The mild Winter and fairly warm Spring, coupled with the rain, has created more than flooding issues in East Texas.

We could see more reptiles than normal across the area, especially snakes.

"When it's rained, a lot of rain, water bodies will hold water and as it spills out, the snakes come up from that water looking for rats and mice,"
East Texas Gator Park owner Charlie Harris told KLTV.

Natives of East Texas are no stranger to snakes, especially for those in rural areas. But, for those that don't know (yes, some don't) if you come across one of our slithering "friends", how do you know if it's poisonous or not?

Harris says, "A non-venomous snake will have an oval head. A venomous snake will have a triangle shaped head, like an arrowhead. What makes that shape is the
venom sacks on the side of their head."

Those include the copperhead, cottonmouth, coral snake and rattlesnake.

The best option is to just let it be because it will disappear never to be seen again according to Harris.

I know, I know, you'd rather kill it then let it get anywhere near you. I'm the same with spiders. But snakes are a prudent part of the East Texas ecosystem. They help control the rodent population.

"If we didn't have snakes we would be overrun with rodents, absolutely overrun," Charlie Harris says.

So pick your poison, pun intended, more snakes equals less mice. More mice means less snakes.

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