The only venomous snakes in this area are copperheads & this obviously wasn’t one of those .... so I wasn’t afraid of him .... nor was he overly concerned about me, either!
That’s the advantage of knowing the snakes where you live. Luckily, we have no venomous snakes in Wisconsin and very few snakes at all. The ones we have are shy, and I seldom see them. Sometimes the dog points them out, but they want nothing to do with me, nor I with them. I think you are brave to “touch his tail”. LOL