Looky what i found

john in la · Sep 24, 2016

Was out cutting grass this morning and found this guy in the tall grass that has not been cut in a while because of all the rain we have been getting.

I try not to kill non poisonous snakes because they do have their place in our ecosystem. I just relocate them in another part of my property away from the house.
But this guy was just to close for comfort. He was less than 10 feet from my pool and no more than 20 feet from my backyard deck. I noticed him laying there when he showed me that nice white mouth he has.

paul · Sep 24, 2016

I'm not afraid of snakes because I live where garter is the only thing you see, and that is only 4-5 in my lifetime......

Glad I can't identify what that is, and I'll put up with some blizzards now and then instead.....

Paul

Tom in TN · Sep 24, 2016

John,

I don't kill snakes either if I can avoid it, but I do know that snakes with that arrow shaped head are often poisonous. I, too, would have killed that one. Is it a cottonmouth?

Tom in TN

tim s · Sep 24, 2016

I only see a Garter or a black snake in my area of Ohio once in a while, to the south and east of me a lot of Copperheads and a few timber rattlers..I don't care much for "any" snake...I remember when I was young we use to see what we called a Blue Racer while cutting hay, they would travel fast with their head up about 6-8 inches as the went, I haven't seen one of them for years. My Son lives in New Orleans, they are running into Big Rattlers all the time.

old · Sep 24, 2016

While I cannot see his picture all that well it looks to be a hog nose snake which can flare up its head like tha tone is.

Simple way to tell if a snake poisonous is by the shape of there head and it the end of there tail is sharp or blunt.

A poisonous snake will have a V shaped head and there tail will be blunt and also have pits under there eyes. Only snake in the U.S. that does not have to pits but is poisonous if the corral snake it has a nerve toxin while the pit vipers all have a blood toxin.

Odd thing about the corral snake is it does not have fangs so it has to bite and then shake to do you harm

Been around many snakes and have handled thousands of them over the years

dr sportster · Sep 24, 2016

A black snake will always try to bite you . Can't be tamed as a pet snake. No need to really kill a blacksnake. Teeth are like nylon bristles.

john in la · Sep 24, 2016

While we have many different snakes I have only seen 3 kinds over the years.
Speckled King snake and Black racers are the 2 non poisonous snakes.
But this is the one to fear. The western cottonmouth.
I was thinking the fact that I said he showed me his white mouth would have given it away.
water moccasin

Logan in SE Texas · Sep 24, 2016

That is a big ugly one. You had no choice but to kill it, too dangerous to try and move it. In my experience they have a strong odor about them, have you noticed that?

GarryinNC · Sep 24, 2016

That was a good clue John. I think that we are all slow on the uptake today. I know I am.

Garry

Texasmark1 · Sep 24, 2016

Those don't count. See em, shoot em. Year before last I killed 40 of those suckers. Most years it's be 3 or 4 range. Don't know where all those came from.

I live on a hill and have a 2 acre pond (call them pools here). Woods next door and creek down to the main creek. That's how they get here. Last year didn't see one. This year I too was mowing grass around the pool bank and flushed one. Wasn't expecting it and I wasn't "packing" so he got away but haven't seen him or any other since then. One good thing about those suckers when held up in an out building, you can smell them and I have had that happen on several occasions.

JerryS · Sep 25, 2016

My lady friend's son got bit on the heel by one of those beauties several years ago. His leg swelled twice its normal size, and it was touch-and-go for a while. We have copperheads and rattlesnakes down here too, along with the cottonmouths, but most people I know hardly even think about them. Sightings are fairly rare (in 75 years I've never seen a rattler in the wild, and not a great many cottonmouths). We're careful and observant, but not paranoid. Actual snake bite is very rare. Point being, there's no way I'd trade our snakes for six months of snow and ice.

The incidence of snakebite mortality in the U.S. is exceedingly rare. Composite records going back to the 1800s reveal only 50 to 100 snakebite deaths--ever.

Looky what i found

john in la

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paul

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Tom in TN

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tim s

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old

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dr sportster

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john in la

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Logan in SE Texas

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GarryinNC

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Texasmark1

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JerryS

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