Snake fun

[mezazvers]

Today i was cuttin down some stickerbushes in a clearing, and mowing down the tall grass, when rolled a fat log over and found a snake sittin underneath it. I didnt know what kind it was, i live in new jersey am only familiar with garter snakes, and this one was red and grey/tan striped, so i ran and got a bucket and tried to coax it into the bucket with a stick ,but i t wouldnt go and dissapeared in the grass. Thinking it was gone, i went inside and checked and looked at pics of copper heads, and it looked jsut like it so i ran back out with a rake and raked away all the grass, and found it again, and finally got it in the bucket. gave me a little adrenaline rush thinking it was a copper head and how it is venomous. once in the bucket i would threaten it with a stick and it would rear up, and rattle its tail and spring its head at the stick, pretty cool. But as i continued to study it, i noticed it was missing the pits below its eyes, and its head wasnt shaped like a copper heads, so thru further research i have conlcuded its a milk snake. not venomous, but still pretty cool. I would have killed it later today if it was a copperhead, but now i'll jsut let it go.

Just shows if you spend alot of time in the outdoors, it pays to know the look of the snakes in the area. if it bit me or someone else, and thought it was a copper head that would be an annoying trip to the hospital.

It looks just like this one, but bigger.
http://www.mccarthyboas.com/Red_Milk_Snake03.JPG

[Reservoir Dog]

That picture looks absolutely nothing like a copperhead

http://img323.imageshack.us/img323/2884/copperheadbig3qj.jpg

[Brer Ben]

I always go by the saying, "If red touches black, you're O.K. Jack, if red touches yellow, you're a dead fellow." It is about the pattern of stripes on the snake's body; if red touches yellow then it is a poisonous snake.

In your case, the red is touching the black so it's not venomous.

[mezazvers]

That picture looks absolutely nothing like a copperhead

http://img323.imageshack.us/img323/2884/copperheadbig3qj.jpg

yeah, but when i first saw it, i didnt look at the banding too carefully, and then i looked on the computer at copperhead pics before i actually caught it. There are tons of different copperhead pictures, with copperheads that have bands more reddish, and then ones that are a darker brown. Not until i caught it did i really get to look at it, and compare it to pics.


pics like these are what first threw me off
http://www.venombyte.com/images/venom/snakes/broad_banded_copperhead.jpg
http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/herps/copperhead040726-1254facez.jpg

[Snoopis]

Cool! Last week when I was running I saw a Texas Rat Snake about 5ft long and maybe 2" in diameter, and the week before that some green snake fell out of a tree right in front of me. I started taking my camera with me now(although I have shin splints so it'll be a while).

[Geno]

Nice milk snake you have there. I hear they make good pets.

[harrisjl]

i have conlcuded its a milk snake. It looks just like this one, but bigger.
http://www.mccarthyboas.com/Red_Milk_Snake03.JPG

The snake in that picture is a milk snake no doubt.... very good at keeping the rodent population in check.... Milk and Corn snakes are some of the more colorful rat snakes out there.... very cool looking patterns....

[One More Time]

yeah, but when i first saw it, i didnt look at the banding too carefully, and then i looked on the computer at copperhead pics before i actually caught it. There are tons of different copperhead pictures, with copperheads that have bands more reddish, and then ones that are a darker brown. Not until i caught it did i really get to look at it, and compare it to pics.


pics like these are what first threw me off
http://www.venombyte.com/images/venom/snakes/broad_banded_copperhead.jpg
http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/herps/copperhead040726-1254facez.jpg


I have never seen a copperhead that looks like the top pic....the bottom pic is "dead-on" for their looks in my area.

[Geno]

I have never seen a copperhead that looks like the top pic....the bottom pic is "dead-on" for their looks in my area.


The bands on the top one made my stomach flip - never seen one that looked even close to that - it is a copperhead though, just look at that head.

[King Crush]

I would have killed it later today if it was a copperhead, but now i'll jsut let it go.

How would of you killed it.

One time I was workin' for a land scaping company and a garter snake came slithering up to us. My boss said to me "KILL IT", so I took the shovel and chopped its head off. I felt kinda bad it being a garter snake:(, but I had to listen to my boss. He said "we don like 'em around!"

[Ralph Wiggum]

So if it were a copperhead, you would have killed it after you disturbed its home and after you took it out of its habitat. Thats always the right thing to do.

[One More Time]

So if it were a copperhead, you would have killed it after you disturbed its home and after you took it out of its habitat. Thats always the right thing to do.


uhhhhh No.....If it were a copperhead, it would have been killed because it is poisonous and could inflict tremendous amounts of pain if it bit you.....That is why it would die.

[NorwegianBadass]

I abselutly HATE snakes!!!!

Glad we only have one poisen-snake in Norway :(

[aiwass]

I abselutly HATE snakes!!!!

Glad we only have one poisen-snake in Norway :(

I've kept one of each type of snake in Norway as a pet, including the poisonous one (viper). Not too much fun petting it with gloves, though... :p

[aiwass]

Oh, and this is the snake you don't want to confuse with the one you found:

http://www.sloanmonster.com/images/coral.jpg

[Geno]

So if it were a copperhead, you would have killed it after you disturbed its home and after you took it out of its habitat. Thats always the right thing to do.


Yes - I would have and will again in the future. I will go very far out of my way to kill a venomous snake.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Stop being pussies.. Learn to respect the environment.

[guest89]

Stop being pussies.. Learn to respect the environment.

And I will laugh the day you get bitten by a copper head or cotten mouth.

I respect the environment. But I'll kill a poisinous snake every time I see it. Why? Because its better it dead then it biting someone.

[achievasc92]

Stop being pussies.. Learn to respect the environment.


x2 killing a snake just because it is poisenous is ridiculous. That's like killing sharks because they could possibly kill/bite someone, or killing babies because they could potentially grow up to become murderers.

99.9% of the time a snake, poisonous or not,will slither away before you even see it. They will only bite you if you corner it or step on it.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I'm actually an amateur herpotologist. If I ever encountered a venomous snake in the wild, which I have, a Cottonmouth in the Everglades and several Timber Rattlesnakes in the Pine Barrens in NJ, i'm not a ****ing moron where I would pick it up. If I had to pick it up, it would be to move it and I would use tongs or a long stick.

[MooseMC48]

You guys obviously haven't done much farmwork, where venomous snakes can be quite dangerous not only to you, but to your livestock (aka, you're life). I'm not for the senseless killing of animals, but venomous snakes in such a situation should be killed.

[achievasc92]

You guys obviously haven't done much farmwork, where venomous snakes can be quite dangerous not only to you, but to your livestock (aka, you're life). I'm not for the senseless killing of animals, but venomous snakes in such a situation should be killed.

That makes sense especially if your livelihood revolves around livestock. But I'd be willing to bet that a large majority of users on this board aren't livestock farmers and therefore wouldn't have a need to kill a random venomous snake they find in the woods. Furthermore, they probably don't know proper procedure for killing a large venomous snake (I don't) and probably put themselves at more risk trying to kill the snake than if they just walked by it.

[mezazvers]

i didnt realize this thread was going to get this many replies. But to those who were being asses about how i said i woudl kill it if it had been a copper head, my family has around 20 sheep, and tho we arent really farmers for a lviing (just do it for tax purposes) we dont need to lose one to a poisonous snak, or one of our dogs, or one of our neighbours little kids.

[Points]

I was speaking with a ranger at Pisgah National Forest in NC and she said they were killing rattlesnakes as encountered on the hiking trails until someone was told not to, ..do these people have any training into laws/regs/ common sense or whatever.

To the op, small corn snakes are easily confused with copperheads , esp in juvenile states.

My wife ran over a copperhead on skyline drive in VA " **** hun why did you run over that snake" "It was a stick" "no it wasn't, backup..." I got a copperhead skin now.

[Thomas.of.Hunter]

My wife ran over a copperhead on skyline drive in VA "
dude we have a skyline drive in oklahoma