Posted on 05/09/2009 5:27:52 PM PDT by humblegunner
This afternoon I happened to look out the back and saw something
black and long in the middle of the yard. I just mowed yesterday
so I knew the yard was free of sticks and such.
Turns out it was a big black snake!
He isn't a rattler, does not look loke a water moccasin or a black snake.
What the heck kind of snake is he? He has the triangular head which
means he is a bad one, but I can't place his breed.
Anyway, photography being as dangerous as it is, he got wrecked up some
which is just as well. He might have bitten one of the animals.
So who knows any herpetology?
Classic! ;)
I say it’s a black Kingsnake, but I’d like a better look at the head.
Blue Racer. We had plenty around when I lived in southern Illinois.
Another vote for Cottonmouth. Why take the chance? If I don’t KNOW it’s not poisonous it’s dead, period!!!! A young Rattlesnake killed our Yorkie years ago. She had 18 hours of suffering. A business associate lost their Pomeranian last year to a Rattler. We saw a Corn Snake in our gardens yesterday, picked it up, played with it a while and turned it loose in a more remote area of the yard. Have you ever watched that show where it shows people in the hospital that have gotten bitten by poisonous snakes? If you have, then you know why I say kill it if there is any doubt. It’s not worth losing a beloved pet or God forbid, a family member.
I forgot to highlight the part in the “How to Identify a Pit Viper” piece I posted (#166) which mentions their triangular heads. Someone earlier in the thread remarked that other types of snakes had triangular heads as well. I think they were wrong and you were right.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2247796/posts?page=166#166
Exactly how close do you have to get to sniff the snake? Is six inches too close? How about a thirty feet?
(Homer Simpson) mmmmm Rat-atouille
tastes like chicken.
Some escaped others died of lead poisoning and others by that weird indian “Falling Rock”
Was target shooting my new CZ-82 last week when I noticed
a snake coiled up on a flat rock, couldn’t see any markings
so looked closer, when I did ,it started rattling it’s tail.
Yep Rattlesnake, but he must have just molted or something cause he was a uniform grey/black no markings at all.
He was catching some rays on that flat rock.
As my father always said, “Watch where you STEP!”.
While they do taste like chicken, as I can attest, I prefer
to leave them alone. As someone once said, “Pepito, did I
ever tell you about the time I was stung by a dead bee?”.
LOL, Since you describe the smell I know you know what your talking about. Copperheads have a particular musky smell also.
Tastes more like greasy fish complete with the fish like bones.
A few years ago our German Shephard killed a large cottenmouth in our backyard - it had wondered into our mulch filled playground set where our kids were playing. We couldn't tell if he was bitten (the dog, not the snake - the snake was bitten in half), so we rushed him (the dog, it was clearly too late for the snake) to the 24hr Vet. That's when we got a quick and valuable lesson about dogs and snakes.
It's not like people where the antivenin works everytime. It doesn't always work and I understand it can have deadly side-effects as well - plus it's ridiculously expensive. Several hundred a vial and a 120lb. dog could take as many as three, perhaps even four vials.
We stayed at the vet for a couple hours, but it luckily it turned out the dog wasn't bitten.
Help me out here? (we’re Lake Travis people)
We kill moccasins all the time. Once you get a moccasin out of water and lying cold and dead, they smell like a cross of a fresh diaper and a dead rat.
Personally I have no knowledge or opinion as to what type of snake it was or whether it was poisonous or not. It seems you have a lot of opinions but no definitive answer. If you are really interested in knowing what it was, you might want to contact your local agricultural extension or your nearest university with a good biology department.
You evidently felt it enough of a threat to you and your animals to kill it before seeking any advice. And I’m not implying that was bad thing to do or that you were wrong for doing so. If I’d run across that snake near my house, my first reaction would be to kill it too.
But we often kill off predators without considering the consequences. Sure, the snake might have been dangerous, not something you’d want in your back yard or that I’d want in mine, but you and your pets were probably not its primary food source.
So what was: mice, rates, moles or other such creatures you might now have to call an exterminator to be rid of?
We kill off predators for doing what predators do and then end up overrun by their prey, which often end up being an even bigger nuisance.
The pictures sort of indicate that the snake was moving away from you, trying to avoid you, as most snakes tend to do and that you perused it, it got defensive and then you killed it with a shovel. Again, not saying that was wrong but looking at it from the snake’s perspective, you were the aggressor.
I would not want poisonous snakes living in my back yard close to my house, but a few non-poisonous snakes that kill off vermin like mice and rats? I’d consider them just part of nature’s plan and my friends. Just saying….
Whatever the heck it is, it is clearly pining for the fjords.
I had a Lab that got popped in the jaw by a Copperhead. Swelling started pretty quick. WE took her to the vet right then. She was home that night but swollen pretty bad. She took a hit for me. I was a kid then. Dog made it through OK.
Humble clearly did the right thing here. He DID NOT waste any precious ammo on the invading reptile. He killed using only hand tools (weapons), just like the indigenous tribes.
It’s to be celebrated around camp fires for generations to come. “Dances with shovels” will be painted as rock art for centuries.
Yellow Bellied Water Snake. Mean and stinky but not poisonous.
could it be Humble Tx or Conroe. Snakes all around.
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