What kind of Snake is This?

Nobody · #41 04/25/08, 05:09 AM

Definetly a rat snake. Here,also referred to as a chicken snake because it will eat all of your eggs.
http://www.houstonherp.com/TxRat.html

tyusclan · #42 04/25/08, 05:25 AM

I'm pretty much with "let the snake live" crowd, with the exception of poisonous snakes in the yard. Those I do not relocate, I kill.

We have too many poisonous varieties down here, and if I relocate it, it may find its way back. I won't risk my children being bitten.

Anywhere other than the yard, and they're safe with me.

I'm always happy to have a non-poisonous snake around. They're a tremendous help with the rats. At another place we lived several years ago, we had a 5 foot white oak snake that lived in the barn for a long time. I'd go out, and he'd be coiled up on the hay asleep. If I happened to need the bale he was lying on, I'd just bump it a few times, he'd wake up, and slither off. Saw him catch several rats, and I'm sure he caught a lot that I didn't see.

suitcase_sally · #43 04/25/08, 09:26 AM

I like Michigan - it's sterile.

I did see one of those green snakes a few years ago. Green as grass.

Quint, you're my kind of person.

Steve · #44 04/25/08, 09:40 AM

I have those snakes on my property in west central Illinois. My cousin, who is a Missouri Conservation Officer, told me they are Northern Water Snakes. Not poisonous, but a very aggressive snake nonetheless.

myhorsejack · #45 04/25/08, 03:17 PM

hmm
and I thought it was just a plain ole bullsnake.........

THETOOLMAN · #46 04/25/08, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by insocal

Probably best if we just kill every living thing on earth that isn't human. THEN we'll be safe.

Dang, You sound like my old drill sargent.
he said just that !. HE said that god would do all the sorting for us. OUR job is to kill

Jerngen · #47 04/26/08, 01:22 AM

I've never come across the snake in the OP.
I personally try to catch, identify, and release. Where I release it depends on what kind it is! LOL Good snake, close to the house. Bad snake, several miles away.
Came across several rattlesnakes when I lived in the southwest. Here in MI there is supposedly one kind of poisonous snake but I've never seen it. Since we've moved to da U.P. a couple years ago I've only seen cute little gardner snakes. Okay...... I've only seen one and I caught it about 1am one night, took it inside and woke up my then pregnant wife to show her 'cause it was so darn cute. She took one look, said "that's really nice honey, now leave me alone" and went back to sleep.
She really must love me!!

(yes, I'm known to be a little strange)

Scrounger · #48 04/26/08, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerngen

...... I've only seen one and I caught it about 1am one night, took it inside and woke up my then pregnant wife to show her 'cause it was so darn cute. She took one look, said "that's really nice honey, now leave me alone" and went back to sleep.
She really must love me!!

(yes, I'm known to be a little strange)

My wife sleeps with easy reach of her Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum. I've learned that such things are a DEFFINATE No-No in our house......

Nellie · #49 04/26/08, 10:11 PM

Quote:

and woke up my then pregnant wife to show her 'cause it was so darn cute

Don't you know The Rule?? Don't ever Ever EVER wake up a pregnant woman.... lol. But yeah, those little baby Garter snakes are sure cute. I spent all day out in the garden and never saw even ONE today.

cjb · #50 04/26/08, 10:24 PM

I'm also glad to live in an area that does not have any poisonous snakes. We have garter snakes and red racers and the occasional tiny rubber boa.

Toads tool · #51 04/27/08, 05:11 AM

When I first got married I came home one day to find 6 snakes hanging from the front porch railing and my new wife out in the yard with a hoe in hand. 4 garter snakes and 2 black snakes- dang it.
I guess while she was doing dishes a 6 foot black snake tried to get in the window off of the roof right where she was standing.
"Fear of snakes" wasn't one of those things we discussed before getting married.

In 16 years my love for snakes has calmed her fears.
Now she just locks up and screams bloody murder, till I or one of the kids comes and removes the offender.

cjb · #52 04/28/08, 02:59 PM

A guy I work with was called at work during a very important meeting by his wife. Wife was screaming and telling him to come home RIGHT away. She had carried the phone into the garage and was frozen in terror by a large snake that was sitting on the garage floor ready to strike.

He cancelled the meeting, drove all the way home and ran into the garage to rescue his wife.

It was a neck tie.

thaiblue12 · #53 04/28/08, 03:22 PM

I am with the live and let live. They do serve a purpose and I am not scared of them. Granted none of them have been deadly. This thread reminds me of 2funny stories:
My male 60 yr old neighbor and his 38 yr old son and stuck inside the house in fear of a 5-6 foot bullsnake in the driveway and call me to come and catch it. I am all of 5 foot 4 and I had a push broom and caught it in about 20 seconds. Then once safely caught they came out to see it and I relocated it.

A few months later I thought the air was hissing out of one of my tires so I bend down to look and a large bull snake struck at my face. I guess my farm kitties cornered it under my car and it was far too angry to catch so I used my hose and sprayed it out. Well then one of my kids opens the door to the house and it went right in the laundry room. I could not find it. A few hours later I saw it along the window sill but could not reach it. My husband using a curtain rod ( scaredy pants!) flings it out the door while I am opening it. I felt it breeze past me, lol.

I can't idenity the snake but I am glad you let it live. Bullsnakes do rattle as well when threatened. Gets your heart pumping for a minute! I do know that is not a bullsnake.

Batt · #54 04/28/08, 03:50 PM

DW relates that while she was working ER a propane delivery worker showed up and stated that he had been bitten several times as he stepped out of his truck by a whole (Hmmm? what's the plural pronoun for a bunch of snakes??) bunch of snakes. He had managed to kill one and had it in a paper bag. Since no one could identify it, the state conservation department officers was called in. After examining the snake closely they informed that driver that #1 the snake is non-poisonous but that #2 it is an endangered species and you are under arrest......

GrannieD · #55 04/28/08, 09:17 PM

That isn't copperhead color or pattern...also hognose snakes are not large snakes, but the body is chubby & they huff & puff when confronted.. if that fails they quickly roll on their back & act dead...GrannieD

puddlejumper007 · #56 04/29/08, 06:48 AM

rose that is too funny... i think i saw one of those last year

dancingbear · #57 04/29/08, 04:48 PM

If it bites or stings you, (snake, scorpion, spider, etc.) and it makes you sick...it's VENOMOUS.

If you bite it, (mushroom, plant, puffer fish) and it makes you sick...it's POISONOUS.

My DH and I once mistook a harmless corn snake for a copperhead and killed it. I'd looked up copperheads and corn snakes, copperheads can sometimes be as brightly colored as the corn snakes, and easy to confuse. The round pupils of non-venomous snakes, and vertical pupils of the venomous ones are helpful for identification, but hard to see from a safe distance. I don't know if the pupil shape is always an indicator though, anybody know for sure?

I only kill non-venomous snakes if they're in the hen house, and venomous ones only when they're in an area we frequent. If I encounter one far from where I usually go, I'll leave it be and go on my way. If we had no snakes, we'd be up to our arses in rodents.