Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in Iowa and enjoy catching many species of snakes. I have gotten pretty good at not getting bit except when i catch a northern water snake! they are ferocious! Their bites seem to bleed a lot and i have heard of them having a toxin in their saliva that is an anticoagulant. is this true? or do they just have really sharp teeth. thanks for the responses !___Ben Hoksch

Both garters/ribbons and waters do have something in their saliva that makes it bleed more. They also do have larger teeth I believe. Many times I end up with a water snake stuck to my hand since, IMO, they developed teeth that help them catch slippery prey items like fish and frogs, and therefore their teeth are meant to latch on and not let go. But I believe their saliva does have something in it. Thamnophis and Nerodia bites tend to itch a little bit afterwards as well. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

I live in Iowa too. Let me know where your searching for herps and what your finding. Have you see the web site: http://www.herpnet.net

It has a good accounting of Iowa herps. There is also the Iowa Herp Society, although in my experince they have shown little interest in native Iowa herps. Unfortunately they tend to focus on "showy" herps like boas and pythons.

There are many great opportunities to study herps in Iowa. Keep up your studies and you'll have an opportunity to catch snakes for a living!

As far as watersnake bites go: They do bleed a lot. I have had allergic reactions to the bite of a Florida Blue garter and have seen people react to Iowa red-sided garters. When I was a kid we always saw bites as a badge of courage - silly macho stuff. But I still feel a fondness toward the Nerodia and Thamnophis musk - ahhhh, smells like spring!

Joe