Copperhead on the front porch!

[meanwhile]

Rarely do we find bad snakes near the house or barn. The cats used to do a good job of either eating or killing copperheads. But today, I was on the top step of the porch before I saw a medium size copperhead right in front of the door and he reared up his nasty head - scared me silly.

Of course I screamed like a wild girl but I did have the sense to run fetch a shovel and middle Son promptly cut off the copperhead's head. One dead copperhead.

We have seen two very large and polite Black Snakes near the house. Wonder why they had not run off the horrible copperhead?

What will scare away the copperheads?

[samm]

I use snake repelant that comes from Atwoods it comes
in a red and black shaker bag, and it smells like
Christmas lol. it's worked well for us I put it in the
barn and last year when I found a snake in our bedroom
I put it in there, somehow it messes up thier sensory stuff
haven't had or haven't seen a snake in the barn since
we started using it, ain't even had one in the house
either. thank goodness

samm

[fatrat]

Gosh I hate those things, evil little batserds! There's a good reason why the devil was a serpent in the garden of Eden! They evil, filthy, nasty worthless little batserds!!!! You done the right thing, cut it's head off!!! All them crazy folks who think they are wonderful little natural critters, so important to the eco system probably don't got to live with them, never got to worry about stepping on one or reaching into something and getting bit or are to crazy to care. You done the right thing, cut it's head off!

[Joshie]

In this heat I've been hating central IL. I think the heat is tons better than poisonous snakes.

[chewie]

I'd scream too! *shivering*. glad you didn't have to deal with a bite!

we used to live where rattlesnakes were very common, I do NOT miss it one bit! our neighobrs are closer than there, but they dont' try to bite me!

[wogglebug]

Originally Posted by chewie

our neighobrs are closer than there, but they dont' try to bite me!

Obviously you don't live in Florida, then.

[meanwhile]

I do not mind the Blacksnakes. They are usually just quiet and slither off into the apple trees. They like to sit along a tree branch or slide off into the woods.

I do not like the copperheads. That nasty creatures rear up their heads or curl up and give the evil eye to anyone nearby. Both our dogs suffered bites in the past. We are going to have a "snake hunt" tomorrow and roll over all the rocks near the house and the logs around a flower bed. Usually we find a few and shoot 'em with a shoot gun or with some snake shot in a smaller gun.

[bajiay]

I hate snakes as much as I do spiders! We have been seeing a lot of blow snakes around, dead on the road. As many of them as we have seen, there has to be a lot of rattlers too. :{

I remember having copperheads around when I lived in Ohio. Scary...I think I'd be trying that snake repellant!

Be careful!

[Pony]

We have been finding black snakes, and the other day we found a reeeeeally long, tan colored snake in the garden. Those are the Good Snakes, because they eat vermin.

I'm told that cottonmouths are common here. Haven't yet seen one, but always on the alert. Had a rattler in WI. Now THAT is one that'll make you wet 'em and yell like a little girl. BUT once that rattler was gone from the house, the mouse population exploded.

[Dutchie]

Originally Posted by meanwhile

What will scare away the copperheads?

A Jack Russell terrier

[Dutchie]

Originally Posted by fatrat

Gosh I hate those things, evil little batserds! There's a good reason why the devil was a serpent in the garden of Eden! They evil, filthy, nasty worthless little batserds!!!! You done the right thing, cut it's head off!!! All them crazy folks who think they are wonderful little natural critters, so important to the eco system probably don't got to live with them, never got to worry about stepping on one or reaching into something and getting bit or are to crazy to care. You done the right thing, cut it's head off!

I live with them and I still think they are important to the ecosystem. My dogs and chickens keep them away from the house.

[motdaugrnds]

I L-O-V-E our black snakes. Before we started finding so many black snakes, we found copperheads. Over the past years, the poisonous snakes have not been seen while the black snakes are often 6 ft long and quite friendly. They never try to bite us and can even be disciplined...oh yes...disciplined. (David found a large black in the chicken house, got it on the ground and spanked it with a stick as it ran out. It has not been back since! It now stays in the loft of the barn.)



We DO chop the heads off anything poisonous. Just haven't found any in awhile.

[DryHeat]

Nice black rat snake in the photo! Good side, they eat rodents, bad side, they'll take chicken eggs and hatchlings, too. They don't eat other snakes, but kingsnakes will, including copperheads and rattlers. Some of the king varieties ("chain king", "speckled king") are mostly black although often with bright white rings, so it'd be a good idea to look up what species are possible in your area and try to avoid reflexively killing them on sight. Kings won't go out of their way to eat copperheads and such, but since they eat the same prey too, having a number of kings in an area generally does go along with having a lot fewer of the venomous species around. I do know that captive snakes, including venomous ones, will react wildly to avoid a kingsnake on getting a scent of one through a tongue-flick, so, again, having them around likely at least somewhat discourages the venomous species.

[Cliff]

Waiting for the posts that chastise you for killing it. R/t another recent thread - I have been informed that we should let wild animals alone whether they inconvenience us or not and even if they are killing our animals - after all they are just "doing what they do" and if you kill one "another will just take it's place" lol. It's not much of a stretch to apply that same logic to a poisonous snake imo. So don't be surprised if you are told that you should've gently shooed it off the porch and that you should be more careful where you walk - wouldn't want to step on and hurt the poor thing

Oh and I hope you checked whether it was legal to kill it before you so cruelly chopped it's sweet lil head off

[rickfrosty]

Originally Posted by motdaugrnds

I L-O-V-E our black snakes. Before we started finding so many black snakes, we found copperheads. Over the past years, the poisonous snakes have not been seen while the black snakes are often 6 ft long and quite friendly. They never try to bite us and can even be disciplined...oh yes...disciplined. (David found a large black in the chicken house, got it on the ground and spanked it with a stick as it ran out. It has not been back since! It now stays in the loft of the barn.)



We DO chop the heads off anything poisonous. Just haven't found any in awhile.

OMG, I should have known somebody would put a snake pic on here ! Where I live in Maine isn't perfect, but thank G. that there aren't any poisonous snakes & few snakes at all !!
Last summer I saw only one little ol garter snake by my garden doing it's good thing there.
Yesterday I had my power brush saw mowing the saplings growing up in what will be a pasture & I was thinking 'how could you do this in rattler country?' You couldn't hear them & the ground was rough/rutted - you are paying attention to the saw & the next little tree/bush & keeping your balance, not watching out for sneaky snakes !

[DryHeat]

I like snakes in general, but I certainly have no objection to venomous ones being killed around somebody's house. It's actually been determined that adult rattlers and such don't survive well at all if they're taken far away to a new area they are then no longer familiar with, anyway.

However, I wish I had a nickel for every harmless snake that people just reflexively call a rattler, copperhead, or water moccasin. When I was growing up in Florida, I figured the key question to ask any fisherman who was holding forth about how the river was full of "water moccasins" and he was shooting them all the time was "Well, how many harmless water snakes do you generally see?" Near all of the folks would look at me blankly and say they were all moccasins, of course, so they shot them all. The upper Hillsborough River north of Tampa frequently had shot-dead harmless banded water snakes and brown water snakes draped over logs and brush... but I never ever did see an actual dead cottonmouth. They were there all right, but generally minding their business just a bit back in the swamp away from the river edge, and outnumbered 20:1 by the harmless critters all the ignorant idiots were busily shooting and congratulating themselves for doing.

[salmonslayer]

I went on a call to a brush fire yesterday and the fireman I was with in the brush truck mentioned the area we were going to was full of Copperheads. Didnt really think much about it but as I was out on the end of the hose I came on a rocky area and saw three of them trying to get away from the flames I imagine. Its strange, around here there are several areas known for having lots of Copperheads while at the same time I have talked to old timers who have never seen one on their property.

WE have a Jack Russell, an Australian Shephard, a bunch of barn cats etc and we keep the area around the house well groomed but we have tonnes of rat snakes, prarie snacks, racers etc so I am not so sure they really keep snakes away. But so far I have only killed two Copperheads since we moved here and they were both when we first got here. I pretty much leave snakes alone now and I actually kind of like seeing them...they are interesting creatures that are indeed important parts of the ecosystem...but if they are by the house their contributions will be short lived!!

[Cliff]

Yeah unfortunately their shape and the way they move just elicits such a primal fear in people. It is so unpleasant the immediate instinct is "kill it" whether their brain knows it's beneficial or not.

[meanwhile]

Oh! Great photo of the black snake! It is bigger than the two in our apple trees. We have one big black snake living near a Cabin but the one in your photo is still bigger! Thanks for sharing the photo.

We don't kill the good snakes - just the copperheads. We have Milk Snakes around here and black snakes and.....some other one that moves really fast......forget its name.....we find one of those near our upper garden......he might live in one of the Sage beds. We do not kill the good snakes and I don't care what anyone says - we will kill the copperheads.

If we find any when the boys go on a Snake Hunt later this week, then I will remind them to get some photos. We cleaned everything off the front porch so there is nothing for snakes to hide behind and we cleaned off some leaves near the steps. That might put a stop to it.

Thanks everyone.

Don't know if there's anything to it but I've always heard , where you find one copperhead that there will be another .