Are snake bites in winter common?

Answer 1

That depends on what your winter weather is like. Very cold weather, with a prolonged cooling down period before, gives the snakes a chance to find a good place to winter and therefore not be disturbed during it's sleep. Places that don't really get cold during the winter, or just have slight dips of cooler weather at night and then get warmer during the day, often have people, snake encounters that end badly for both parties. Spring time is a bad time for bites in some parts of the U.S. because snakes are starting to become active again, but are still disoriented, while people are digging around their yards for spring cleaning. Many times a snake will strike during the colder months because it is confused and disoriented. Having just woken and being very unfocused it is slower and feels at a disadvantage, sometimes it will strike, when, during regular conditions, it would have run and tried to escape. One thing to always remember when dealing with a wild snake especially, during hard weather changes is, that the snake doesn't want to be where you are anymore than most people want him there. Try to remain calm and move in a slow clear manner away from the snake, Don't make any sudden fast jerky movements towards the snake , this is a trigger and if they are just recently distrubed, quick movements are seen as threatening, and cause for a bite.