#matingball

[davidwfloydart]

Garter snakes coming out of hibernation and into a tens of thousands strong mating ball in southern Manitoba, Canada🐍 #canada🇨🇦 #gartersnake #matingball #manitoba #hibernationmode #hibernateandcreate #snakesoftheworld #reptileslover (at Catalina Foothills, Arizona) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqW1vXrry93vFa_SMLMGFIaVZ2A_AOQzSjKP3U0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[rodandbarrel]

My absolute freshwater wade fishing or lake swimming nightmare is stumbling into a water moccasin mating ball. Occasionally, you'll read or hear in the news about a swimmer or a water skier that swims into a water moccasin mating ball and dies within minutes of receiving multiple snake bites. An office co-worker of my fathers met his end this way about 30-years ago when he fell into a mating ball in a Louisiana bayou where he was water skiing. He was dead before the boat could get back to him. Apparently he was screaming he had fell into barb wire seconds after he fell. They counted 72-bites on his body. Mating balls happen in the spring so I have no worries this coming weekend where I will be swimming and fishing in a Central Florida lake. I still think about swimming into one of these things though as I swim the length of the lake and back. Yeeesh!