Can you see the copperhead.

Good camouflage. Gotta admire the skill of Mother Nature.

I've got a blue merle dog and if it weren't for his white feet, you wouldn't see him at dusk when he is in the rocks. Just flat disappears, except for those paws.

Looks like a smaller one here----look at the Original picture close if i got this one to small.

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I saw the one below the small stick rather quickly. I didn't see the one near the tree. For any of us that didn't see both, it looks as though we might have gotten bitten!

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I still don't see the small one but it doesn't matter. I would have been levitating so high off the ground, neither could reach me.

I am not sure there is a "small" one, could be a stick, it just has some markings like a copperhead. Look for the Hursheys Kisses shape on the side---I only see 2/3 of those shapes and its lighter in color---but I have seen many copperheads that lite in color.

Its amazing how well they blend in. I looked hard and didnt see it until fire man pointed it out.

I recently read this:

"A pit viper is best identified by two small holes located on its face, one beneath each eye."

While this may be the best "scientific" identification, I would advise none of you to depend upon it. Many people get the "pits" and the "nostrils" confused, and in some snakes the coloring makes the pits really difficult to see unless one gets up close. If the snake is any size, that will proably bring your face into easy strinking range.

I have learned to recognize the three poisonous snakes we have around here in a general way. That is, most non poisonous snakes I can tell easily. Sometimes one will run onto a few snakes that resemble a copper head. It is always good to error on the safe side and stay back untill one is sure.

I am not familiar with Coral snakes, but they are not pit vipers. As I understand it they are small snakes that tend to hide in bushes and foliiage. If I would see a brightly banded yellow, red, and black snake, I think I would check the "red to black" thing before I assumed it was a Scarlett King snake (which I guess live in the same area)

Water moccasins (cotton mouths) are usually dark, and short as snakes go and usually quite thick or fat. (a pilot black snake big around as a 50-cent piece might be 8' long while a cotton mouth as big around as a silver dollar might only be a couple of feet long) Rattle snakes have the rattles, and you have all been looking at the copper head.

BTW. Many baby snakes have colorings and markings grossly similar to a copper head. So you may not want to go killing every baby snake you see that bears even a small resemblence. On the other hand, be careful, because baby copper heads carry the same poison as adults.

For instance, this is a baby "black rat snake" which is one of the best snakes to have around your homestead:

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Moving to that big black hole in the night satellite photo. (also the hole in cell phone coverage )

I have had just one encounter with a copperhead (and hope it is my only one). I was with my boss doing historic building survey in a rural area. The building we were looking at was abandoned and stuffed with various junk - two red flags for me. Sure enough, in the leaf litter in front of the house, I spotted just a small glimpse of it, one step away. I yelped and probably jumped two feet in the air, springing for the gravel road. My know-it-all boss stood looking at it, proclaiming "it doesn't look poisonous."

I think there is a cosmic law, kind of like cats gravitating to cat-haters: Snake haters are always the ones who will have snake encounters.

Regular thing around here. We have disposed of 5 this year. Scooped up some leaves last year with the front in loader. Wife was up in the trailer pitching them out in the garden when she saw movement.



Another good reason to have your CCW.

Got one bigger than this one this year but no picture........ Rotary mower.

Pretty sure a blue racer is just a color phase of garter snake. The water moccasins might just be northern water snakes.

Lack of poisonous snakes is one of the reasons that I put up with all the cold and snow here in Minnesota! I'd have never found those snakes in that photo without the help.

It's a beauty!

Friday, August 16, 2013
YOU THINK YOU HAVE SNAKE PROBLEMS TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT THIS FELLOW THAT LIVES IN CARROLL, COUNTY ARKANSAS HAS!



By Landon Reeves, CCNnews@cox-internet.com

Dale Ertel, owner and proprietor of the educational reptile attraction Snake World, handles the most common venomous snake in Arkansas, the copperhead. As a reptile enthusiast, handler and independent researcher, Ertel has his dream job working with most people's nightmares.
[Click to enlarge]

CARROLL COUNTY -- Local snake and reptile handlers have captured and relocated more than 100 venomous snakes concentrated in one area in the last three weeks.
Sometime after July 23, property owner Jess Christensen started noticing a lot of snake activity in the evening around his house, located on County Road 717 just north of Metalton.
"Really what really hit me was how close they were to the house," Christensen said. "I just looked at the statistics and knew that one day I will be bitten if I don't do anything, so I thought to get a professional opinion about it."

A blue racer is in by no means whatsover a garter snake... they are totally different. Neither are poisonous.

A nothern water snake is also not even close to a (cotton mouth) water moccasin. The various "water snakes" are agressive but not poisionous. The watter moccasin, while it usually lives in or near water is very poisonous.

There is no record of anyone in good health of being killed by a copperhead. As far as I can tell there is only one person on record that died as a result of a bite, and he had heart issues. That being said, it is still a very dangerous snake that has causes a lot of people severe and dangerous problems with its bite. As I understand it, many trauma centers are no longer carrying copperhead antivenom as its effects are can be as are almost as sever as the bite, and there is not enough call for it to make it profitable to the pharmectical industry.

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Moving to that big black hole in the night satellite photo. (also the hole in cell phone coverage )

I live in Md. the copperheads here are the same color of as a new penny. Never saw one that looked like this.

Yes! I'll stay in NYS, thanks, only a few very small areas with poisonous snakes here. The very idea that you have to watch where you step when you are outside around your house freaks me out.

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-Northern NYS

Copperheads like to lie on paths or rocks to catch the sun, so they are not always hard to see. They also tend to strike short seveal times whe a person gets close, so in leaves etc, one is often alerted by the movement so it is not as scary as it might seem. One has to keep a good eye on the paths around here anyway or they will end up tripping ove a tree root.

The snake in the picture was either going away from the photographer or it hadn't seen him yet. If it was simply laying there it would have either started to leave or coiled up when he got close. In either case there is movement... one tends to pick up on that... Think how easily Morels would be to find if they would move around a bit

The greatest danger is stepping over a log or something similar over a path or in a clear area. If the sun is hitting the other side, it is a favorite place for them to hang out. You don't seen them and they don't see you till your leg is right beside them. Really, it is just like wasps or rabid animals or anything else. One doesn't worry about them..a person just pays attention to their surroundings. It is a good habit whether one is in the Ozarks or the South side of Chicago.

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Moving to that big black hole in the night satellite photo. (also the hole in cell phone coverage )