re: #230 ckkatz
When I was a Boy Scout in the 1960’s we used to catch ring necked snakes along the Tionesta Reservoir in Northwest Pa. I always found them mellow. (Or as Backwoods_Sleuth says ‘docile’.)
The ones with a really bad attitude were the Northern Water snakes. ( non-venomous)
The brown water snakes local to Northern Virginia also cop to the bad attitude. And while I cannot say from personal experience, friends who have encountered them, say the same about Water Moccasins/cottonmouths.
All watersnakes have a shitty attitude. I never met one that wasn’t bitty. Interesting snakes though. They actually live in Family groups.