"He didn't use a rope"

The monthly tree climb at Lake Horton for September was much like all the ones before except yesterday we had a climber that didn't use any ropes. It was late in the day and we were using two trees because of the large group of climbers. When suddenly one of the climbers in MaryAlice started to yell above the normal noise. A five foot black Rat Snake was making his way down the tree. We quickly moved climbers out of his way and allowed him to descend to the bottom. He gave the group a good show slowly inching himself down to the bottom of the tree. He was assisted by one of our tree instructors to the edge of the area and released.He was a good climber and no ropes!

John,

This makes the second report of a rattler in a tree. See the safety/accident section of the forum.

Regards,
JimK

Keep FIT - Fun In Trees

I wonder if rattle snakes in a tree is a seasonal thing. Perhaps it's too obscure for the run of the mill biologist to know.

Anyone up on the habits of snakes?

The snake that John mentioned was a non-venomous Black Rat Snake. Rat snakes are built for tree climbing (long and slender) and are well known to be arboreal. Rattlers on the other hand are poorly built for climbing having the wrong thickness to length ratio for scaling tree trunks. It's the extreme exception rather than the rule to find a rattler at height in a tree. Any ground snake including rattlers can climb if there are enough low branches or vine/bush tangles to get them up in the air. As we go into the cooler months the rattlers (and most other snakes) will be heading to hibernation dens which are not in trees.

If you had to pick a season where a ground oriented snake like a rattler might be more likely to climb it would be the spring and early summer when they might get into low branches to warm in the sun.

Eastern Timber Rattlesnake photographed on the gound this past spring:

I'll be at a tree that I know a blacksnake frequents this weekend. We've seen him on the ground near there on more than one occasion, and witnessed him climbing a neighboring tree on another.

I'll be camping WAY UP in the tree, and for good measure I'll be bringing up my line. I don't want to see him again, even if he isn't poisionous. My tree camp might be pretty appealing to him.

Remember to watch your step when wilderness climbing. Stay away from spots that the sun shines through the canopy. I've seen a timber rattler sunning himself in one of those, and a cottonmouth doing the same on the bank of a creek I was exploring.

Climb Safe! Hike Safe!
Icabod

The good news is that very few people die per year from rattlesnake bite and the majority that are bitten were trying to handle the snake.

Hey Icabod, maybe you can get to be friends with the black snake, after all it's a damn good climber, might learn something from it

I have had several reports of coperheads climbing. Cool indeed! I used to hunt snakes as a kid until I brought home a small baby cotton mouth. My naturalist parents were NOT impressed. I had to go back to turtles until I brought home an oversized alligator snapper. Busted again!

Just last week I had a Black Rat Snake slither by my day-pack that carries my gear.

Note to self - keep pack zipped.

Regards,
JimK

Keep FIT - Fun in Trees

Seiously, I really never thought about all these suckers... I may have to go back to blousing my pantlegs in my boots, and double checking my fly, not to mention my pack!. The thought of a snake IN my pants really freaks me out!

As far a learning from the nasty little critter...er, friendly snake, Moss, I'll decline. He made a poor limb decision, and slinked away defeated after a 6' fall.

The snake was a no show. We ended up camping in a far less wild area, which worked well with the group that we had. I did have a small bird land on my hammock though Sunday morning just before sunrise. That was pretty cool.

Climb Safe!
Icabod

I would have thought that the snake climbing the tree IS a rope.

Cheers,
MarkF