Using a potato rake to poke under bushes and logs in a vacant lot on Perdido Key, biologist Rick O'Connor searched for water moccasins early Thursday.
It wasn't longbefore he found one of the venomous pit vipers coiled in an area of high grass. The 18-inch long snake was hiding near a palmetto bush.
O'Connor, a marine biologist with the University of Florida's Sea Grant program,is studying the water moccasin population in western Perdido Key at the request of residents who were concerned about frequent sightings of the snakes.
"They were finding more and more them," said O'Connor, who was a little surprised to hear about so many of the snakes living near saltwater.
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Water moccasins, also known as cotton mouths, need fresh water to drink and usually live near backwater swamps and ponds, he said.
"Usually they stay within100 feet of some source of fresh water," O'Connor said.
The western Perdido Key area where residents have spotted a large number of the snakes is nearthe Gulf and islargely developed with high-end homes and condominium complexes.
O'Connor thinks the snakes are finding fresh water from temporary ponds that form after heavy rains.Water moccasins like to eat fish and can hunt in saltwater as long as they have fresh water nearby, he said.
He thinks development is pushing the animals into more populated areas.
"This is something that we are seeing all over Florida with everything from snakes to bears," he said.
O'Connor has placed metal plating in about a dozenareas where the snakes have been spotted. He said water moccasins like to hide under the plating. He routinely checks the plates and has found two water moccasins since March 19.
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Although residents are seeing more of the snakes, O'Connor doesn't think there has been a major explosion of the water moccasin population in Perdido Key.
"(Water moccasins) are more active in the spring and fall," he said.
Steve Johnson, a University of Florida associateprofessor of wildlife ecology, agreed.
"To get a true idea of the numbers, you would have to catch a bunch of them and tag them and monitor them over time," he said. "I think this is just the time of year when they are becoming a lot more active and people are also out and more and more likely to encounter them."
Johnson saidwater moccasins can be found near saltwater throughout Florida. Seahorse Key, a small island near Cedar Key, is known for having a large population of the snakes, he said.
"They have a healthy population of cotton mouths without any permanent source of fresh water," he said.
O'Connor plans to meet with some Perdio Key homeowner associations to give residents tips about dealing with the venomous snakes. There are some simple things homeowners can do, such as keeping the grass trimmed, to keep snakes away.
"They don't like open areas because they are vulnerable to predators when they are out in the open,'" said O'Connnor, who also recommends removing standing water and any sort of fish baitor fish products from properties. He said the snakes like to eat fish and anything that smells like fish attracts them.
Many people who are bitten by snakes were trying to kill the snakes when they were bitten, he said. O'Connor advises people to leave the snakes alone and call experts to remove them.Anyone bitten by a snakeshould seek immediate medical attention, he said.
"What the snakes really want is just to be left alone," he said.
Despite many people's aversion to the slithery and venomous creatures, Johnson said they play an important part in the ecosystem.
He said the the snakes have been wrongly labeled as aggressive.
"They will do a bluffing behavior if they feel threatened, but what they want is to get away," he said.
And, Johnson said, water moccasins are part of the web of life on the key.
"They are both predator and prey and they form an important link in the tapestry of life out there. If we keep pulling out threads from that tapestry, it will fall apart."
Melissa Nelson Gabriel can be reached at mnelsongab@pnj.com or 850-426-1431.
