Can you see it? Identify it?

k0ua · Nov 9, 2016

We will see a King snake around the house or barns here every now and then and let them be. As you said they are beneficial. I seen an occasional copperhead, and around the house, I do NOT let them go.

Wagtail · Nov 9, 2016

Saw my first snake for the season a couple of days ago. 4' long and black... went inside to grab my camera and it was gone when I returned.

I assumed it was a Red Belly Black. I warned my neighbours, via text, to keep their 'eyes down and looking'.

I then hit the interwebs to enquire what snake I did see = a Lowland Copperhead, which can be black when mature (The Red Belly is not found in Tassie). Of course they're venomous but a good pair of boots will protect you.

Ah, nature. :snake:

DaveNJ · Nov 10, 2016

k0ua said:
We will see a King snake around the house or barns here every now and then and let them be. As you said they are beneficial. I seen an occasional copperhead, and around the house, I do NOT let them go.

I agree with that. The only copperhead I've ever seen around the house or shop here was greeted with the pointy end of a shovel. Out in the woods I just try to avoid them but they are seldom seen here. I did once want to kill a King snake. I was hand digging a number of fence post holes with a shale bar and picking out the rocks by hand. After breaking for lunch the first thing I did was to reach down in the dark last hole with my bare hand to clear out rocks. A big King Snake had fallen in the hole and latched onto my thumb. Screaming like a little girl, I must have thrown it 60 feet. Those razor sharp teeth hurt like a sumbitch.

k0ua · Nov 10, 2016

DaveNJ said:
I agree with that. The only copperhead I've ever seen around the house or shop here was greeted with the pointy end of a shovel. Out in the woods I just try to avoid them but they are seldom seen here. I did once want to kill a King snake. I was hand digging a number of fence post holes with a shale bar and picking out the rocks by hand. After breaking for lunch the first thing I did was to reach down in the dark last hole with my bare hand to clear out rocks. A big King Snake had fallen in the hole and latched onto my thumb. Screaming like a little girl, I must have thrown it 60 feet. Those razor sharp teeth hurt like a sumbitch.

Sorry about the thumb, and the screaming, but both the wife and I got a chuckle out of your story. :thumbsup:

N80 · Nov 11, 2016

Maybe my best snake story was when I was biking on some trails on the Florida panhandle and saw this beautiful colorful snake in the path. I figured it was a coral snake or a king snake. But I can't remember those little rhymes. "Red on yellow kills a fellow" or is it "Red on black kills Jack"? "In 1492 he (Columbus) sailed the ocean blue" or was it "In 1493 he sailed the great blue sea"?

Anyway, I wanted to show him to my son so I got off my bike, gently put my foot on his head, picked him up and put him in a two liter coke bottle I found in the ditch. He was very slow and docile so I kinda figured he was a Coral snake. When I got home, my wife remembered the proper rhyme and it was a Coral snake. Quite large for a Coral snake too, almost 3 feet. I looked him up in one of my snake books to confirm it.

So, I have, somewhat unwittingly, handled a poisonous and deadly snake! (Of course anyone who knows about Coral snakes know that they have no fangs, tiny mouths and are very slow...........so its not like I was playing with a Diamond Back..........which we also had a lot of on panhandle.)

tractchores · Nov 11, 2016

Good that you didn't harm it. They're actually not that aggressive. I was almost standing on the tail of one and didn't notice it until it made a noise and I saw the white mouth as it was warning me. Just stepped away and we both went on our way. They've done that to the dog too when it gets too close, but seem to warn you before biting. Some of the more aggressive species might be another story, but most snakes are pretty harmless if you leave them alone. I've got plenty non venemous ones by me now and other than removing them from the pool periodically (they like to eat the bugs in the skimmer and scare the wife) they don't annoy us much. I wish there were more to eat the mice and chipmunks...