- Whoa! Geez, a huge Watersnake! - [Will] Oh, they got a green over there. They got a green!
- What? - [Will] They got a green over there. - Oh man, ow! (snake striking)
Oh, geez. That is one angry Black Racer. Wow! What? (SFX rocks crumbling) Today we're headed out on
a snake scavenger hunt. I'll be working alongside my friend and wildlife biologist, Will Robertson. Say hi, Will. - Hi, Will. - This region is known for
its plethora of species. We're gonna be scouring the
fields, searching the forests, flipping rocks, and rolling
logs, doing whatever it takes to find some of these cool reptiles. Will, are you ready? Let's find some snakes. (Coyote grunting) (tense music) (Coyote sneezing) (Coyote sniffles)
Ugh, pollen. (mystery music) Oh, a snake. I think it was a Gartersnake. He went down into this
little hole right here. Oh, yep, there he is, his little face. He's right there. See if I can tickle him out. There he is. Gotcha. Whoa, there we go. All right, let's take a look at this one. So that is the Eastern Gartersnake. One of the coolest things and
most people don't realize it about Gartersnakes is that
they are mildly venomous. Now I doubt if they
could ever hurt a human but for the most part,
these are super calm, super docile snakes. You can see that little
defense mechanism right there, totally flattening out the body and almost making the head
look as if it's V-shaped, which, of course, would be
indicative of a venomous snake. But as we know, the Gartersnake
is completely harmless. (mystery music) This is cool, it's like a river of moss. Look at that. Now normally, we'd probably
have water flowing down through this spillway
and towards this lake that we're getting toward. But it's just a really
unique looking habitat, almost like "Lord of the Rings". And it seems as if the lake might pay off because Will just said he's
got a big Watersnake basking. Oh yeah, that's a nice one. - These guys are non-venomous,
but the do bite quite a bit. So we'll see what this guy does. - [Coyote] All right,
Will's got the Watersnake. Oh, yeah, a beautiful one. And definitely a species that people oftentimes think is venomous, but completely harmless. The Northern Watersnake. That's another one for the list, Will. - Yeah, there we go. - [Coyote] Looking good. - [Will] Oop, Coyote, sanitize real quick. - Don't wanna spread those
snake fungal diseases. - Oh, Red-Bellied snake. - [Coyote] Red-Bellied snake. Pretty basic looking
snake except for the fact that it has a pretty vibrant, red belly. - Let's flip it. Oh, look a little bold vole. Look, he's a little tunnel. Hey, buddy. - Got an interesting little
precarious scenario here. There is a rock ledge that
a black racer's up on. I think I'm gonna drop myself
down into this little hole. Might be able to come
around the edge and get it. I see it, but it does not see me. It's right there. I'm gonna be right on
the edge of this cliff. (tense music) Got it! Getting it under control's
gonna be a whole 'nother story. And these snakes are really bitey. (snake striking)
Oh, geez. (snake striking)
That is one, angry, black racer. Will, got a Black Racer for the snake scavenger hunt. (Coyote grunts) See if we can do this
without taking a bite. There we go. Okay, focus is on the
camera at the moment. And there we have it, another species for the snake scavenger hunt. All right Marty, I'm gonna bring it up for the tight shot. That is the Black Racer. Looks like it's getting
ready to shed its skin. You can tell that from the
cloudiness in the eyes. And the thing that I love
most about this species is its agility and its speed, not
to mention the coloration is very similar to the Black Mamba. But of course, this is
a non-venomous species, so a bite is gonna be nothing more than a little soap and water to clean up. All right, watch how fast this snake is when I let it back into the environment. Or not. That's kinda cool just to
get it in that display mode. I thought you were just gonna speed off, but instead, you're giving
us some incredible B-roll. Nothin' wrong with that. - Ooh, look at that,
big Ring-Necked snake. That's a nice orange belly. So these guys spend most
of their time underground looking for things like
salamanders to eat. They're very tame snakes, they never bite. You can see they have
tiny, tiny little heads with a prominent yellow
ring right around the neck. Double-flip. No. Right here? Nope. - Guess who found a Hognose snake? Right here, Will. Oh, it's on the move. I got it! I got it, I got it, I got it. - [Will] I'll grab him up here. - [Coyote] Okay. - Whoa.
- [Coyote] Wow. - A Hognose snake for the scavenger hunt. This is a difficult one to find and look at that pointed nose right there. Ooh. - [Marty] Uh-oh. - [Coyote] Uh-oh. You know what happens
when they poop, right? - [Will] Yeah, these guys
are known for playing dead. - [Coyote] Oh my gosh,
the smell is unbearable. - Wow. - [Coyote] Dude, you are covered in poop. - I'll have to wipe that off. - [Coyote] Oh my gosh. - Ugh. - Hands. (jaunty music) (spray pump squirting) When lifting rocks... (Coyote coughs) Swallowed a bug. (jaunty music) (Coyote clears throat) (Coyote coughs) I was gonna try to tell
you about rockin' a kit. Back to one. (jaunty music) When lifting rocks, it's important to have good rock etiquette, which means you lift a rock gently and you place it right back
exactly where you found it. (upbeat music) - [Will] Ants, whoa. - Do they bite or sting? Let's find out. They don't really do anything. They run away. Not a sting episode. Will just called out to me that he found an abandoned car that I need to check out. I don't know what an
abandoned car would be doing out here on the side of this mountain. Like, how did he even end up here? Wow, that is. What? - I would not be surprised
if Rattlesnakes were using this old, rusted car. That's really interesting. - [Coyote] I mean, how did this get here? - [Will] They must've rolled it down the hill and crashed it. - [Coyote] I'd be really creepy
if we found a body in it. - Not that I can see,
just some Busch Lite. Don't drink and drive. - [Coyote] Yeah, that's a good message. - Let's see if we can lift this hood. - [Coyote] We need to
give her a flip-a-roo. (metal creaking) I don't see any Rattlesnakes. Worth a check though. Oh, this tire. - [Will] Does it spin? - [Coyote] No.
- [Will] It's stuck in place. - [Coyote] Creepy. - [Will] There's a Ratsnake on top! - [Coyote] Oh my gosh, there is. Oh, my goodness! In the abandoned car! - A new species.
(Coyote laughing) - [Coyote] A new one? All right what do you need me to do? I might try to, I might be able to... Here, here, here, let me get. It's tangled in the windshield. Yeah, yeah, I seem him, I see him. There we go. - Whoa, a new species. - [Coyote] Careful, careful. - I'm slipping.
- [Coyote] Yes! How about that? All right, Will, what do we got? - We've got a Black Ratsnake and this is actually a small one. Despite being a pretty decent sized snake, these guys are the largest
snakes around here. They can get almost eight feet long. The eat birds and they
climb right up trees to nab squirrels. This is guy's in shed, so
his eyes are pretty blue. - [Coyote] Unbelievable. - [Will] Awesome. - [Coyote] What would
you say is the holy grail of snake species in this area? - I would say the Greensnake. They're bright, bright green. They look like nothing
else from around here. They're super tropical looking. You'd never believe
that they're right here in the Appalachians. - When it comes to Gartersnakes,
we found the mother lode. A whole pile of sunning
snakies right there. These rocks are alive with snakes. This is perfect conditions at the moment to find a number... Whoa! Geez, a huge Watersnake. Really, really big Northern Watersnake. All right, here, let's... Yeah, I'm gonna need at
least you to hold the camera. - [Will] Okay. - Wow, that's a big one. Hopefully, it does not
decide to give me a chomp 'cause this is good sized. Wow. - [Will] Oh, they've
got a green over there. They got a green!
- What? - [Will] They got a green over there. - Oh man, ow! - [Will] Okay, we're comin', we're comin'. Oh, beautiful.
- [Coyote] Ooh! Amazing. - [Will] And that's one of
the rare ones for around here. - I was walking and sure enough,
just saw a little movement and reached out and got
the little Greensnake. - Amazing, that is the holy grail. Wow, okay. Well, all in one two-minute
clip, huge Northern Watersnake and a Smooth Greensnake. Here, let me give you this. All right, let me see this guy. Oh my goodness. The Smooth Greensnake. That is the ultimate right there. Look at that. Big snake, little snake. Cute snake, seemingly dangerous snake, but both completely harmless. - [Will] No way! Marty, you just got another Greensnake. How big is this one? Oh my gosh. - And it's even tinier. - [Will] Oh my goodness. - Look at that little guy. - [Will] Wow. - [Coyote] Oh, that is a
gorgeous little Greensnake. Will, we did it, two,
beautiful Smooth Greensnakes. Now what's your favorite
thing about this reptile? - It's gotta be the vibrance, hands-down. I mean, it's a bright Greensnake. It looks like it came from the jungle, but here we are in the
Appalachians and we've got it. - So this is one of my favorite
snake species as a kid. I used to always see them in my backyard but they're becoming more and more scarce. And what is the reason for that? - Well, you know, along
with habitat destruction, when people spray
pesticides on their lawn, these guys eat insects. So if they eat insects that
have pesticides on them, well, you know what happens. - It's gonna wipe out the snakes. So less pesticides means
more Smooth Greensnakes. Will, an enormous thanks to
you for taking us out today in some of your favorite herping spots. This was the ultimate
snake scavenger hunt. Make sure to check out
Will's YouTube Channel, lots of awesome videos there. And until we collaborate on the next one, I'm Coyote Peterson. - I'm Will Robertson. - Be brave. - [Will] Stay wild. - [Coyote] We'll see ya
on the next adventure. All right, Smooth Greensnakes,
back into the grass. (coyote howling)
Boo. Sneks are friends, you shouldn't be harassing them until they bite.