Is This a Copperhead?

Here's the copperhead we killed last year.
She was right by my porch and wouldn't leave, kept rearranging herself and standing her ground.
After I skinned her I figured out why...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...50846096441044

__________________
Liz
_____________________________
Dogs have masters, cats have staff.

Ok, so why ? I've seen enough snake pics for one day, thanks.

She had 7 eggs inside, I thought she looked fat.
The link is to a pic of her skin and the skinned carcass with eggs in it.

__________________
Liz
_____________________________
Dogs have masters, cats have staff.

Actually, I'm pretty certain that's a milk snake, not a corn snake. They're a type of king snake but maybe not as likely to eat a venomous species of snake as is the more widespread "chain king" (often black with white rings looking like a chain). Here's a link to an image from Google: http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetol..._milksnake.jpg

At 3' length, it was a full-size older adult. Too bad.

A non-poisonous snake will kill you too. My grandma nearly ran off the road trying to run over a harmless snake. She had two little kids (me&sis) in the car with her too and no seatbelts back then. That poor snake could have killed three people at once!
Years later, she was mad at me when I wouldn't kill a snake in my yard. We don't kill them here but I could if it was poisonous.

You are correct...it is a milk snake. The "V" on its head is a dead giveaway.

Milk snakes, corn snakes, and king snakes are not endangered species. While I don't normally kill snakes except around my yard if they are poisonous, one has to act when the potential of danger is there.

I guess what I am trying to say, is that you shouldn't feel too bad about making the mistake. For those of us around theses snakes often, it is easy for us to tell the difference, for people that don't see them much, it is much harder to be sure. One doesn't have the latitude of saying to the snake "stay right there and don't bite anybody until I have a chance to Google and see if you are poisonous". There are several snakes out there with "coppery" colors. The triangle back of the head thing is easy to see once one is familiar with it, but when one isn't, it is hard to know.

Personally I do my best to keep Pilot Black snakes (black rat snakes) around, because they keep poisonous snakes away. They do like young birds, but the loss of a chick or a quail was a small price for not worrying about my kids getting bit by something poisonous.

Some additional information:

Cottonmouths (water moccasins) are usually dark in color, short an fat. The puky colored aggressive water snakes that one sees so much, are "banded water snakes" and while aggressive are not poisonous.

While we don't have Coral snakes around here, they are pretty easy to tell. (red to black friend of jack, red to yellow dangerous fellow) They are not "pit vipers" like the other poisonous snakes in the US and therefore don't have the triangular head and they don't get very big. I have heard they are related to the cobra, and more poisonous than our other snakes, but since they are small and have to "chew" the poison in, I guess people don't let them hang on long enough to be as much of a threat. As a side note, don't get bit by one... since there are so few people that get bitten, making the anti-venom was not profitable, so they stopped making it in the US.

In truth, copperheads are known for being that way most times. When one is walking down a path, most snakes will feel the vibrations and be long gone before you ever see them. Copperheads have a nasty habit of staying right there.

FYI baby black racers look just like rattlesnakes except no triangle head, no cat eyes. They do act aggressive and the do shake their tails to ward off predators. I found 5 on my back porch once. I called a reptile guy who quickly identified them and released them. Since then all snakes get put in a garbage can until a positive ID can be made.

__________________
http://silvercreek-farm.blogspot.com
Livin' the good life

Kingsnakes are the best ones to have around to keep venomous snakes away too.

Perhaps the species as a whole are not endangered, but the individuals are if they are found anywhere close to my house, barn, shop or garden.

__________________
"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

So what would the reaction be if somebody posted, "I have a phobia about cats and hate them with a passion. Besides, bobcats will attack my chickens and housecats eat songbirds. Is this one I killed yesterday a bobcat?" Followed by photo of decapitated black & white kitten. ?

Speaking of cats - they kill everything that they can - are always hunting even when they are not hungry - it is estimated that cats kill up to a billion birds each year - if you have a cat you should keep in the house or on your property - I don't understand this idea that a cat can just roam all over the place - I personally hate cats for that reason - wish I had a nickel for everyone I sent to cat heaven - now all you cat lovers - why do you think that it is ok for a cat to roam on someone elses property and kill other animals and birds - just wondering -

I won't kill snakes. They all have their place in nature. I relocate the bad guys and release the good ones back in my yard. Yes even in Fl I relocated rattlesnakes.

__________________
http://silvercreek-farm.blogspot.com
Livin' the good life

I dunno about anyone else, but I would do my best to determine what sorta critter it was, and provide that information to the poster who had asked. In a friendly and helpful manner of course.

__________________
"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

It's just their defense mechanism. They can't help it. Nature told them to hide instead of run.

The other day I was in the workshop talking to a visitor when a wasp landed on my shoulder. The visitor got a little freaked out, screaming, "There's a wasp on you!"

I looked at it and then continued talking. After a moment it flew away. They said, "Aren't you scared it would sting you?"

I said, "Why would it sting me? I'm too big to eat and I'm not threatening it in any way. It'll fly off as soon as it wants to if I don't bother it."

If I'm traipsing around in dense woods where there might be copperheads, I put on my boots. Ain't no little snake biting me through those and if I see one, I poke him with my staff until he gets out of the way. It isn't in my mindset to go out into some other critter's home and kill him for being there.

Snakes that get into the house are fair game though.

I hope you are having a nice day. I am surprised, however, that you are following this thread.

I regret killing that poor snake, but I don't regret asking for opinions on what type it was. Many more would have died had I not, I commend those who relocate poisonous snakes, but I don't see myself doing that.

Totally a pit viper.

Don't feel bad. These things happen. Hidden in tall plants, in the garden you work in all the time, just bad luck for you and the snake.

I mean hey, I would have absolutely reached my bare hand in there to gently pull weeds away from it and chucked it under the chin like it was a kitten to ascertain whether it's head was triangular or oval. Isn't that what you're supposed to do?

LOL... well, you know, if that kitten was growling at the machete wielder from inside a dark chicken coop...

I regret having to kill wild animals often, but ultimately I have to share this landscape with them. I am part of the biosphere here. Some accommodation has to be made with the plants and animals in the space I inhabit.

Someone asked me the other day, "Ernie, you are so into conservation ... how can you stand to be a hunting guide for people who kill deer?"

My answer was pretty easy. "Those hunters pay thousands of dollars for a deer lease, which means the landowner will keep 3,000+ acres out of agricultural production and pristine. If a deer or two has to die in that 3,000 acres for all of the other species to survive there, then that's an acceptable tradeoff."

So while I regret having to kill the occasional wild critter in my space or bothering my livestock, it's an acceptable tradeoff. I would not call for ALL of those predator species to be eradicated, certainly not, but only the problem ones who think they can eat my chickens with impunity.