COLUMBIA, S.C. — It's that time of year again - snake season. According to experts, spring and fall are when they're most active.
Female snakes come out of hibernation, shed their skin, which releases pheromones and then males track them. These females give birth now.
Furthermore, more rain this week means more visits from our scaly reptile friends in the Midlands.
"That gives habitat for the frogs to lay their eggs, which means that there are other predators that are going to move in there, so basically the available habitat expands for them and gives them more opportunity and often times that means it brings them closer to people," said Josh Castleberry, dean of workforce development in the environmental training center of Central Carolina Technical College.
Snake expert, Josh Castleberry from Sumter tells News 19 if you don't bother them, they won't bother you.
If you come across one, move away slowly or stay where you are and let them slide by.
"Snakes will occupy just about any habitat you give them. So I've seen rat snakes living up in attics or under crawl spaces. They can crawl up in oaks and live in hollows, basically anywhere there's shelter, protection from predators, relatively close abundant food sources and relatively close access to water," Castleberry said.
That means you should clean out your junk piles in the garage if you don't want foot-long friends.
Experts say these reptiles are cold blooded, so instead of sweating, they'll find a cool place to lie. Instead of shivering, they'll bask in the summer sun on the asphalt after a rainstorm.
Castleberry said of six venomous species in South Carolina, we need to worry about four here in the Midlands: Cottonmouths, pigmy rattle snakes, copperheads, and timber rattle snakes.
The other two are much less common in this area. They are the eastern diamondback rattle snake and eastern coral snake.
"If you do get bitten by a venomous snake, don't cut it, don't try to suck the venom out, don't electrify it or anything. Just get your keys and have somebody drive you slowly and carefully to the hospital. There are no species in South Carolina where you're just going to get bitten and 20 steps later you die," Castleberry said.
Experts say if a snake bites you, you'll know from the pain it causes.
Other ones commonly seen here in Columbia are rat snakes, black racers and water snakes, which are all non-venomous.
In learning more about these slimy snakes, fear can hopefully be replaced with knowledge.