And whether it's a non-poisonous or poisonous snake, chances are that it is more frightened of you than you are of it. Snakes in our mountains only bite in self-defense and will not chase or attack you. Thanks to their protective coloration, many snakes go undetected. Then danger approaches, most snakes will lie perfectly still, blending into their backgrounds until the danger has passed. If discovered or attacked, snakes generally crawl quickly away but if cornered will often strike and hiss, even inflating or flattening their heads and bodies in order to appear dangerous to the intruder.
Some species can even rattle their tails in an attempt to mimic a rattlesnake.
Although the vast majority of our snakes are non-venomous, two species occur in our mountains which are venomous, the Timber Rattlesnake and the Northern Copperhead. Both of these snakes are primarily active after dark, especially during the heat of the summer. The copperhead is a fairly common snake, averaging about two to two and a half feet long with tannish brown coloration of saddle or hourglass-shaped blotcher. Unfortunately, there are many other harmless species of snakes which somewhat resemble the copperhead in coloration, many of which are often killed by people. In fact, despite being rather numerous, most people seldom actually encounter copperheads because of their nocturnal habits.