a bunch of excitment that was!! Another half hour went by, and we saw another wake in the water coming off "Ratsnake Rock"!! The wake/snake was much smaller and it almost followed the exact same trail across open water as the monster took.(which seemed insignificant at the time)
After i did a bunch of research on Fox snakes i found some interesting things out. Like often the snakes will travel in pairs when they mate. The larger mate will clear a path travelling in a straight line and the smaller mate will follow behind by as much as 2km sometimes! Iirc there is a smell secreted by the lead mate which the smaller mate follows.
So no more monsers snake sightings ever after that one time(but many small ones), and after 2 more nights camp we had to leave(after 7 nights of camping and hammering smallmouth, largemouth and tons of pike) We skipped our gear and the canoe over the small portage and canoed 2 km up georgian to my friends mothers house(the guy i went camping with). We were chatting with his mom, who has lived in the area most her whole life(she was about 70 then which was 15 or so years ago) and when we told her about the whole snake story(and the size still in a bit of disbelief), she replied with "I have no doubt there are some out there that big, ive seen them around our place 12 feet long"

Everthing in this story is based on truth as best as i recall memories from 15 years ago....the events described are as accurate as i can be.(i swear)

 

[frozenfire]

Love it!

I'm a big fan of snakes

 

[Coreyhkh]

Sounds to me like it could of been a Black Rat snake a lot of the time they are not black but often more of a brown color like a northern water snake.

 

[Beatles]

Guys it's the Massasauga Rattlesnake not MISSISSAUGA. The Mississauga rattler is Hazel.