Natural resource manager gives facts on snakes Published April 13, 2010 By Wayne Crenshaw 78 ABW/PA ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- A wet winter may mean the snake population at Robins will increase. Ample rainfall means more swamp and other pools of water, and therefore more frogs and other critters snakes love to eat. Bob Sargent, natural resources manager, said although reports of people seeing snakes are not on the increase just yet, he expects snake sightings to go up over the next few weeks as their breeding season begins. However, while people should use caution to avoid snakes, there is no reason to go on a snake killing spree. "They perform ecological roles that are important to us," he said. "They eat rodents and invertebrates we don't like." Non-venomous snakes are also protected by state law, said Sargent. Venomous snakes residing at Robins are the cottonmouth, the timber rattler, pigmy rattler and the copperhead. But most snake reports here are of non-venomous snakes such as rat snakes, banded water snakes, racers, brown snakes and garter snakes. Sargent said he is not aware of a snake bite reported at Robins, and of the 7,000 to 9,000 bites reported in the U.S. each year, the majority of those occur in the West. Still, people should assume all snakes are venomous, said Sargent, unless they are really confident in their identification skills. Pictures of snakes found in Georgia can be seen at www.uga.edu/srelherp.