Snakes of Mountain Brook: Talk of copperheads dominates popular Facebook group

Snakes are crawling all over the popular Facebook group What's Happening in Mountain Brook.

In the past month, the group has been inundated with reports of snakes in the area - often accompanied by photos of the serpents decapitated with a shovel or a rake. Users post contact information for Mountain Brook Animal Control and pest control specialists, or post about products meant to deter snakes.

The snake stampede inspired one user to refer to the group as "the snake channel." Another created a joke (and inactive) Facebook group called OTM (Over the Mountain) Snakes on a Page to contain all the reptile posts.

But, to some residents - especially parents of small children - the snakes are no joke.

[ Related: Tales from an Alabama animal control pro ]

We asked Auburn University Asst. Research Professor Dr. David A. Steen if there would be a reason there are so many snake sightings. Is the weather driving it, the recent rains or the humidity making the snakes more active and mobile?

"It's very possible," Steen, a wildlife ecologist who specializes in reptiles, told "Unfortunately, I can't really say for sure what's driving it."

There could be a population increase due to lots of rodents or insects in the area; perhaps it's that it's early in the year and snakes are coming out of hibernation, he said.

But, Steen said, there's also the possibility that the "increase" is just an illusion, that there's a "snowball effect" from people posting photos to social media.

"There's always snakes around us, and whether we see them or not, that is pretty unpredictable," he said.

"The short answer is that we don't know," Steen said. "The long answer is that snakes are so difficult to study, they're really secretive, they're hard to conduct a long term study that would allow us to figure out" what's going on, he said.

"It's not the kind of things that funding agencies are interested in," he added.

For those concerned about snakes in their yards, Steen said it's a good idea to remove food sources - rodents, especially. Habitats, such as plants that offer ground cover (ivy beds, for instance), could also be removed.

Steen said he's not aware of any evidence that snake deterrent products or mothballs are effective at keeping snakes away. "If it's a good snake habitat, snakes are going to be attracted to it no matter how many mothballs you put down," he said.

But what if you encounter a snake? First, "don't panic," Steen said. "If you're in the wild, respect the animal from a distance like you would any wildlife species, and there won't be a problem."

"We don't even notice most of the times when we're right next to a snake, and there are no problems," Steen told

"Alabama has dozens of different kinds of snakes, and only a few are venomous," he said. "I encourage people just to kind of get a better understanding of the wildlife around them."

Many of the snakes posted to What's Happening in Mountain Brook are copperheads, or thought to be copperheads. While it's not always a copperhead, sometimes it is.

"People are notoriously bad at identifying snakes, and when a snake appears it's often thought to be the most dangerous snake in the neighborhood," Steen said. Copperheads are common, but they're often confused with other harmless and helpful snakes, such as rat snakes.

He said people can recognize copperheads from the hourglass pattern on the snake's skin, or think of it as "a Hershey Kiss pattern on a chocolate milk background." Like all pit vipers, copperheads have elliptical pupils, like cat's eyes.

"People will also say that they have a triangle or a diamond-shaped head. I don't think that that's a good way to identify snakes," Steen said. "You can make any snake into a triangle if you try hard enough."

According to Steen, most snake bites occur when people try to kill, harass, or otherwise handle snakes. "I don't recommend that people that aren't adept at handling snakes" try to remove them, he said.

"I don't think that there's a single snake species that's aggressive," he said, but noted that a snake is going to try and defend itself if threatened. "I would, too."

Mountain Brook Animal Control (phone: (205) 531-3535) | Jefferson County animal control information