It was just catching a little sun. Will be moving soon but don't plan on taking him with me.
Look what I found hiding in my pond today.
He's back!!!!
A young moccasin?
Oh, gosh! I think I would be afraid to get that close unless I knew for sure it wasn't poisonous! Do you know what kind it is?
Gail
Franky is correct. When I showed my husband the pictures he said he has to go. He will catch it and relocate it somewhere else. I used the zoom lens on my digital camera. Thought he was posionis but was not sure.
Betty
That gives me creepy-crawlies all down my spine!!!
Gail
Actually, i think its great.. Its obvious that you have created an excellent ecosystem...
I dont mind snakes, but a mocassin would need relocation thats for sure.
What a good shot of the snake, tho!
Well I wouldn't mind snakes at all... at least the non-poisonous variety! Knowing there's a poisonous one out there is what would give me the willies!
Ask your husband if this is the same kind of snake. It showed up in our swimming pool which across from our water garden.
I have a koi pond also that has screens made with bird netting you use on trees. I've found a snake caught up in that.
Somebody told me this and I didn't believe it until we tried it. You can losely wade up some bird tree netting and anchor or stake it down in an area where you are having problems with snakes and they will get caught up in it. Of course, don't put it inside your pond cause your fish or turtles might get stuck. Just secured on the ground actually works. You have to remember it's there if you are going to cut the snakes lose and relocate them.
I wish I had a better knowledge of snakes because if one bites you and you know what it is you can get better care at the hospital.
I usually identfy them by the eyes. A non poisionus snake has round pupils and poisionus have slanted pupils. This only works in the U.S. When my son was in Afganastian he caught and made a pet of a snake with round eyes he later found out it was a female Cobra!!! My rule is look but don't touch. If you do get bit try to take the snake with you to the hospital. Deb the pattern is diffrent on your snake. Mine has an orange belly. I found the shed of a snake early this summer in my swimming pool pond. It was about 5 ft long and about 3.5 inches around. I had just stuck my hand in to remove some water hychanith. Now I stick a stick in the water first.
Betty
Unfortunately bird netting frequently ends with snakes getting killed long before you find them, & if they are still alive, it is a lot more difficult than you can imagine "cutting them loose".
An acquaintance of mine wasn't trying to trap snakes, but had a partially unrolled roll of bird netting in his walkout basement. He was appalled to come across not one, but two, perfectly harmless Black Rat Snakes who had managed to partially get thru the holes of the netting, but due to their size could neither go forward nor reverse. They were dead in the netting - literally strangled. He said trying to get a scissor close enough to them to get them cut out would have been impossible had they been alive.
I agree with Breezy. I don't want to kill it just move it some place else.
try the moth balls. Snakes are suppose to hate it and it won't hurt your plants or any fish you might have. :D
Don't think that is a moccasin. The head is too slender and the color pattern is not right. Moccasin looks like a very dark copperhead with the same even hourglass banding, thick body and widely triangular, not diamond shaped, head. That one looks like a plain old non-poisonous water snake, maybe a northern water snake. Despite the name, they have a wide range. They turn up in our school along with grey rat snakes and I have finally got the custodial staff to the point that they will bring them to me for release away from our campus. Now if I could just get my fellow teachers to stop freaking out and yelling, "Rattler!" Sigh.
Beth
Well, I thought it looked more like some kind of pit-viper with the wide, heart-shaped jawline. It's pretty blurry, though.....
I agree that that looks like a non-poisonous water snake. Even when young, Moccasins are more heavy-bodied with a wider head. But again - I'm taking this from a pic, not from the snake in person.