During walks in the woods and along gravel roads, there were times when I thought that a dead animal was nearby because I could smell it. But now I know that the smell was likely from a snake that I couldn’t see; but one that was well aware of my presence. I finally made the connection one day thanks to a garter snake that was hanging out beside my car. As I walked toward the car, the garter snake slithered underneath. Then I smelled that smell again.
Some snakes have the ability to defend themselves by doing something that a lot of us only thought that skunks did. They emit a musk from their anal region. All those snakes in the past that I smelt were probably thinking, “The only reason that guy is walking around here is because he wants to eat me. But he won’t want to eat something that smells like this . . .” And that’s when they let it out.
Along with this musk, some snakes may also emit feces with it to make the stench even stronger. So while there are people who will say that a snake scared the crap out of them, it’s actually more likely that a person can, quite literally, scare the crap out of a snake.
This musk-releasing ability is probably what causes some people to say things like, “You can always tell when a snake is around because you can smell it.” But actually you can only smell a snake when it wants you to smell it. If they feel well hidden or well protected, then they won’t feel the need to release the smell. So you could very well walk beside a number of snakes in your life and never know that they were there.
Often this belief is attached primarily to copperheads. But a naturalist who works with captive snakes at the Runge Nature Center in Jefferson City , MO said that she has smelled it from all the snakes there except for the copperhead. Another naturalist who works with the same snakes said that she has smelled the copperhead musk once. She compared it to the smell of cat urine.
Cat urine is a far cry from the claims that some people make about copperheads smelling like cucumbers. I’m not sure where that belief came from. If copperheads smell anything remotely like the snake musk that I have smelled, then anyone who thinks that they smell like cucumbers should clean out their refrigerators more often. |