MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 9, 2024
We currently have nine species, some with multiple subspecies occurring here, and there was historically a 10th, which has been extirpated. The “lost” species is the timber rattlesnake, which used to occur in southern Maine, but due to extreme persecution from humans hasn’t been documented here since 1860. This was the only venomous snake in Maine; all the remaining nine species are safe to be around, although some can be more aggressive when agitated. Venomous is toxic when they bite you, poisonous is toxic when you bite it. Now you know. More than 13,000 records have been submitted by hundreds of volunteers around the state for the Maine Amphibian and Reptile Atlas Project. One outcome has been the beloved “Maine Amphibians and Reptiles” book. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox