Kentucky Man Encounters a Snake in the Snow

If you think Samuel L. Jackson was tired of snakes on his plane, imagine how he'd feel if he encountered one where most of us don't...slithering across the snowy ground.

Now I'm not a herpetologist--they study snakes, God love 'em--so maybe it isn't terribly uncommon to see a snake on the snow. But I DO know that they're reptiles and, therefore, cold-blooded. So a layman like myself WOULD wonder why this could happen.

I've gleaned a little from the comments below, so let me fill you in on a word with which I was unfamiliar until I saw it here...brumation. Bryan Jordan mentioned it in his comment, in which he also said that this is totally normal, even IF some of us have never seen anything like it.

Brumation, according to Merriam-Webster, means "a state or condition of sluggishness, inactivity, or torpor exhibited by reptiles (such as snakes or lizards) during winter or extended periods of low temperature." Interestingly, it's a relatively new word, used for the first time in 1965.

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TheSprucePets.com calls it a "dormant period" for reptiles, like hibernation for mammals. So I'm gonna guess that this snake's appearance isn't necessarily "brumation," but his sluggish movement--according to Tony's description--is likely part of this phenomenon. Hey, snakes gotta eat. Even if they're immersed in a deep, long slumber.

TheSprucePets does go on to explain the difference between brumation and hibernation. For example, when bears hibernate, they're done. They don't need to eat. But a snake at least needs water so it apparently will come out of its "stupor," for lack of a better word, to drink and then go back in.

So, class, what have we learned?

Snakes are reptiles and reptiles brumate in the winter. But that doesn't mean they don't awaken periodically because they do, in order to hydrate.

In conclusion, the snake was NOT brumating on this snowy road, but its brumation explains its slow movement.

Actually, it sounds like us humans who get up in the middle of the night for whatever reasons, barely awake, then stumble back to our warm beds...in order to brumate until the alarm goes off.