Killed a 3 foot Western Diamond back sat night at Possum Kingdom!

Man, that area is loaded with rattlers, ever been to Hubbard Creek? We call that lake Rattle Snake Creek.

Do we have many rattle snakes here in the Dallas area?

Newcastle, we likely have a few rattlers in the DFW area. We also have Copperheads.

Copperheads are definitely the most common poisonous snake in DFW. Water Moccassins are actually not that common here, they are often confused with Diamondback Water snakes. We have some Moccassins, but they are much more common in further east Texas.

Over the past couple hundred years, we've done a real number on our *VENOMOUS* (poison is secreted on the skin, venom is injected) snakes in the area. A combination of development (an obvious necesity) and the mindset shown in this post have almost guaranteed your children will never see many of our larger reptiles.

But Justin has it right, copperheads are the most common venomous snake here, and they're becoming fairly hard to find themselves. Central Texas is on the far western edge of the cottonmouth range, almost all of the water snakes in DFW are going to be diamondbacks, a non-venomous species.

I know a fair deal about our reptiles (from growing up around them, classroom, and as a docent at the herpatarium in the Fort Worth Zoo) and have never seen in person a wild cottonmouth in DFW. That said, I avoid snakes in the water, just incase. Even those diamondbacks can leave a nasty bite and infection is almost guaranteed.

Well my school of thought on snakes is this. (taught to me by a older black man)
If it dont rattle its a cobra

Rats and Mice are filthy creatures that carry numerous
diseases. They serve no useful purpose, they destroy.
Snakes eat vermin. Snakes therefore control disease.
A SNAKE WILL NEVER CHASE YOU. Walk away from a snake
the way you would from a nest of Hornets.
I worked on farms when I was young, it was grounds
for immeadiate dismissal if you harmed a snake.

Snakes leave an area if the food supply dwindles,
remove the snakes and you'll be overun by Mice and
frogs.

Years back, my daughter was going to an older private school that had a real serious problem with rats and mice. The buildings were situated in the middle of about 150 acres that they mowed pretty much continously. They were doing this to prevent snakes from getting close to the school. A few of us parents convinced them to only mow the areas within about 20 yards of the structures and wouldn't you know it, the mouse problem went away within a few weeks. That next school year a single rat snake was seen by the main entrance to the school. This was the only one ever seen by a building. While many went into full scale panic mode, I used it as an oppurtunity to educate my daughter and a few of her friends on the benifits of snakes and how to ID a potentially dangerous one.
Upshot is the school has solved the rodent problem, they spend a whole lot less money on fuel to mow and it freed up the caretaker to spend some time actually fixing the things that needed fixin.

Dearest Patrick, I beg to differ on the "snakes don't chase" part of your comment. Once fishing in a belly boat I was chased by a snake. I didn't walk on water, however I left a wake that your outboard would have been jealous of. Once on Benbrook, I had a snake chase a topwater all the wat to the trolling motor where he commenced to strike at the minn-kota. And once at Navarro Mills I had a snake come in the boat with my entire family in there. Thanks to my trusty emergency paddle, he lost the battle. (wow that rhymes) They will do what ever they want to.

You are correct on the cotton mouth thing! I've had cotton mouths come right up to me on the bank, and in john boats. You never know if it's out of aggression or simple curiousity. Either way, I like snakes...all of 'em really-venemous or not...but I don't like that! I've only had to kill one. But it was BIG, and wouldn't leave me alone. It literally followed me around the bank of this pond for 20 or 30 minutes. I'd lose him, an there he'd come again. You see a lot more of these in farm pond areas with a lot of flooded timber near the bank than on any large lake though. We recently had a huge bunch of them out at a local park pond in Denton, but even out there, I don't see them like I used to. I have encountered a few rattlers and two different times I've come accross copperheads. These are altogether different. Never seen one act with anything other than a strong will to get away from me. The copperheads literally didn't move at all which was neat. Got a real good look at them! Anyway, snakes are great! we need them, and most of the time will leave you alone if you do the same.

I hate to see all these people with messed up views of snakes.
I own 5 snakes and have learned that they are some of the most docile and amazing creatures you will ever find. One of my friends has spent a lot of his life letting people know about snakes by taking them to school gatherings and such and doing a performance and has educated many young children on how vital snakes are to our ecosystem. Like someone else said snakes aren't going to attack you. Just leave snakes alone so they can do what God put them here to do. Some people may have a problem with my point of view, but I wish more people would take the time to learn what snakes are really about before killing one of them for no reason.

Well, one thing is for sure. I aint gunna stick around long enough to do battle with the dog gone thangs unless I have to, wich is usually not the case. What worries me is that I mite hurt myself gettin away from 'em. Know what I meen?