This must be snake week! I was walking my dogs in an empty field and they start barking and pulling me. Is this a copperhead? He was about 20 inches long.
Another I.D. question
Yes! We've had 2 people,in Fulshear, bitten this month already. They had to be Life Flighted to the closest hospital. Careful!!
That is a beautiful snake ... from a distance.
Carla
Why are the pretty ones always so dangerous!)
females maybe???
Ewwww! Sorry, he is not beautiful to me! The other little snake you photographed was OK, but I do not like to be surprised by any of our slithering friends.
Yeah, Now that I've almost stepped on a copperhead,
I can check that off my list of things to do....
Giggle! Funny, but only well after the fact and nobody got bitten!
Thank God for that! It was dusk and my dogs war going crazy. I was looking more in the distance thinking they saw a rabbit. Then I looked down and saw him just in time to pull my dogs leashes back. They were going for him.
Trust me I have started really looking where I step.
They are incredibly beautiful. Last year in Sweden we went to a reptile zoo and I spotted the copperhead from across the room. Well cared for and beautiful.
The photo actually doesn't do it justice. It was
Getting dark and I used my iPhone camera.
He was more colorful and had more orange
in person.
I hope if I see one again it's in a zoo....hopefully
as far away as Sweden;-)
You don't like snakes or you don't like snakes in captivity?
Snakes are out in force this Spring. I've killed 2 large, non-venomous Rat Snakes in my gardens in the past two weeks, one my dogs surrounded and one got caught in the bird netting while trying to steal my strawberries. My neighbor killed a Water Moccasin under her Morning Glories this morning. Everyone watch your step!
The photo is the one caught in the bird netting. I'm beginning to really like that stuff!
you can send all those rat snakes to me! they keep the poisonous ones away and also take their share of the critters that eat my garden. i hate to see a dead rat snake or black snake. :-(
Rat Snakes eat strawberries? I'm with Track, I hate to see a dead non-poisonous snake.
Carla
and no, snakes don't eat strawberries. he was most likely going after the critters who do. :-(
Hate to hear the copperheads are out :( I have a lot of plants for them to hide in. I do also hate to see dead non-poisonous snakes. But although I know spiders kill bad bugs....the only good spider is a dead one. I don't go out of my way to kill them unless they are in my space. Some people are deathly afraid of any snake like I am spiders so that said I do understand.
My collie has a dangerous 'sport' that we haven't been able to break her of - she grabs snakes by the tail and quickly throws them. The dog is fast. But last month (for the second time) she tried to grab the business end of a copperhead. She was bitten under the throat. I didn't know why she was obviously feeling VERY bad for a couple of days (wouldn't even eat chopped beef barbecue!), but she got to feeling fine in a couple of days. Then her neck started swelling. Took her to the vet, who told me she had been snakebit by a copperhead. She got over the venom, but the bite got infected. After draining it and some antibiotics, she's back to normal. But she won't stay away from those snakes!
Please don't kill the non-poisonous snakes! While they may scare the stuffing out of you they play a part in keeping pest in check. Poisonous snakes have their place too but not in your yard where they can infect a bite on kids and pets.
I live on 15 acres of post oak forest with lots of leaf litter. During the drought I didn't see snake one but now that we're had enough rain here to get us out of drought I expect to see the snakes again since their food sources have returned.
This thread is a good reminder to be on the look out not only where you walk but where you put your hands! A few years back I encountered baby copperheads in a flat of 4" plants that were sitting on my walkway overnight!!!
We have quite a few coral snakes around and I always carry a small piece of bamboo (about the diameter of a pencil) and three feet long or so and use it to kind of stir the plants around and give the snakes fair warning.
My experience so far has been that coral snakes are not aggressive and are happy to move along. Rat snakes are another matter!
I don't kill any snakes.
This brings back memories from long ago...an "uncle" (really a close childhood friend of my Dad) was building a fence on his farm near Smithville, Texas. He sat on a stack of cedar post to rest only to feel something "goose" him on the rump, he stood up looking around but saw nothing, proceeded to sit again - that's when the copperhead struck him where the sun doesn't shine! He recovered but it was a very painful experience.
NOTE: RATTLESNAKE bites are often fatal to dogs depending on the snake's size, amount of venom delivered, and where the dog was struck - please discuss inoculations with your Vet, it may save your dog's life by giving you enough time to get the dog to a Vet before fatal damage is done.
This message was edited Apr 8, 2012 9:25 AM
We've had 2 people bitten by Copperheads in the past 2 weeks here, both were LifeFlighted to the closest hospital.
My next door neighbor is a snake lover & takes the non-venomous snakes that I find, still living, on my property to release them elsewhere. The two that were killed was not on purpose! Netting got one & my dogs got the other. Having said that, I have children & my elderly Mom (who is deathly afraid of snakes) living with me so if I think one is venomous.... sorry, it has to go.
gardenator, I have a sheppard mix who is the same way. She's been bitten once and still hasn't learned. The good thing is she kind of follows me around as I work throughout the yard. So I know I might be getting close to something when she jumps out ahead of me in her heat seeking miscle mode. But I never know if it is a poisonous snake or baby bunnie rabbit! Life is never dull when Queenie is around!
When I lived and hunted the Nevada deserts there was a snake training clinic at Carson City where for a small donation you could have your dog snake proofed not pleasant for the dog but very much better than a snake bite...
If you keep the nonvenomous ones around there won't be anything for the venomous ones to eat. I raised 2 kids with that thought process and have yet to see a venomous one in the 15 yrs Ive lived on this property. That being said I've had 2 caught in the netting. I felt bad they'd probably been going the same path every evening but this time the netting got them, but it was the only way to keep the chickens and other fowl out of the seeds.
I am not sure I agree with the non-poisonious keeping out poisonious ones. I have had ribbon snakes in my yard and rat snakes and still have killed copperheads. I live in a subdivision and believe most are passing thru except the one ribbon snake that loved to come everyday one year to soak in my container of rain water. Really cute little thing. I caught one like him this year only about 18 inches long. Could have been him as he was maybe 10 inches long in the water 2 yrs ago.
They may not keep them out completely but they decrease the population and keep the rodent population down. In a given area there is only so much food if you have more non posinous snakes there won't be enough food to support both. Alot of it depends, like you said, if they are just passing thru. I'm sooo glad I have never come across a copperhead. Nothing is 100% but if I'm going to HAVE to live with snakes I'd prefer the non venomous kind. Lol
Do you know how to tell a Cotton Mouth from a water snake?
Ive had a 8 ft rat snake living in my garage and carport the last month or so and as long as I know to look for him Im fine with him being there.. I have NO rats or mice near it or my cars.. My neighbor on the other had just had 500.00 worth of electrical damage to repair on his welding truck due to an overnight rat infestation that chewed his wiring to bits. truck was fine when he parked it but the next morning chewed to bit!!!. Ill keep Henry ( thats what I named him) as long as hell hang around
thank you!!!!
A water Moccasin has a triangle shaped head like the copperhead and I have been told they have a strange and bad smell and you can detect them by smell before you see them http://www.paranormalknowledge.com/articles/hapless-water-skier.html In this picture you can see the non poisonous the head is about the same width as their body and not wide where it connects to its body http://www.suttonmass.org/animals/snakes/watersnake/watersnake.jpg
I meant how to tell the difference when they are in the water, I dont want to get that close. LOL
A true water snake swims with its head under water. A Cotton Mouth swims with its head above water. It can only go under for short periods of time.
raven-Im with you, as long as I know they are there Im good.
blkraven2, An 8footer, Wow! if you think about it post a picture.
I've seen plenty of water snakes swimming with their head above water. I came face to face with one once,when I was a kid!
I dont mean always. I was told that if it has its head underwater for any length of time its probably NOT a cotton mouth.
I wonder who was more surptised you, or the snake?
I was thinking the same thing. The snake and I took opposite directions at a high rate of speed. lol
I also don't mind snakes if I see them as long as they are non poisonious but it startled and I have shovel in hand well afraid they won't live. I kill then ask what it was unless it is definite as in this one I mentioned. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EasternRibbonSnake.jpg really pretty.
yes I read a water moccasin swims with its head out of the water.
My neighbor had an Easter egg hunt and one of her grandkids went to pick an egg from under a bush next to the house and a snake was eating the egg!! Not sure what kind of snake although where we live there are TONS of copperheads. ugh. I've only encountered a 'Bull Snake' -- which I understand is non-poisonous. They're all scary though.
Probably a rat/egg snake. Most pit Vipors are triggered to eat by movement. Nothing like an Easter Egg Hunt in TX.
Wow guess it can't tell hard boiled from fresh :) Wonder if they are color blind or just don't care about colors also I bet it has indigestion for a while as that egg won't digest like a fresh egg.
They arent completely color blind. They cant see as many colors as we can tho. I doubt if it cared whether it was hard boiled or not. : ) I found a chicken nest behind a bush, near the house yesterday, it had 4 eggs. Today it only had 1. I pulled it, if the snakes are going to be that close to the house they need to be eating rodents.
Me pea hen laid 2 eggs in the back of my pickup. The kids told me to leave them I said that she couldnt have a mobile home. Hopefully she has found a better place, can you imagine?
You might just be a Redneck if....