Can anyone tell me what this is. He surprised me in my compost pile. He is about three feet long.
This message was edited May 20, 2008 1:30 PM
Snake ID Request
Here's another photo.
Round eyes, so not venomonus. Perhaps a water snake? He's a beauty.
Carla
ssshhhhiiiiivvvveeerrrr
Nice one! Carla's right, he's harmless.....unless you're a rodent! I'd keep him around if I were you.
While trying to find an id I came across this interesting page.
http://www.bugsinthenews.com/Texas%20Snakes/Is_It_Venomous.htm
I think what you have is a Plainbelly Water Snake.
http://www.snakesofarkansas.com/gallery/snake/natricidae/nerodia_erythrogaster/n_erythrogaster_007.jpg.html
That looks like him. I'm glad i didn't kill it. I coaxed it with my shovel to go to the greek.
Way to go, Siggy! :-)
Carla
Just a note from experience. A Cottonmouth has round pupils in dim light, so a pic taken with a flash can be very misleading. In very bright light, full sun, the vertical slit is so narrow it is hard to see, again looking round.
Yes, but a cottonmouth is a pit viper which means that they have pits on both sides of their head between their nostril and eye.
Siggy, I wanna know what part of Garland you live in?
Cottonmouth, traveling in bright sun. The eye pupil is a thin vertical slit. The pit is invisible.
I live in north Garland, near Campbell and Shiloh. A creek runs by my house.
Be really careful.
Last week we killed 2 cottonmouths in the yard looking for water. It has been so dry here that they are finding my daily watering attractive. I at first thought the photo was of one of these.
I have killed almost a hundred (92) since we have been here. I have been bit, my son spent 2 days in the hospital from a bite. We have lost a big red dog, and a cat to Cottonmouth bites. They do travel a lot in dry weather. They can also look a lot like the one in the picture.
My bite had no venom injected. My son was not so lucky, but is OK now. The big red dog was bit on the tongue and died in minutes. They can be very aggressive and come after a person.
One characteristic on most, but not all, is the sudden decrease in tail diameter near the end.
Okay, well, then, you live on the other side of town from me. :) I'm out by Lake Ray Hubbard.
The reason I asked is that, in the last 4 years, we've had several snake "encounters." I grew up in Garland, and in all those years, I never saw more than a garden snake. But three years ago I found a 2-foot (gorgeous) snake under my downspout splash block. The next year we found a 4-foot snake of some kind out sunning on our front sidewalk. Last year there was a baby rattlesnake about 18 inches from the front door. That doesn't count the garden snakes that have made their way into the house at 7 a.m.
That's all pretty odd for an urban neighborhood. As I've said before, I like wildlife, and I have to very reluctantly recognize that snakes are good to have around. But I'd just rather not see them, you know?
We still have not seen one that looks like yours. I will be watching my compost pile more carefully in the future.
Those eyes are soo pretty. I've never really seen a snake with such cool looking eyes. I hope you took that with a zoom lens. Mine would have to zoom from a very great distance. These guys can have my yard whenever they want it I wouldn't argue.
Anne
I've only ever had those little brown earth snakes in my yard. And I would never approach a snake unless I could clearly see the round eyes and be assured it was harmless. As Trois said, those Cottonmouths can be aggressive and very dangerous. Siggy, I'm glad yours was a water snake and the experience ended well for all.
Carla
I thought Cottonmoth snakes and water snakes were the same thing.....are they not!? Of course, I tend to think all snakes are bad, still....just curious.
They do hang out around water, so they are water snakes in that sense. But there is a non-venomous group of snakes called water snakes.
Broad banded water snake is harmless, and beautiful.
Not in my yard!
LouC
What a terrible fate to your animals, Trois. I hope I never see one in my yard, but it does worry me with my dogs running around. Any preventatives?
What a cute face on that snake. :) Seriously. :)
-Joe
Are you kidding? No such thing as a "cute snake".
They are all cobras!
No way LouC ~ those with rattles are rattlers ~ LOL
Got it.
Feed the Cotton Mouths rat shot.
Guess it obvious by now that I am terrified of any snake...not matter if is good or bad.
I had some friends when my son was growing up that thought all snakes were bad. We live in the country and they would come out fishing. One time I found them killing a snake at the pond. I told them they were just visiting the snakes home so leave them alone. If it was poisonous then they could kill it but if it wasn't they better leave it alone, it was there first. They didn't kill anymore after that.... that they told me about anyway.
I would never get close enough to kill even a grass snake. They are safe from me. I run faster than I thought I could.
I had an iguana for 11 1/2 years so some reptiles don't bother me. I also raised a son in the country so he was always bringing in stuff.
My dog was barking a few nights ago outside my bedroom on the brick patio and when I looked out to see what she was barking at it was a copperhead laying up beside the house. It was about 2 1/2 ft long. I have killed 3 copperheads in my backyard. I live on the golf course and there is a creek fed by natural springs that runs along one side of the yard. The snakes like to come up on the patio to catch the heat from the sun. I have never felt brave enough to take a picture.
My problem is that I don't know how to identify a good snake from a bad snake. To be safe I guess that they are all bad and kill them. Wish I knew more about them. If I was confindent that a snake is harmless, I would just leave it alone.
Our yard backs up to a yaupon thicket so snakes are a fact of life around here. Last April both my dogs were bit by copperheads (we think) at the same time (they were ok just swollen). This was before we cleared some. My neighbor just killed a 4 foot Timber rattler a couple of weeks ago at the edge of his property. Made me pretty sad since they are rare and this one had managed to live so long. I tried to tell him that the snake had been living there for probably 10 years and hadn't hurt anything yet, but he wasn't listening. I told him good luck with his mole problem, he just looked at me funny LOL, he'll figure it out!!
I saw some sort of snake the other day while cleaning a bed outside my fence, I couldn't really see the head but I'm thinking hognose. I had to literally take the shovel from my DH LOL he went into "its a snake so it must die" mode.
I guess I'm going to have to be more dilligent now since I have a toddler in the yard who wouldn't hesitate to try to catch one. But I really do enjoy having them around, it means that everything is in balance. :o)
Am I crazy here, or do I hear a semi collective sentiment from the WOMEN that if the snake's not bothering us, we just tend to leave them alone, and if the MEN see them they've gotta kill 'em?
I don't kill 'em, I catch 'em and relocate them.
I run as fast as I can.