Coalpail.com Forum

Two things I hate the most are heights and snakes. A friend of mine used to climb a 200' foot tall water tower and hang off the side of it. My stomach was turning just watching him from the ground.

I just bought a new house and I need to do some work in the woods. But, I guarantee those woods have a few Copperheads slithering around. I don't want to spend money on snake boots unless I have to. I'm wondering if a pair of firemen boots from my volunteer days would keep any fangs from getting through?

I doubt they'll give you the protection a snake boot does as they have an unpenatratable layer whereas a fireboot may have a one or two layers of leather and or rubber. I'm sure they're better than an average boot but fangs are very sharp.

as a rule, snakes are shy and copperheads are pretty shy for snakes. walk around with a rake and let it do the exploring rather than your foot. be noisy (they don't have ears but acutely sense vibration) and they'll get out of your way.

Loose fitting boots have the air gap so a bite doesn't go right into the skin. Snakes strike at the surface of the target - they won't know there's a gap between the boot and the skin. Thick pants over the boots - denim or canvas or corduroy - loose fitting as well, helps. You want to protect to at least knee level. The fireman's boots might be OK if they're the taller bunker boots but most are on the shorter side - maybe mid-calf. And while they usually have the fabric lining/internal support layer, they're not really sharps-proof. And fangs are sharp.

If you're really freaked out, I'd get gaiters - the plastic ones are cheap enough.

Kick every stump and walk like a moose thru the woods and you wont have problems. Gaiters would help with sharp poking brush too, so might be a good thing anyway.

I had a garter or grass??? snake strike me once and it almost went thru the leather of my Red Wings and their teeth are tiny. I can only imagine a viper bite, how deep it would go.

I found it kinda interesting how much some corn snakes look like copperheads.

I’d suggest that you stay out of the woods.

Our farm had 147 acres in Hyde Park NY and some of the snake stories I've been told are pretty crazy. Plus a few stories about ball lightning that would make your hair stand up straight. Sadly, they sold the farm in the late 1970's.