MATTHEWS, N.C. — Nearly every morning, Nancy Bowes runs on a greenway behind her home in Matthews. It's a wooded 4-mile trail bordered by a small creek. It's also a designated wildlife area, and there are lots of snakes.
"I'm always looking for snakes, because I am scared of them," Bowes said.
She showed Channel 9 a picture of a large rat snake she found in her path one morning, and another picture of a northern water snake on some rocks along the greenway.
"That snake hangs out there in that spot a few days a week," Bowes said.
Water snakes are often mistaken for copperheads.
"When I first moved here, any snake was terrifying to me because I didn't know which ones were poisonous and which weren't," she said.
Critter control and wildlife experts have seen an unusually large spike in calls about snakes, especially through spring and early summer.
"It was a very busy spring for snakes," said wildlife biologist David Crowe, who runs his own business, Critter Control. "It was a wet spring, and that moisture drives out prey, so snakes go hunting."
Snakes are also more visible in spring and early summer because their dens are closer than ever to new subdivisions and construction, as their natural habitat is developed.
Crowe is used to people calling frantically on the phone and telling him an often repeated snake horror story.
"Most calls usually start out, ‘I've got a copperhead,’" Crowe said.
However, he told Channel 9 that only about one in 30 calls each year turns out to actually be for a copperhead. That's out of roughly 500 calls a season.
Snake stories from across the Carolinas:
- Man recovering after bit by copperhead at Denver Lowe's
- Woman finds copperhead slithering down door while driving
- Cooler nights lure out copperhead snakes
- Mooresville boy digging for worms bit by venomous snake
- Kings Mountain woman's Yorkshire terrier dies after snake bite
- Large red-tailed boa found in wooded area in Matthews
- Snake again causes power outage for thousands in Rock Hill
- Conservationist dies after snake bite at SC wildlife refuge
- Snakes become problem for employees at north Charlotte business park
- SC man discovers snakes dangling from ceiling
- Workers shocked to find two dead snakes in electrical box
He's used to the error, and said most people don't really care. They just want the animal gone.
"When I started in this business I used to try to talk people away from the 'ledge' so to speak. But people don't like snakes, and calling it a copperhead makes it poisonous and dangerous, and maybe a little sexy. They want you to understand the urgency that they feel," he said.
Learning to identify dangerous snakes from the beneficial
Though a copperhead bite can be painful and serious, it's the least dangerous of the four types of venomous snakes found in the United States. Water moccasins, rattlesnakes and coral snakes can deliver a much worse bite.
The Centers for Disease Control said venomous snakes bite about 8,000 people a year in the U.S.
[ LINK: Guide to identifying snakes in the Carolinas ]
On average, only five of those bites are fatal -- and those are almost always in cases where victims don't seek medical care immediately.
Experts said most bites happen when someone accidentally steps on a snake, and the snake strikes to defend itself. Usually, the animal’s first instinct is to escape if possible.
Crowe showed Channel 9 a dead copperhead that he keeps frozen to use in lectures about identifying snakes.
"This will ruin your day. It's painful. It'll put you in the hospital," he said.
Copperheads deliver more bites each year because they are more common than other venomous snakes. The copperhead is found nearly everywhere across the Deep South to the Central Plains, and surprising places in Charlotte.
"Dilworth,” Crowe told Channel 9. “Doggonit, we find a copperhead in Dilworth once or twice a year."
You're not likely to see a water moccasin (aka cotton mouth) around Charlotte, as they are mostly coastal. Rattlesnakes, though widespread, are rarely seen in neighborhoods. The brightly-colored coral snake is reclusive, and also found mostly in coastal areas, not in the Piedmont.
Most complaint calls in the Charlotte region are for rat snakes, and the tiny Dekay's snake (or brown snake).
King snakes and corn snakes are also around, but not as common. They are also harmless. That's why Crowe cautions against killing them. They are beneficial -- eating rodents -- and are rarely aggressive.
"We don't like it when we get a snake that someone has identified for us by cutting it in half with a shovel," Crowe said.
Experts advise keeping grass cut and eliminating hiding places to keep snakes away. Shrubs and plantings near your home should be cut low, and controlled.
Most of the time, the snakes that wildlife experts trap in your home or yard will be released into the wild, somewhere else if possible.