I’ve been on a lake in the Kawarthas for more than 60 years. Last summer, there seemed to be an abundance of watersnakes descending on my waterfront. Frogs too, seemed to be more plentiful, which I am sure contributed to the snake population. Should I expect another summer of higher-than-normal snake activity this year? How can I get them to go somewhere else?—Rick Seto, via email
To answer your first question…that’s pretty impossible to know. While some wildlife can boom and bust in predictable cycles, often because of a tight-knit predator and prey relationship, this doesn’t necessarily happen with snakes. Watersnakes eat a variety of prey, so the snake increase probably isn’t tied to an abundance of frogs.
When snake populations change from one season to the next, the severity of the previous winter is often the biggest driver, says Hannah McCurdy-Adams, the reptile and amphibian program development coordinator with Wildlife Preservation Canada. This affects snake numbers the following spring. Snakes overwinter below ground. “If you get a big thaw cycle, that can flood underground areas, and snakes can drown,” she says. “Or, if that water freezes, they can freeze to death.” On the other hand, “if you get a nice big snow pack and it stays, that insulates the ground.” More snakes survive.
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Maybe the snake population didn’t change. Maybe you changed. Not to alarm you, but “there can be more snakes in an area than you realize because you’re just not seeing them. They rely heavily on camouflage,” says McCurdy-Adams. “So when people are noticing more snakes—and I love that people are noticing them more—I sometimes wonder if they’re learning how to find them a bit better, or if they’re going to places where the snakes are more likely to be.”
Another possibility is that local snakes changed their behaviour, in response to some small change in their environment. “Maybe they’re used to hanging out near a certain boat, and somebody moves that boat,” says McCurdy-Adams. “So they find another boat.” They find your boat.
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Look, we get why you might feel spooked by a dramatic increase in the watersnake population. They’re creepy. But they don’t mean to be. “Watersnakes can’t see very well,” says McCurdy-Adams. So, they don’t know they’re close to you until they’re really close to you. “And you’re this giant animal to them, one that may eat them. And they get scared,” she says. They startle, which startles you, which startles them even more, which…well, it’s all just a big startle-fest.
The good news? The fact that your waterfront is filled with reptiles and amphibians suggests that you have a healthy shoreline. Thumbs up! The bad news? There’s really nothing that youcan do to evict your watersnake neighbours. Oh, well, you could move your boat.
Got a question for Cottage Q&A? Send it to answers@cottagelife.com.
This article was originally published in the June/July issue of Cottage Life.
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