Let me introduce you to the massasauga

Snakes provoke curious reactions in people: fear, fascination and disgust. I know, because every time someone sees a snake at our cottage, they shriek: “ahh… there’s a snake!” pointing the finger at what is usually a small garden snake. Everyone then rushes closer (while remaining at a safe distance) stares and makes disparaging comments about the poor animal.

So, I can just imagine the reaction a rattlesnake would elicit. With any luck I might get to experience it while visiting Georgian Bay and Bruce Peninsula National Parks because the parks are two of the rare locations in Ontario where you can spot the massasauga rattlesnake. And in fact, the massasauga, which is on the threatened species list, is the only venomous snake found in Ontario.

To make sure I would recognize a massasauga if I came across one, I did a bit of research and this is what I found.

The massasauga adults range from 60 to 75 cm (24 to 30 in) in length (Ok long enough to scare someone) and the color pattern consists of a grey or tan ground color with a row of large rounded brown/black blotches or spots down the center of the back and three smaller rows of alternating spots down each side. And if that isn’t helpful, the Parks Canada website provides a few pictures to compare the massassauga with other non-venomous snakes (the massasauga is the middle one).

I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure if I saw any of the those snakes, I'd take a closer look to figure out exactly what I’m dealing with. I also can’t count on the tell-tale rattle as a recent study concluded that massasaugas only rattled 40 percent of the time when approached by humans.

Fortunately, the massasauga is very shy and only strikes if threatened or provoked. And if it does bite a human, it will sometimes choose not to inject any venom at all (that’s comforting). That’s a good thing because my research revealed that Ontario hospitals in rattlesnake country often do not have anti-venom, as massasauga specific anti-venom is not easy to come by. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that!

And in case you were wondering about its name, massasauga means “great river-mouth” in the Ojibwa language.