First Snake of the year

[Looking4new]

Great story! Laughing my butt off at 7AM.

 

[groundcover]

Reminds me of a guy I worked whit that had the washer and dryer in the basement . His wife went to do laundry one day and a snake was hanging from one of the log beams of the old farmhouse . He ended up moving the washer and dryer upstairs to the kitchen !

Was talking to a friend of mine yesterday that moved south. He was on his four wheeler by his pond and his neighbor stopped by. They noticed a snake in the water and my friend pulled his gun and sent it to the bottom. The neighbor said man you must be some shot to hit that with a handgun from a four wheeler ! My friend ejected the spent .410 shell from his Judge and the neighbor began to get the picture!

 

[Garandman]

An Army buddy got bit by a Pygmy Rattler at Eglin AFB. He had a glove on so it barely punctured his skin. The snake got about three feet when another guy mashed it into the ground with a rifle butt.

They decided to medevac him as a precaution. Just as we hear the chopper approaching the RI comes up to him with a plastic bag. "Here," he said, "You forgot 'your' snake." Apparently they test them?

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

Not really tractor safety.....

But safety non the less.... first snake of the year... about 7 inches long, but the dang thing was right up against the house.... hate these things...

I think this is a young copperhead, but I cant really tell.
What do you guys think?

View attachment 422110

snake for sure but not a copperhead, heres a pic of a copperhead that was on my walking trail yesterday, sorry to say he had to go.

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

Now if you want to see an extremely large one here's a pic of one I killed last november, almost 36" long and very large in diameter, many told me they havent ran into a copperhead this size and in fact I never saw one this size but here he is, dead right behind our barn.

 

[txdon]

Kenneth in Texas do you have a lot of feral hogs on your place?

 

[NewfieDan]

You might be on to something here. I have seen several snakes this spring but the copperhead, which was the most abundant, has not made an appearance. Could it be these guys are taking care of them? - or is it the cool spring? I'll keep you updated.

They don't need to be feral to kill snakes. My stepfather had western rattle snakes where he grew up. One he caught one and threw it into a pig pen. The pigs went nuts trying to get at it. Unfortunately, the farmer was in the pen at the time. He ended up in the hospital from the pigs.

 

[CobyRupert]

I saw a "first snake of the year " just the other day.

It was dangling in the clutches of a small hawk ;-)

Supper I suppose.

Vermont doesn't really have poison snakes, so I don't worry. Even if a local hill is called "rattle snake mountain". I suppose one was seen once, and it stuck! ;-)

I saw my first snake yesterday, the same way. Not sure what kind it was, other than being a 'good snake" (i.e. (IMO) "the only good snake is a dead....")

Yes, VT does have rattlers. Especially around Rattlesnake Ridge just north of Fair Haven. It's at the "Rattle Snake latitude". You can draw an almost straight line west to the rattlesnake dens around Whitehall NY and Tongue Mountain, Lake George NY.

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

Kenneth in Texas do you have a lot of feral hogs on your place?

I have some but not covered up with them

 

[Bird]

They don't need to be feral to kill snakes. My stepfather had western rattle snakes where he grew up. One he caught one and threw it into a pig pen. The pigs went nuts trying to get at it. Unfortunately, the farmer was in the pen at the time. He ended up in the hospital from the pigs.

When I was a kid, I'd heard that hogs would kill and eat snakes. So I was 13 or 14 years old when I caught a big black (non-poisonous) snake and threw it in a pen with hogs and they simply ignored it.

 

[big bubba]

amazed at how much fuss grown men make over a snake. if it's venomous in your immediate living compound w/wife & children or grand children, sure kill it. but never understood the compulsion to kill them just because they are a snake. i find the attitude toward coyotes are the same. guess it's a guy thing i must have missed out in life....btw venom has many uses in medicine...but my attitude is among the minority, so i'll just play the devil's advocate. my feeling is that if something is not directly threatening you, just leave it alone.

 

[aginn]

No poisonous snakes in western Oregon, and rarely any spiders. Reading about the adventures of you guys in Texas and Florida is akin to watching a horror movie for me. Can't step off the paved road, can't pick up anything laying out in the field, gotta be on full alert walking around the property. Yikes! If I lived there I would be wearing steel socks and gloves.

You would be wise to watch out a bit for the brown recluse.
Contrary to popular belief, they are here and becoming more common each year.

My brother-in-law's brother died due to complications from an amputated arm caused by a recluse bite.
He was bitten under a house while doing plumbing work in Benton County.

 

[Gafn]

amazed at how much fuss grown men make over a snake. if it's venomous in your immediate living space w/wife & children or grand children, sure kill it. but never understood the compulsion to kill them just because they are a snake. i find the attitude toward coyotes among guys are the same. guess it's a guy thing i must have missed out in life....btw venom has many uses in medicine...but my attitude is among the minority, so i'll just play the devil's advocate. my feeling is that if something is not directly threatening you, just leave it alone.

Have you ever been bitten? I have, and it is not a fun experience.... so in my opinion, and on my farm - all poisonous snakes die upon sight, and that means a few of the non-poisonous get killed before being identified.... Nature will make more of them...

Coyotes.... DO you like deer and small game? Are you a hunter? Well coyotes will take a newborn fawn without hesitation, and there is not much momma deer can do about it. So we hunt the yote to keep their population in check, so that we can have deer to hunt and a manage renewable source of food.

 

[PILOON]

Well, here in Quebec the most ferocious snake is a garter snake.

But then even those give me the heeby jeebies. Just don't like snakes.
As a teen I had nightmares always with snakes as the main subject, generally scaffolds with snakes intertwined in all layers.
Never knew the outcome as usually I would wake up as soon as the scaffolds were fully intertwined.

 

[JRobyn]

You would be wise to watch out a bit for the brown recluse.
Contrary to popular belief, they are here and becoming more common each year.

My brother-in-law's brother died due to complications from an amputated arm caused by a recluse bite.
He was bitten under a house while doing plumbing work in Benton County.

Cousin in Washington (Silver Point) nearly lost his right arm after a Recluse bite on his elbow. They can be VERY dangerous!

- Jay

 

[yanmars]

I am not sure if it is a copperhead, looks more like a no head.
Additionally I always thought the coral snake was one of the most venomous snakes there is, there is another non-venomous snake that looks like a coral snake. Colors in a different pattern .

 

[Looking4new]

Additionally I always thought the coral snake was one of the most venomous snakes there is, there is another non-venomous snake that looks like a coral snake. Colors in a different pattern .

For the American coral snake;
Red next to yellow kill a fellow. ( coral snake )
Red next to black friend of Jack ( king snake )

 

[txdon]

Her is a pic of my yard coral snake. It is in the process of shedding it's skin this spring. It is very poisonous but not aggressive like a copperhead. I like coral snakes because I have seen one eating a copperhead.

 

[big bubba]

Her is a pic of my yard coral snake. It is in the process of shedding it's skin this spring. It is very poisonous but not aggressive like a copperhead. I like coral snakes because I have seen one eating a copperhead.

very interesting info. didn't realize they predated on other snakes like the king snake. have read although very poisonous, their heads are very small and they almost chew their prey. to a human, this means between the fingers or toes. never encountered one....thx for the info & image.

 

[Looking4new]

I heard that Coral snakes like to live in old wood piles. I don't have any first hand experience, but a friend in Florida whose place I was helping to clean up about 40 years ago told me.