I almost walked on top of this thing sitting under my bird feeders. I'm not good at ID'ing snakes unless it's the little Texas brown snake or a coral snake (which I've never seen around here).
I'm thinking this is either a harmless grass snake, or it's a water moccasin.
Does anyone know?
Thanks!
Here's another shot of it.
I looked him up in my TX snake book and he looks like a water moccasin...but I'm no expert.
Thanks, Bubbles. I think I've pretty much come to the same conclusion after looking at scads of photos on the web. Western Cottonmouth is the nearest I can come to it: http://www.noble.org/ag/wildlife/snakes/cottonmouth.jpg
Thank Heaven the dogs weren't outside at the time! They'd have harassed it and I KNOW at least one of them would have gotten bitten. I just wish I'd been outside when it departed so I could have seen which direction it went!
I'll really have to watch it from now on. In almost 30 years of living in the same house, this is only the third time I've seen a snake in our yard... and the other two times it was garden snakes (besides the little Texas Brown snakes, I mean). We live with a private air field kind of backing up to our property and I know there's a lot of wildlife living along the air strip. There are ditches on either side of the air strip that usually holds some water. But because it's been so dry, the snakes are probably going to be heading into the subdivision looking for food and water. I know that one of the neighbors had a cottonmouth in their house a year or so ago.
I don't relish the thought of having to constantly be on guard for snakes until it rains again. And I'll have to be especially vigilant with the dogs. DH says he's going to spray the yard with CedarCide. It's supposed to be a repellent for snakes, besides being for fleas, ticks, and fire ants. I sure hope it is!
Western cottonmouth..yes...
My ID book is the TX Monthly's.... A Field Guide to Texas Snakes. We have a place at Lake LBJ and I wanted to know what was scaring me up there! I have the book at home now also. I think we'll see more snakes here also this year because of the drought...and we have a small pond...so they can drop in for a drink and a snack, plus a relaxing swim... Stay vigilant and careful!
I don't think I could have taken my eyes off of it.....I would want to know where it was.
This site says the Cotton mouth and Water Moccasin are one in the same and highly venomous. http://www.types-of-snakes.com/cottonmouth_snake/cottonmouth_snake.html
Until I got this new dog I never really worried about the dog and snakes. She just wasn't interested. This new, young dog will pick up everything she sees. We have quite a few coral snakes around and the usual copperheads and water moccasins.
It is definitely a water moccasin. That arrowhead shaped head and thae fact that it has a fat bady that suddenly narrows close to the end is a dead give away. When harassed, it trys to play dead by turning upside down, exposing their white underside and emit a skunky odor. With all the stock ponds and the Colorado River as one of our property lines, we encounter them very often. Our dog Blue hates them, picks them up and shakes them to death. Unfortunately, she's been too slow twice and was bitten. Tough and painful two weeks as there is no vaccine for dogs.
I have lots of water moccasin (cotton mouth) on my property. Very deadly. It does look like the ones I have here. Arrow shaped head and pits for eyes. when threatened they have a foul odor. They are fearless and will chase you. They live in the vegetated area near the ponds. They don't mind at all coming up into the yard, garage, or home if they find an opening
You may need to move the bird feeder....I finally took ours down because rats were coming in from the greenbelt behind us at night to eat the seed that was scattered on the ground under the feeder. Your snake might have been waiting for a rat to show up ...or he was just digesting one... That was a big snake!
[shudder] i'm very lucky that nothing happened today when i was out working my fanny off in the yard until dark:30
we live on a very wooded 5-1/2 acre tract with two straight sides and then the creek is our property line on the west and south sides.
we have had mostly copperheads here, king snakes, a few garden snakes, and one coral snake. i have never come up on a moccasin here. i was raised in Louisiana and have been chased IN the water by them more than once--NOT fun!! (and in all my life, i have NEVER been bitten by a snake).
but i'm old and slow now, so that's very scary to me.
Thank God for Dave's Garden... i might not have thought about the drought driving the snakes in if i had not read this.
Done are my days of flip-flop gardening, and poking into dirt in the dark. Heck, i even went down to my plant shed (where i'd already found a 7' snake skin!) hubby says snake skin probably of a rat snake or king snake; maybe even a hog nose.
now... we have a doggie door out back. we have water up on the deck for the dogs. do i need to keep my back door closed?
do you think one could get into my dog food box on the front porch? do i need to worry about my bucket of bird seed drawing prey for the snakes? also have water bowls on the other end of the front deck.
i'm concerned b/c i'm here alone quite a bit. i'm not normally scared... but i admit i'm a bit spooked.
This message was edited Apr 20, 2011 9:03 PM
I don't live alone, and I too am old and slow, so I am SPOOKED! I hate snakes with a passion. We have only seen about two or three snakes in the 12 years that we have lived here. We have woods about 2 blocks from here, and we have a small pond at the back corner of our lot. It was under Banana trees so there are old leaves in it and it needs cleaned out. We will be very carefull doing that!
I too wear flip flops out in the yard. I might consider getting some clogs or what ever they call those things.
"shudder".........yuk.....and why I always end up reading these threads before bed!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing!
Jeanne
ok shutting the back door before bed tonight. rock on the bird seed bucket. not sure if there's anything else i can do now.
worried about my dogs outside all day now. crap!
so does the CedarCide work?
I would suspect food is the reason he was there, whether looking for a rodent, squirrel or bird. They spend time around water for the same reason. Small critters come to water. Fish, crawdads and turtles provide additional food for a snake. The snake doesn't drink large amounts of water nor does it need to stay moist or cool.
CrOak took some good photos and I don't know how close but the snake was not aggressive. I suspect it was wishing people would go away and leave it alone. I personally have no aversion to killing a poisonous snake and have learned to ID them. My main reason for that is to prevent my pets from being bit. I do have an old cat that used to go out of his way to harass snakes. He was bit multiple times in the past and sports fang scars that are 3/4 inch apart. One time he was bit on the butt and lost all the hair around his tail. DH said at least he was going the right direction. But even he has lived to tell it.
I would say to overcome the fear of snakes, just always be aware of where you put your feet and hands. Always look first. If you go out after dark, carry a flashlight. For the most part, snakes won't hunt man down... just the opposite.
Right. Good words there... and most of it, I know from being raised near the lake in Louisiana.
However, right now, it's late. I'm tired, and alone. And wishing it would rain LOL
I'd be proud of some rain too and less of this blessed wind!
Well, after reading snake stuff last night.....I went in to watch the news and the first story was about a guy in Bastrop being bitten by a huge rattlesnake. He managed to kill it before he collapsed and died.....
omg bubbles!!! sooo scary!
and podster... where are you? i'm in Conroe... consider myself 'deep east texas'
be aware, but not fearful.....they are usually large enough you can spot them.
The copperheads on the other hand will lay coiled in your gardens and plants. They are not deadly but will make you wish you were dead......Like a seriously bad spider bite. keep benydryl and antibiotics on hand. if bitten by a copperhead take 2 or even 3 benydryl and a dose of antibotic before heading out to the clinic. There is little else they will do for a copperhead bite. I have killed 2 already this season. One I actually brushed my hand against before seeing him.he did not strike just leisurely slithered away. he was a small one about 7 inches. I chased him down and cut off the head with my shovel and he made a tasty meal for the cat.
we got almost 3/4 in of rain last night.....whoppee
Cajun ~ deeper in east TX ~ lol We are near the Toledo Bend reservoir about a hour east of Lufkin area. Our local REA is called the Deep East Texas Electric Co-op. About as far east as you can go but centered between the northern and southern state boundries, deep in the pineywoods. We have been thru the Cleveland and Conroe areas, old car shows and trips to the Houston Medical district. You are about 3 hours from here.
This message was edited Apr 21, 2011 8:56 PM
Border Collies are cottonmouth killers, takes awhile for them to usually become non-immune to the bites, difference in moccs and cottonmouths u see when they open their mouth, cottonmouths have white to lite pink in mouth linings, the dry year is bringing them out after rats and rabbits and frogs, take a d head shovel as a walking stick, spread a wide swath of powdered sulphur aroun the yard, they dont like to crawl across it, also, take some old fashioned lite bulbs and break an egg over them, scatter about the yard, they think you have hen eggs and will constrict aroun the lite bulb after swallowing, stay out of any water u see. They will come after you in swimming areas
Ok, I've been reading this like I'd watch a scary movie--horrified and fascinated at the same time! And now I need to go to sleep. Hopefully, I'm too tired to have snake nightmares! Janet
I read this thread late last night and thought the same thing...gonna have nightmares, but I'm glad it's here because it makes me think a bit about where I stick my hands and where I step thru the bushes! We do live in Texas, afterall!
It's best to keep your dog in during late afternoon according to my vet. Apparently that is when they are more apt to be hunting (not that they aren't out at other hours). We have an incurable copperhead hunter. She will dig a whole to China to get at them. She is a hound and can smell them underground. After multiple 24 hour emergency vet trips at $600 a pop we now keep meds on hand, prescribed by our regular vet, to treat her. The swelling lasts 24-48 hours and then there are weeks of skin sloughing and healing. This is her twelfth and the first of the season. We never know when to make that shift of not letting her out in the afternoon 'cause she prefers to be outside.
We have considered the possible fortune awaiting if we can figure out how to manufacture anti-venom from her. lol She must be the venom equivalent of radioactive.
Bless her heart! Now let's talk about "underground"...... what do you mean by that? I know they live under rocks, under structures, etc., but underground is giving me the willies again!
oh bless her heart!!! one night we were sitting here watching TV and 5 of our 6 dogs came in with snake bites! one of them, i think, was the one who carried it off or killed it or something... she's a Basset and fearless.
we quickly gave them Benedryl and put ice on their bo-bos ;-(
i found a hole in one of my gardens and was a little tripped out, wondering WHO made it!
yesterday i was watering and out pops a toad ;-)
i've made at least 2-3 'toad houses' out of broken flower pots in my beds, but alas... he made is own *g*
This message was edited Apr 22, 2011 10:04 AM
Sounds like you had a consensus on what dogs like to do to live on the edge, Cajun. Five out of six? Wowzers!
Bigbubbles, copperheads live in community nests so if you see one you probably have a bunch more elsewhere. They find their way into chipmunk, vole, mouse or mole holes. They love to hunt in cross ties especially ones covered in ivy. In fact, we were told to get rid of as much overgrowth as possible. Alas, though all but one bite occurred in the city, our property there, and those of our neighbors, constitute a wooded preserve. Thankfully, rattlesnakes are unusual in the more northern part of Georgia, including Atlanta. I think Pepper might not have made it if she was bitten by one.
Oh great! I have a retaining wall around the back of my pond that's about thigh high. Half of it has concrete between the rocks, but the rest has holes. I'm going to be a little skittish back there until I can get DH to plug those holes! We used to have stray cats in our neighborhood until the coyotes started taking them. I think the cats were possibly keeping the snakes in check.
Ewwww, I hate snakes. Well not Hate, just scared of them. I almost got bit by a copperhead a couple weeks ago. I was crawling under a house to fix some lattice for an elderly customer of mine. It was a young copperhead. They release all their poison at once and leap at you. I bet I flew out from under that house at lightning speed....................... :)
I found a snake looking for eggs in my chicken coop this evening. I thought ha I got the eggs first but after reading this thread I may never be the some. We have hognose snake that look kinda like cottonmouths but they move really slow.
Well I've been piddling on the computer since 5:30....want to get the newspaper, but it's still dark and I'm not going out there until I can see what's slithering in the grass.... I'm already skittish about the coyotes passing thru on their way back to the Barton Creek preserve before dawn.
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter to you and Everyone too.
Happy Easter Everyone!
As much as I hate snakes it is a GOOD reminder to be careful while out in the garden so it is very much appreciated!
Thanks everyone for sharing. It is also educational. Safety should always be number one on anyone's list.
Jeanne
That is why me and my dog(great pryenees) goes out with me at nite time for anything I do outside..we killed a 66 inch cotton mouth Friday morning while cleaning up the yard..chopped the head off and buried it..hung the snake on the fence by the highway to let people know what I killed..it was a female cotton mouth that just laid eggs somewhere..my yard guy found them in a hole in the ground made by some animal...he dug the eggs up and smashed everyone of them...there were 15 of them..UGH..I took a video of it but don't know hwo to get still pics off my phone..
It's important to remember that most snakes, even venomous ones do much more good than harm. Most snakes, including venomous ones, are not aggressive. I am not afraid to handle them. Here I am cutting a corn snake from some deer netting fence around my garden. The fence tangled two corn snakes and a turtle in just a few days. I was able to save one of the snakes but not the other or the turtle. I never used that kind of fence again.
Corn snakes look a lot like copperheads but do not have that shovel-shaped face that is the sign of a viper.
I agree MaypopLaurel. I like snakes.
Moodene....I went to sleep last night trying to visualize how long 66" was! And....remembering how many holes I have in the yard from that pesky armadillo.
I almost walked on top of this thing sitting under my bird feeders. I'm not good at ID'ing snakes unless it's the little Texas brown snake or a coral snake (which I've never seen around here).
I'm thinking this is either a harmless grass snake, or it's a water moccasin.
Does anyone know?
Thanks!
stepped on cottonmouths, never bit, cottonmouths stay away from, but its the rattlers, NOT Hognose, Hognose are non poisonous and their diet is strictly frogs, its the timber and sidewinders I have a desire to destroy, they aim for your eyes, and can leap 6' in the air, I get that old song from Alice's Restaurant in my head, and wanna KILL.
