The only two breeds of snakes I have seen in the BW are a common garden snake and a brown snake of some sort. Neither are poisonous.

My question is how close to the BW are such snakes as a rattler or copperhead? The last I heard was around 250 to 300 miles as the limit of these two to successfully winter north of that and therefore do not exist well north of that elusive line. Has the effect of weather change if any had an impact on that number? Is the possibility of poison snakes in the BW on the horizon?

Closest I've seen rattlesnakes is along the Mississippi River south of the Cities....I think you're pretty safe.

Doubt they'll ever get up there. Never say never but seems very unlikely.

Was up in the Q on Kahshahpiwi last week and saw a garter snake swimming across a channel not 100 yards from a large ice flow. I was as surprised to see him as he was to see me :)

No copperheads within over 600 miles of the BWCA. Timber rattlesnakes live in southeast MN, and aren’t very common. Garter snakes are about the only thing you’ll encounter.

Chances of being killed by a Garter snake are low, but never zero.... watch your back!

bwcadan: "The only two breeds of snakes I have seen in the BW are a common garden snake and a brown snake of some sort. Neither are poisonous.

The brown snake you saw is a red-bellied snake. I think those are the only two found in MN canoe country pending climate change or until somebody brings their emotional support snake on a trip.

There are no venomous snakes in northern MN. Southeastern MN has rattlesnakes because of the cave system that wasn't plowed over by glaciers thousands of years ago. Without those underground caves, rattlesnakes would not survive a Minnesota winter.

Red-Bellied snakes are not venomous. From just a quick google search you might confuse them with the red-bellied black snake from Australia, which is venomous. The red-bellied snake in the US is tiny and harmless though.

KawnipiKid: "...or until somebody brings their emotional support snake on a trip."

LOLOL... that's pretty funny. :)

But be very careful of garter snakes if you're a toad! Taken on Lake Polly.

It's unlikely that you would see one in BWCA but northern Minnesota also has a green grass snake. Those are also harmless and very hard to see in grass.

This rattlesnake got caught in a mouse trap I set on our back porch a few years ago. In Calif.

When someone starts advertising snake-proof portage footwear, that’s when I’ll put in on the River Styx. :-)

In other words, ain’t never gonna be no need, nohow. Unless this continues, perhaps:

Something Was Messing With Earth’s Axis. The Answer Has to Do With Us.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist… Snakes? I don’t know no snakes.

Massasauga rattle snakes are common around Georgian Bay (Lake Huron) in Ontario. They sound like two dragonflies fighting in the air only you can tell that's not what it is. Then you realize one of these puppies is close by.

I took this photo about five years ago in French River PP. I tossed my lip balm in the photo for scale.

ghamer: "But be very careful of garter snakes if you're a toad! Taken on Lake Polly.
"

Saw one catch a frog once. The frog let out a terrifying scream that I did not know they could do. Really loud and scary.

ghamer: "But be very careful of garter snakes if you're a toad! Taken on Lake Polly.
"

Several years ago. I witnessed this event also. well over 30 minutes to complete the mission of consuming the toad.

A healthy population of Timber Rattlesnake at Devil's Lake in WI. Not really connected to the general range of the species.

ghamer: "But be very careful of garter snakes if you're a toad! Taken on Lake Polly.
"

So cool. Thanks for sharing.

I left my phone at home yesterday while we had a family gathering at a state park in Illinois for Mother's Day... but (for once) I wish I would have brought it to capture a snake trying to eat a fairly large (and alive) catfish. First time seeing a snake trying to eat a live fish for all of us. The snake was locked on the midsection of the fish for the entire time that we were there (about 2 and 1/2 hours) and the fish was still breathing for that entire duration.

Unlike some large mammals or small, pathogen carrying insects which can move considerable distances, I don’t think rattle snakes are know for moving any great distance. I doubt they would move far from their tiny zone in SE Minnesota any theme soon. They are already rare in this state, and it’s unlikely anyone would see one unless looking for it in the right habitat. I suspect a fair number of people who think they see one are actually seeing hognose snakes or western fox snakes. The fox snake in the photo below was on a bike path neat Ft Snelling, and even curled up and rattled its tail at me imitating a rattle snake before crawling off into the brush.

Just had a rattler in my camp…

out west I see a Gartner snake same color as a rattler. I keep trying to remember if I saw the in the BWCA?

No copperheads in Minnesota. Rattlers are found only in Southeast corner of the state.

Last summer, a visitor to our camp. It crawled thru our tent. Daughter came and told me as calm as can be, “there is a snake in the tent.”