POISONOUS SNAKES OF KANSAS Robert F. Clarke Department of Biology Kansas State Teachers College of Emporia THE KANSAS SCHOOL NATURALIST Vol. 5 February No. 3 1959 The Kansas School Naturalist Published by The Kansas State Teachers College of Emporia Prepared and Issued by The Department of Biology, with the cooperation of the Division of Educatioll Editor: John Breukelman Department of Biology Editorial C01nmittee: Ina M. Borman, Robert F. Clarke, Helen M. Douglass, Gilbert A. Leisman, Carl W. Prophet, Dixon Smith ,------"----­ Because of the greatly increased cost, due to the color plates, no free copies of this issue will be available. Extra copies may be obtain­ ed for 25 cents each, postpaid. Send orders to The Kansas School Naturalist, Department of Biology, State Teachers College, Emporia, Kansas. ~----- -.---- . - - -' The Kansas School Naturalist is sent upon request, free of charge, to Kansas teachers and others interested in nature education. The Kansas School Naturalist is published in October, December, February, and April of each year by The Kansas State Teachers Col­ lege, Twelfth Avenue and Commercial Street, Emporia, Kansas. Second-class mail privileges authorized at Emporia, Kansas . • 3 Poisonous Snakes of Kansas by Robert F. Clarke Many persons either do not know In generc;.l, all snakes are similar anything <!t all about the poisonous i:1 habits. In Kansas, they retire for snakes of our state or have a dis­ the winter in places where the torted group of misconceptions con­ lemp~rature will not get below the cerning them. These misconcep­ freezmg point. These may be in tions run from plain misknowledge rJcky ledges, beneath the soil, be­ about the range or identification of l ~ w the roots of trees, or in pro­ poisonous s n a k e s to fancifully lecteJ places of human design, such elab:Jrate stories in which there as grc: in bins, cisterns, cellars, and mayor mav not be the barest silos. With the warm days of spring, thr~ad of fa~t. the snakes emerge from their win­ The prime reason that every per­ ter quarters and set about finding son should know the poisonous food and mates. After mating, the snakes of his region by sight and sexes separate and each individual know something about their habits, snake goes its own wa), to forage distribution, and abundance is that fer food for the rest of the year. it will ease the mind of the average Some snakes lay eggs and others individual in all of his outdoor pur­ produce the youn2; alive. There is suits. :vlost persons have heard so about an even division of these many false stories about snakes that types in Kansas. The king snakes, they develop a fear of all snakes. rz. t snakes, bull snakes, racers, and This fear is tmfOHnded! A person many smaller snakes lay eggs in who knows what poisonous snakes early summer. These eggs are de­ he can expect to encounter in a posited in a spot suitable for hatch­ given area need only learn to identi­ ing, generally beneath a rock or in tv these and realize that all other the soil. When thev hatch, the s'nakes, lizaords, frogs, toads, sala­ young fend for thems~lves. In Kan­ manders , and turtles do not have a sas, water snakes, garter snakes, poisonous bite, and, therefore, he poisonous snakes, and some smaller nee d not fear them. vVith a sT'.akes give birth to living young knowledge of the poisonous snakes, in bte summer or early fall. Again, a persoll can avoid places where the young are OIl their own after these snakes might be found. An ­ birth. With the coming of cooler other aspect is the conservation of weather, the snakes leave their snakes. Too many people kill snakes summer feeding grounds and travel just because they happen to be to phces where they will hibernate snakes. This IS uncalled for destruc­ for the winter. tion-a non-poisonous snake should MYTHS: Probably no other group of no more be killed than a song bird. animals has had the variety and expanse In many cases, the harmless snakes of tall tales credited to them as have the are of direct economic value. snakes. As the stories go, there are snakes 4 that can put their tHils in their mouths poison has rendered it helpless, others and roll downhill hoop-like, snakes that only strike and follow the trail to where are capable of milking cows dry, snakes the victim falls. that fly into pieces when struck and later In feeding, the snake does not chew its reassemble into whole snakes again, food, but swallows it whole. The jaws are snakes that charm their prey, and others wonderfully adapted for this purpose, too numerous to mention here. Some of having the bones on each side of the jaws these tales deal specifically with the pois­ attached to their mates on the other side onOllS power of snakes or with snakes that by an elastic ligament, and the upper and are venomous. There is the "Blow viper," lower jaws also joined by such an attach­ whose very breath is poionous! The butt ment. This allows the jaws to be spread of this fable is the utterly harmless hog­ apart and lowered , making an opening nosed snake, pictured on Page 13. Many capable of taking in a food item actually persons think that the poisonous "fang" larger in diameter than the snake! The of a snake is the structure which is fre­ teeth of both the upper and lower jaws quently flicked in and out of the snake's are recurved, pointing inward, and a5 mouth. This is really its tongue, and is each section of the jaw can work inde­ present in all snakes. The "fang" is an en­ pendently, one side secures its grip while larged tooth in the upper jaw (see dia­ the other side moves forward. Thus, the gram, page 5). Four of the many un­ snake actually crawls around its food. truths about poisonolls snakes are (1) ABUNDANCE: The non-p 0 ion 0 u s rattlesnakes cannot cross a horsehair snakes far outnumber the poisonous rope-they can! (2) cottonmouth water kinds, both in number of species and in­ moccasins cannot bite under water­ dividuals. In the United States, there are they can! (3) rattlesnakes always rattle approximately 95 species of non­ before they strike-not always! (4) the poisonous snakes and only 19 species of rattles present on the tail of a rattlesnake poisonous ones, including 15 rattlesnakes, indicate the snake's age-no, a new seg­ one copperhead, one cottonmouth, and ment is added each time that the skin is two coral snakes. In Kansas, there are six shed, which may occur several times dur­ species of poisonous snakes (two should ing a year. hardly be counted) and 34 species of FOOD: Most of the adult poisonous non-poisonous snakes. Many of the non­ snakes of Kansas consume only warm­ poisonous species are common and wide­ blooded prey, consisting primarily of spread. It is far more probable that any small rodents: white-footed mice, shrews, snake seen is non-poisonous than voles, and cotton rats in the fields, and poisonous. house mice and rats about human habi­ SNAKE BITE: Venom is secreted from tations. Small birds and young rabbits glands within the head, on each side be­ may be taken, as well as occasional liz­ hind the eyes, causing the swollen ap­ ards and insects. The copperhead is more pearance of the head in this region. The insectivorous than the rattlesnakes, and venom travels through ducts to each of the cottonmouth feeds upon other crea­ the two fangs. The fangs are enlarged tures that inhabit the edges of waterways. teeth in the front of the upper jaw. They The poison of venomous snakes is not are hollow, with one end connected to the only a defensive mechanism, but also a poison duct and the other end having an highly efficient food-getting device. opening on the front edge near the tip. Whereas some of the snakes strike and The fangs are also fastened to a moveable hold the prey within their jaws until the hone, which enables the fangs to be • 5 folded back against the upper jaw when DUCT the mouth is shut and erected and di­ rected forward when the mouth is opened to strike. The po\ver of a strike imbeds the fangs into the skin of the victim, and muscles force venom from the glands through the duct and hollow fang and out of the opening at the tip. The venom causes a breakdown of the red blood corpuscles and walls of blood vessels. It also has an effect upon the nervous system. Some snakes have venom which is much more destructive to the nervou~ system. The pit vipers have venom which SKULLS is more he111otoxic (destructive to blood) , REPLACE.ME NT whereas the coral snake, which belongs to •. .•._~FA"'OS the cobra group, has a venom which is ~ . ~:.- . ,. -­ neurotoxic (destructive to nerves). \~ ., The venom is yellowish and somewhat "thicker" than water. The amount of ~ poison ejected at anyone strike varies !JON- POISONOUS POISONOUS from a part of a drop to 2 cubic centi­ meters, depending upon size and kind of 1y present. These nre immature fangs snake, and time elapsed since last venom lying along the upper jaw bone. At in­ ejection. Various factors influence the tervals a reserve fang grows down beside amount of venom which is injected into a fang which has been used for somc the victim, i.e. , smaller snakes have time.