The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

With the coming of spring and warmer weather conditions, snakes are through hunkering down for the winter making human encounters more likely. For many, snakes evoke feelings of uneasiness to outright panic. Montana only has 10 native snake species of which only the Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) is venomous.

Prairie Rattlesnakes are pale green to brown in color with brown or black blotches along the back extending to the tail where they change from blotches to rings. However, pattern and coloration vary widely across snake species and region and should not be used as a determining...