"Snakes Alive!" It's That Time Of Year To Watch Out When You're Outdoors

With spring fast approaching, snakes will be coming out of hibernation.

Each year around 300 Missouri residents get bitten and it's important for all of us to be able to differentiate between venomous and non-venomous snakes.

You may remember Darren Sandefur from a story we did earlier this month after he survived an horrific motorcycle crash. Darren is on the road to recovery from his numerous injuries but the military veteran is a survivor in more ways than one. In fact, he has survived two snakebites from a copperhead, the venomous snake that most Missourians get bitten by.

Darren was bitten in 2005 on the leg. The latest one came in May of 2017 on his hand and was the most serious.

"My heart rate got down to 28 beats-per-minute," he said. "If we would have gone 10 or 15 minutes more, I probably wouldn't have been here."

And both times Sandefur was reaching down into an area where he couldn't see.

"It could happen to anyone," he said. "Once you get bit you tend to be a little more cautious when you pick things up."

That's why it's important to be aware when you're in an area that could be a potential snake habitat. Places like piles of boards, fence posts, brush piles, dump heaps, slabs of roofing paper, corrugated steel roofing, burlap, and piles of rocks provide their favorite hiding places and the food they eat.

"Some people get bit because they reach down and turn things like a rock over without knowing what's really under it," explained Mike Crocker, the director of the Dickerson Park Zoo and an expert on snakes.

Snakes will do their best to avoid humans, and only when you step on them or they feel threatened will they bite.

There are four venomous snakes in the Ozarks. The small pygmy rattlesnake, the larger timber rattler, the cottonmouth and the copperhead. All of them distinguishable by the elliptical pupil and pit just below the nose that non-venomous snakes don't have.

"The pit is located in the side of the face about midway between the nostril and the eye. It's a heat sensor that helps them locate their food."

But of course everyone's reply is "who wants to get close enough to notice those characteristics?"

So what's the next best thing?

"Learn to recognize them by their color and pattern," Crocker said. "And the one you're most likely to encounter is the copperhead. If you look at them from the side those dark markings look like Hershey's Kisses. Or if you're standing looking from an upward angle, they look like an hour-glass."

So live and learn.

"I've definitely learned to respect nature, by all means," said Sandefur with a smile.