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To answer both your recent posts (139 and 141) on this thread — and thanks BTW for the “reasonable” discussion and ideas — there seem to be some here with extreme positions on both sides — imagine that on an Internet forum!!!

We are a bit OT, but, WTH, it is my thread. :-)

I assume the rubbing alcohol or vinegar works well from a taste / smell standpoint, given how strongly snakes depend on their tongues to sense their environment. Vinegar to a snake might be like Mace or a skunk to you or me, in terms of a repellent effect.

Then again, MY prey (fish) are quite sensitive to taste / smell, too. Catfish especially - I’ve read of sensitivities of one part per 10 billion parts of water, for catfish. So, the odds are that if I squirt Mr. Copperhead as he swims up to me, my next move is probably to pack up my gear and move to the other side of the pond — and hope Mr. Copperhead did not have the same idea.

As for wanting that spot, in some instances there is quite a bit of “cover”, nearby, so your thought of a clutch of eggs nearby is possible. However, there might be another explanation. You seem to have significant expertise, so I’d be interested in your take:

My experience is that snakes (even of the same species) can vary wildly in temperament, and (back from my keeper-of-pet-snake-days) even in what I guess I’d call “learning ability”. My brother had a friend with a 7 ft.+ rat snake that would follow him (the friend), but only him, around the house: Presumably the snake was hoping for a meal or maybe a warm spot to coil around. This snake was totally docile. I myself had a very “friendly” 5 ft.[?] yellow rat snake that did not follow people, but if set in my lap on a cool evening, would coil around my neck and just stay there for hours, while I studied or did homework. (Occasionally he’d get a little too enthusiastic, so I’d then have to unwind him and put him back in his 40 gal aquarium/cage!) This snake and a few others I had in my younger years could essentially be taught to eat from the keeper’s hand.

Anyway, my theory is that perhaps at a body of (fresh) water that gets considerable and regular fishing pressure, the snakes may “learn” that the anglers sometimes generate “food” (anything from live bait that is lost off a hook, to small sunfish*), and said food is often injured and an easy meal. ALSO, since most fishermen/women are going to retreat from the snake, some snakes “learn” that, too. (Don’t get me wrong, my experience is that most snakes will retreat from the fisherman/woman, but some don’t, especially at this one large pond I frequent the most.)

* “Small”. In the one instance I described, Mr. Copperhead was clearly after a meal, and could not be persuaded otherwise, even though there’s no way he could ingest a 7” long bluegill.

Funny story (for me, anyway.) One early evening last year, a small water snake, maybe 2’ long, swam up near to me & hung around a bit. I’m pretty sure it was not a copperhead, but the lighting wasn’t the best. Since I wasn’t absolutely sure the snake was non-venomous, I tossed a couple mud-clods near it: It eventually finally swam off. For whatever reason it swam into more open water. Big mistake. “SPWOOOSH!” Again, the lighting wasn’t the best, but I think a big channel catfish got the snake...