Snakes

[Fishfiles 20,140]

I don't think we have a snake thread , lots of you'll don't have to worry about snakes we do !!! Well there is the legendary snow snake I have heard so much about , LOL

 

Well this snake pic started a debate yesterday , my buddy Vic just got a new to them house 1 mile from me , he seen this snake on side the house yesterday morning , went to get a shovel and when he came back  , he seen the snake went up in the siding of the house , into a wall of the garage , WOW 

 

 

So I said it was a copper head and a very nice looking one at that , as I have seen copperheads in all different color patterns when in different foliage  , so my buddy Mo says maybe so , but he says it could be a juvenile cotton mouth and I am like no way and then he pulls up this pic below , Vic said the snake was about 2 foot long and never had a yellow tail , which I have found most baby poisonous  snakes I have encountered do have yellow tails 

 

I am going with a copper head !!! 

 

So how is he going to get him out the wall , LOL 

[Fishfiles 20,140]

Here is a pic of a nice big rat snake , he was lucky I didn't have the gun hand , don't know if I would have gone up against this one with a shovel , unless it had a 8 ft handle  , I would say it is 8ft , I seen them bigger , there is one around here that is 12 ft at least , me and the neighbor were talking in the street and this 12 footer crosses the street from my other neighbors chicken coup , I said I am going get the gun , well the snake went into my neighbors yard and he says , don't shoot my snake he eats rats , so I laid off him , this snake went to the tree and went straight up it , no help from any limbs , he was 30ft up in the tree going from branch to branch , they climb ready good , if ya boy comes on my side the street ,  he will make a fine  belt and  a matching  head ban for my cowboy hat , LOL  --- I think the rat snakes are taking out the squirrels as the population is down this year in my yard 

[Fishfiles 20,140]

Just got some texts from my " outdoor guy " friends  Gill says it is a chicken snake , I don't think so , all the ones I seen were yellowish and redish , I killed a big one in this yard when I first moved here under a downed tree truck , Mo is sticking with a baby cotton mouth , I ain't buying into that either , TJ says copper head -----  just goes to show you , you can never be sure , avid sportsman all have different ideas ------  that snake does have some nice coloring ----it appears to have the triangle head to me , I was telling Vic yesterday , they have a couple of hundred feet of 20 ft tall bambo growing along their back fence , that makes great privacy , but if it were me all that stuff would get cut down and dug up as it is snake heaven  

[Fishfiles 20,140]

This pic is a corn snake , around here also called a chicken snake , they are very cool looking , some are red and yellow , similar pattern as above 

[Fishfiles 20,140]

Here is a copper head :

[Fishfiles 20,140]

Another copper head 

[Fishfiles 20,140]

In my book the only good snake is a dead snake , kill first  , identify later !!!! 

[_Wilson_™ 6,498]

5 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

So how is he going to get him out the wall , LOL

 

moth balls will run them off, i had a real issue with snakes living in the back (furness controls) of my wood furness, talked my dealer, he told me lots of furness owners have had that issue, he advised me to toss in some moth balls, and so far it's worked great, I've had many encounters with at least 20 snakes over the years when checking the pumps, auto fill, and lubing the blower fan bushings. never was happy to lift up that panel and see a snake right there at my feet. lol i can't say I've ever seen a poisonous one back there, but now when i check it, i have a gun, lol, the chicken, and black racer  snakes i try and get them out, none venomous snakes don't bother me much, it's just the shock of seeing a snake. thankfully copper heads are rare for these parts, I've heard some stories about how bad those are about laying along woodland paths, down further south of my location it's not un heard of to hear about people getting snagged on out doors outings on there land. at least a rattler will warn you,  copper heads won't. 

[oh400ex 629]

We are flush with Copperheads here. 

Few years back a den was setup near our porch and at a certain time of night you could count +10 snakes moving in just a few minutes.

A standard garden hoe is my favorite tool for dispatching a dangerous snake.

 

For sure would never kill a non-venomous snake under any condition. Would relocate one though.

 

I love snakes. Non-venomous ones are a gift. One blacksnake will keep a rodent problem at bay that's for sure.

King snakes are the best. They aren't aggressive, clear rodents, don't target chickens and will kill other snakes.

 

A "hog-nose" or "spreading adder" (looks like a cobra) is also a great snake. They will not bite. You can pick them up without them getting upset either. Do that with the wrong snake and you might be in trouble. I have been interacting with snakes for years or would not consider getting close enough to touch one.

 

Only interact with a snake if a professional has already identified it (or from a distance)

[Scotticus 777]

Copperheads are plentiful here.  Rattlesnakes are around but rare.  I came across this copperhead when I was trout fishing this summer.  I tried to get close enough to get a good picture but it jumped in the water.  I always watch where I'm stepping when fishing in the summer.  It's too cold now to worry about snakes when I'm hunting..

[_Wilson_™ 6,498]

 

21 minutes ago, Scotticus said:

  I always watch where I'm stepping when fishing in the summer. 

 

that was exactly what i was told, by my  cousins told me about going fishing on the buffalo river in Lewis county Tn, theres some great fishing, but it's eat up with copperheads. and not many rattle snakes at all. also heard the myth make noise on the trails you take, while others say  coppers are attracted (drawn ) to noise, here in my area when a copper is (rarely ) spotted, they are killed out right. 

[_Wilson_™ 6,498]

fish you ever heard of the glass snake (leg less lizard) ? 

 

 

[_Wilson_™ 6,498]

i believe @TBRider has those snow snakes around his place ?  claimed his wife gets attacked everytime it snows, lol! at least i think it's posted here in the forums some place. 

[Fishfiles 20,140]

1 hour ago, _Wilson_™ said:

fish you ever heard of the glass snake (leg less lizard) ? 

 

 

No , never heard of a glass snake before , freaky ...

[Chevymec 505]

I usually check their heads...after I chop them off!  My Father in law was scooping some sand a few years back and uncovered a nest of copperheads. We ended up killing 16 at our house that year and the sand pile is probably 400 yards from us. All of them had a green tail which ment they were younger. Wife has been pouring pinesol out around the house and have not seen one since. Works like snake away I guess.

[TBRider 1,392]

5 hours ago, _Wilson_™ said:

i believe @TBRider has those snow snakes around his place ?  claimed his wife gets attacked everytime it snows, lol! at least i think it's posted here in the forums some place. 

Yup, they do exist, I've seen one, just don't have any pictures to post.....😋

[_Wilson_™ 6,498]

7 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

No , never heard of a glass snake before , freaky ...

 

ive never seen, one,  i  believe.  it got the name because the tail is Easily broken off, like a small lizards tail will. 

[_Wilson_™ 6,498]

18 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

Just got some texts from my " outdoor guy " friends  Gill says it is a chicken snake , I don't think so , all the ones I seen were yellowish and redish , I killed a big one in this yard when I first moved here under a downed tree truck , Mo is sticking with a baby cotton mouth , I ain't buying into that either , TJ says copper head -----  just goes to show you , you can never be sure , avid sportsman all have different ideas ------  that snake does have some nice coloring ----it appears to have the triangle head to me , I was telling Vic yesterday , they have a couple of hundred feet of 20 ft tall bambo growing along their back fence , that makes great privacy , but if it were me all that stuff would get cut down and dug up as it is snake heaven  

 

im going with you and your  friend TJ, copperhead. the tail in the 1st pic was tapered to a point. not blunt. I've always heard copperheads don't grow to great lengths 2 -3 -+ feet, next time you text TJ ask him if you would. ask Gill to, I'd like to know what each of them say. I've seen water moccasins aka cottenmouths , most I've seen we're very light in color patterns, almost a beige color. but mostdefiantly a white Cotten colored mouth. 

[Fishfiles 20,140]

I use to hunt a lot in Simmesport , La , as my buddy Eric was from there , so we had a place to stay when we went , was walking out from a hunt empty handed and I see this piece of wood that looked like a perfect  walking staff , straight and smooth as an arrow , 5-6ft long , looked like it was drift wood , which was very common there as we were right on side the river , so I walked up to it and was going to pick it up and the tongue came out the mouth , it was a copper head , very pretty snake , this one was very light in color , lightest coloring I have ever seen , shot him point blank range and took his head off clean , I skinned him , nailed him to a board and salted the skin down , it was in hanging in my garage and Katrina flooded it and messed it up , threw it away , it was the largest copperhead I ever seen by far , as Wilson said they usually stay short ---but the real moral of the story is they will lay out straight as can be to sun, kind of usual in the snake world , most will coil up , like the cotton mouth , usually always see them coiled 

 

Cotton mouths are very aggressive snakes , I have been run down a few times by them , most memorable was riding the back on the neighborhood , there is a old hog trap that must  be there for 50+ years , made of metal with bushes and trees grown all over it , so right by it I see this big moccasin , 4-5 ft , which is huge for a cotton mouth , they very seldom get 5ft  and he is slithering away towards the hog trap  , I get off the bike and take off the machette which is about 18 inches , I have killed many of them by getting behind them and chopping them in half first then go for the neck , well this one was fired up , I can remember the colors so vividly , no doubt he was an old snake and almost all black but had fluorescent tone bands which looked blue  ,  I am walking to him and he turned and came after me and kept coming , that was the end of me trying  to take him out , I left him alone , did run over him on the way out , with my feet held high off the floor boards , I always watch out around that hog trap and never park on side of it 

 

 

[_Wilson_™ 6,498]

that last part got me to thinking , back when i was about oh I'd say 7 years old maybe a tad younger .... getting off the school buss, with my two sisters, and walking the long gravel driveway to our home, we had two bridges to cross, one at the road entrance was loaded with snakes, that's where i saw the cotton mouths (many of them) i guess the biggest i recall was about 4 feet, just as you described black, some light in color  and very aggressive, but the bridge is tall, and back then i was as mean as the snakes were, lol, i never got chased by any from there, but the second bridge was lower over a spring branch, with another small stream  (loaded with fish, frogs, and snapping turtles) that entered after the tile, the snake there was 7 foot plus, black as the ace of spades, and would chase us each time we passed, my father, and his highered hand told me it was a black racer, he even chased me on my bike. we had a stand off one day, he came out, i stopped turned around and chased him, i never saw him again after that, lol, i asked my  pop to kill him, because my sisters wouldn't cross the bridge, he declined, so then, they also got bikes as gifts, lol. he had a round head. 

[Fishfiles 20,140]

Them racers are fast , have seen them in black and  blue and solid tan , would guess the tan ones are really some form of garter snake , them garter snakes can be fast too , the down spouts on the house have them water deflectors under them so the water doesn't wash the dirt away and many times now I have found garter snakes living  under those deflectors ----- we got some big black snakes that live in holes in the mud , off course we call them mud snakes , I have seen them 8ft long  and they get really fat 

 

When I first moved here , I was cutting the grass along the ditch and noticed what looked like a chunk of tire right even with the grass , so I start digging it out , well it was the whole tire buried , and there were about 20 of them tan garter snakes living inside the hollow , scared the crap out of me ----people will pay good money for snakes for pets , you can get a hundred dollars for a nice size king snake or corn snake , they don't have to worry about me getting into the business ----when I was about 12  I had a pet garter snake in a aquarium , he bit me a few times , never did like snakes , let him go in the park 

[Fishfiles 20,140]

One time we were all riding , I was first in line , my wife was behind me , so I see a rattle snake laying on the trail and I stopped and went over it and it was behind me , I turned and waved and hollered to the wife to stop , which she did when she ran into the back of me , the snake was under her bike , I took off and told her to move quick , it was a baby , maybe 16 inches long with the yellow tail , went back and tried to chop him up , but he got away 

 

[87Iroc 344]

No big snakes I've ever seen up here. Got scared as a kid moving a cinder block and finding a snakes den of small garter snakes. Scared crap out of my brother and I. 

 

Here's the biggest one I've ever seen in my life in the wild. Saw this black snake sunning itself on the wood pile a few years ago. It was 24-30" long. Probably 1 to 1 1/2" in diameter. Just layed there looking at me. 

 

Earlier this year I saw a 18-24" one being carried off by the hawk that lives in our woods(there's actually 3 now)

Edited December 1, 2020 by 87Iroc

[FishinDawg 79]

That first snake may very well be a copperhead, I’ve seen them in different colors as well, the nose and pattern on the head is the only thing that makes it a tricky guess in my opinion. This is a copperhead I killed while doing yard work this summer, he was laying right beside a limb I was reaching down to pick up...unlucky for him I had a machete within reach 

[sled_22 845]

I hate snakes. I’m from Wisconsin. As far as I know we have grass garter and the rare rattler. I had a 3’ garter living under the wood pile this summer.  Was figuring he was catching mice. Or so I told the wife. 
I think my biggest fear is identifying them. I don’t know what’s what and need my phone handy to I’d. By then it’s too late. Now you guys are telling me snakes will chase you down and aggressively attack!?!?! F that. I’ll stay north where the snow flys.