All my life here Alice & all the stomping around in woods & swamps & gardening & I never saw a crowned snake before either. However, even full grown, they are very small so it would be very easy to miss them.
Oh Sherri, you really are lucky. There was a period of about 10 or 15 years there where the dh & I averaged a rattler (ground, timber or diamondback) or cottonmouth every other day. It really did get to us mentally.
