(RNN) - Some snakes can swim. Whether that’s common knowledge or not, it doesn’t make the thought of it any less terrifying.
Wayne Robbins and his family endured more than the thought of a swimming snake. They lived it.
They were out for a day on Fontana Lake in North Carolina on July 14 when they noticed an uninvited guest headed straight for their boat. It was a timber rattlesnake and it sent Robbins' kids into a screaming frenzy.
He captured the whole thing on video.
“This is our second time at that lake and the first timber rattlesnake we’ve ever encountered,” Robbins said.
As the snake moved towards the rear of the boat, one boy could be heard yelling “drive now!”
The rattlesnake started to climb aboard, but the family was eventually able to shoo the critter away and went on about their business.
When they got back home, they consulted with a friend who just happens to be a snake expert for the Knoxville Zoo. He told them something must have chased the snake into the lake because timber rattlesnakes don’t like water.
“I know now they don’t like water,” Robbins explained. “He was looking for any way out of it. We thought he was being aggressive, but he was really just desperate.”
Robbins said the ordeal hasn’t soured any plans for future trips to Fontana Lake. In fact, it didn’t even keep them out of the water that same day.
“We try to get out at least twice a week,” Robbins explained. “We have seen several water snakes, but this is the first rattlesnake. In fact, everyone still got in the water that day, after we saw the snake.”
According to Live Science, rattlesnakes are venomous, but rarely fatal to humans, so long as the bitten person gets treatment. Even so, a person who encounters a rattlesnake in the water is advised to remain as still as possible, according to KXTV.
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