Is This a Copperhead?

You prefer rodents? I'll take a nearly disease free snake over a rat any day.

Unfortunately in my area nearly all the snakes you run across are venomous. I like snakes but if I find one of those in a populated area I'm grabbing the shovel.

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Avondale, AZ

Ernie you seem like a real nice guy, a gentle soul. I wish more people had your mind set. The old would be a better place. Peace brother.

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

I can see how anyone other than a herptologist (can't remember if that's the right word or not) would mistake that fella for a copperhead!
I think anyone with pets, little children, or folks with bad eyesight ain't very responsible to leave a poisonous snake or spider alive in the immediate vicinity.
Course now you got to realize I'm sorta dumb, because I think people have just as much right to life as animals. Never been able to understand the mindset that it's so awful to kill a dog or cat, much less a snake, to the point that they get more hassle than someone that murders a person.
I can't help that I ain't got sense enough to understand, can I?

Ha! I try real hard to present that image, but I'm a raging, angst-filled beast in all reality.

But today is a good day.

I had to laugh, when this thread started I was wondering how long it would take cat haters to show up ROFLOL!

My kids came rushing in today yelling snake snake snake so we went out to watch a large black racer zip off into the woods. It had been hunting frogs in the new Chinese chestnut pond we just dug.

Its easy to misidentifiy a snake in the wild, esp when they are trying to look dangerous because they are frightened. I came within inches of slicing and dicing a brown water snake because it was mimicking a cotton mouth so very well. I kept pushing and pulling it with the shovel to get its head clear for a good clean whack - don't want to waste any meat, do you - and realized that for all it had a wide flat head it was because the silly thing was flattening it out to scare me.

Almost a fatal bluff

We have some non-venomous in my area that mimic rattlers. They do it very well too!

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Avondale, AZ

Nope, I dont care much for rats and mice either, thats why I dont cut the heads off the cats. I also noticed that the snakes didnt do a very good job of eradicating the rodents around here. Cats do a much better job.

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

Ernie, I agree with you in general. However, it is my family's home also. If they can't share without (dangerous) aggression, and if they aren't endangered, They may come up on the short end of the stick. If a red wasp flies down and lands on a person, it is usually because that person is too close to their nest, and they are going to land with the full intent of stinging. They have plenty of places to live beside my house and outbuildings, and I am going to destroy the nest, because I am not going to take a chance they are going to sting some child on the face.

As far as the copperheads sunning on a path, ours must be different than the ones near you. If you poke at one with a stick here, he is likely going to come straight after you.

Animals ought to be treated with respect, and their survival (as a group) encouraged. However, they are not human, and making them human is a trend which is getting out of hand. I am fully against killing animals for "fun", but to give (abundant) animals the rights of people is not the answer.

I dont see the problem there!

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www.salmonslayer-simplelife.blogspot.com

To the OP...that is a beautiful snake and could have made a handy addition to your homestead; however, I do understand acting when in doubt.

We have a lot of black snakes and they all look alike to me. Can anyone tell me what type of black snake this one is? (It enjoys some of our eggs and a few baby chicks that are too large for the brooding "pen" and are free ranging.)

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I am what I am! Acknowledging this is the beginning; and my growth is yet to end. http://motdaugrnds.com/farmsales ~~~~~ http://motdaugrnds.com

Cant tell for sure. What color is the belly where it meets the snakes sides? The largest blacksnakes are usually black rat snakes AKA pilot black snakes. There are also black king snakes which get big, they are usually yellow speckled on the sides of the belly. The snake in the picture seems to have a pattern showing through, which is common on a black rat snake.

All of these are good snakes to have around your homestead, even though they are found of birds and birds eggs, they make up for it in many other ways.

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ec..._rat_snake.htm

http://www.blackkingsnake.com/image-...y/virginia/lee

It's each person's individual choice as to how they wish to live within nature and I will not begrudge you yours. I am not making animals "human" and nor am I giving them the rights of people.

If a copperhead is in my path and I poke it with a stick until it gets out of my way then I have not given it any rights. Would I have the right to poke you with a stick if you stood in my way? Certainly not! So I don't know where you think I'm for giving animals the rights of people.

I just know that I don't like to kill things and I like to see nature. There are two giant wasp nests IN my workshop. They've been there all year and I haven't been stung. I wouldn't let wasps nest in the house where the children are, but in the workshop I don't mind. In fact, I enjoy watching them build their nests and do their waspy things quite a lot. I don't, apparently, move very fast and certainly don't seem to alarm them in any way. I was there when they first came and I'll be there when they leave. Since it's a workshop where we make knives, I don't let the little children in there ... but it's not out of fear of wasps.

I simply believe in living in nature instead of in opposition to nature. A bear would not allow a rattlesnake in its den anymore than I would, but a bear doesn't feel the need to go kill every rattlesnake it sees and neither do I.

I teach my children to avoid snakes and to watch where they're going, that way they don't have to worry about any snakes I failed to kill, OR snakes I failed to see.

Definitely a black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta subspecies). Pretty much the same snake with a wide color variety ranges from the Fla Keys to Canada and west to Texas and Nebraska. The adult colors shift from red and orange in the Everglades to yellow in central Florida to gray blotches and stripes in the SE and even greenish on NC outer banks and coastal regions to mostly black in the northern and central areas and other flavors in the west. The hatchlings everywhere look more like the gray rat phase, very clear stripes and blotches until they get up around 2-3' in length. Yeah, they're big critters, 6-7' long isnt unusual, and at that size not something you'd want developing an appetite for hens' eggs. They don't eat other snakes, so the way they'd discourage venomous species being around is by competing for rodent prey. Smaller ones are typically really defensive if approached or handled, rearing back and making lunging strikes, vibrating tails, hissing, and so on. The big ones are *sometimes* rather mellow and if so might be handled gently with nobody the worse for wear for not even holding them behind their heads. Other individuals might instantly become an odd appendage attached to your nose if you tried it.

Don't think we disagree that much Ernie, I never said I killed snakes I found on the path, just that Copperheads will tend to stick around a sunning place or path, unlike most other snakes that will leave when the feel the vibrations of an approaching person. I also said they were aggressive and would tend to come after anyone poking at them with a stick. I stay behind those statements, and did not say I killed anything except poisonous snakes that I find around the house and barns themselves.

Of course, I taught my children to be careful about a number of things; wasps, snakes, bumble bee nests, sharp farm implements, etc. But leaving a poisoness snake around the house area is like leaving a rake "tines up" laying on the ground. It is asking for trouble and not necessary.

Expecting a child not to run or be rambunctious while playing is expecting maturity from them that an adult may possess, but should not be expected of a child. A child getting bit by a non-poisonous snake is a learning experience, and easy to treat. A child getting bit by a copperhead, or a rattler is a whole 'nother story.

On today's walk I found a red bellied snake about 8" long and smaller in diameter than a thin pencil. It was really pretty and didn't try to bite when I picked it up.

Later I found a young hog nosed snake. It flattened itself as soon as it saw or smelled me.

That area must have a lot of snakes because I usually see their tracks in the sand crossing the road.

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"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

Semi-snake story. Two or three days ago I was pulling weeds from the flowers by my shop. I wasn't thinking about much of anything , just enjoying the quiet. All of a sudden something hit me on the back of the hand. Just about scared the s--- out of me. First thing I thought was snake. I looked at my hand fully expecting to see some fang marks. There were none just red skin. I pulled the lillys apart to see what was in there. Next thing I know the world exploded in my face. There was a banty hen sitting on a nest under the flowers. She must have pecked my hand when I got close to her nest and when I pulled the lillys apart she flew straight in my face. My heart was beating a mile a minute and all I could do is stand there and laugh at me. Lucky it was about six in the morning and no one saw that little two or three pound bird make a wimp out of a 200lb man.

Spur, did you have to change or did you just scream like a girl?

With that said, non-venomous snakes are welcome around our place as they do help with rodent control. The venomous ones are left alone out in the woods but around the farm if they are found they die, it is just not worth the chance in an area where you have to be at all hours of the day and night doing a variety of tasks and are often already thinking about your next task.

Red touch yellow, kill a fellow. Red touch black, venom lack.

With most poisonous snakes the head is wider than the neck. The exceptions are coral snakes and cottonmouths, IIRC.

I've got several resident garter snakes in the garden and flower beds. I wish they would eat those stupid voles but I need a big rat snake for those.

Snake time! Which means it's time for my annual speech - I'll keep it short and sweet



There is no such thing as a poisonous snake - they are all edible. Some areas do have venomous snakes such as rattlers, cottonmouths, and copperheads. If you get to see a coral snake you are pretty lucky, they are shy and hard to find.

Stepping off

[IMG]http:/http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd86/fletamae/1-1-100_5194-2.jpg[/IMGdon't know about your snake but this is a copperhead