I believe Joe,s experiences are the norm. I lived on the western edge of the Everglades for 15yrs, spent much time fishing and tromping in the swamp and saw one pigamy rattler, and he was a flat animal.Rat snakes and cottonmouths, yes, and those black bastards are are a piece o' work. As for people thankful for radio collars to track "escaped" snakes, they know nothing of the critters. Mike