I dunno where your son lives so i can't say if that part is true or not, but I'll beleave ya when you say he boasts. And he could be sorry cause the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife sez here; http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/living/snakes.htm ; that the Western rattlesnake (Croatus viridis) common in much of eastern Washington is capable of inflicting a poisonous bite. Serves the bragart right. Your son may be lucky, mebbee he lives in western Washington, but does he know where the western part ends and the eastern part begins? Is there a definate boundary line or is it one of those crosshatched 'disputed territories'? But the Washington game wardens do say that viridis 'seldom bites.' I hang out in some places that gots lots of rattlesnakes ( palo Duro Canyon, the Canadian River Breaks, Big Bend, and places betwixt, between, and afar) and that is true of most rattlers, they seldom bite too. ( Uh.. seldom bite less?) They will run away if given a chance, or slither away. If they do bite it is seldom even life threatening, ( yall been watching too many movies), don't get me wrong it's a serious thing and ya need to get some qualified medical attention but it is even more seldom that the bite is deadly. At any rate, next time he starts crowing show your fangs and bite him right in the ..uh... direct him to the site.

The only state (of the 48) without poisonous snakes is Maine. The Western Rattlesnake gets as far north as British Columbia.

Not true. While there are no poisonous snakes in western Washington, central and eastern Washington are home to the Pacific Rattlesnake. Elusive creatures, they usually don't like human interaction and slither away once they hear you walking towards them, but sometimes not. Smaller than the Diamondback of Arizona and Texas, but still just as lethal a venom. I see at least one Pacific Rattlesnake whilst out hiking in central Washington, sometimes two or more, depending on the area - the more remote the area, the more the chance of encountering them.

There are no poisonous snakes anywhere in the world, only venomous, and Washington has plenty of them.

Very true.

Washington has venomous snakes. Western Washington doesn't have any but Eastern Washington has it's fair share due to the dry climate caused by the rain shadow effect from the Cascade mountain range.

There are definitely venomous snakes in Washington State. The Western Rattlesnake's core range extends all the way over to the Cascade mountain range, and its occasional range extends beyond that core range. Still, don't be too concerned about his chances of being bit by a snake. In the US, there are about 8000 snakebites per year (mostly from people tormenting wild snakes or handling their pet snakes), and of those only around 15-20 are lethal bites. Given that the US population is in the neighborhood of 300 million people, the chances of even being bit are around 0.000027, and the odds of dying from a snake bite are 0.000000067.