King snake taking care of a copperhead

[woodchuckc]

I have read that king snakes like to make a meal of poisonous snakes like copperheads, but have never witnessed it in person until this past Friday. I was putting my dog in her pen (about 20 yards behind the house) Friday evening when I saw what looked like a balled up black snake near her pen - I just assumed that the dog had found it earlier and killed it. I walked over to it and this is what I saw:



Close up:



The copperhead was dead, and I thought the king snake was also until I poked it with a stick and it moved. That king snake had its work cut out for it, as I would estimate the copperhead was well over 2' long and as big around as the king snake, which I would estimate was 3' to 3 1/2' long. He had the head and a couple of inches of the copperhead swallowed, but had a long way to go. I left them be after taking a few pictures, and when I went out Saturday morning they were gone so I guess the king snake finally got him taken care of.

I've always been a live and let live kind of guy when it comes to snakes (except for the 3 copperheads and 1 rattlesnake that I dispatched in the dog pen and yard immediately around the house the last few years), but my wife is not a big fan of any snake. I think having seen this king snake taking care of business with the copperhead has increased her tolerance level, at least for king snakes!

 

[TripleR]

Thanks for posting very interesting.

Like you, we leave snakes alone unless they are poisonous and in our yard near the house. My son found a beautiful banded King Snake by the kids' pool and he got some nice pictures of it.

 

[Car Doc]

That's amazing pics and goes to show a person never is done with their education and snakes dont think about how big a meal is before hand! I was fortunate enough to catch a garden snake eating a huge toad by my wood shed. I thought it was a freak of nature until I looked closer and it had a toad in its mouth.

 

[MoKelly]

OMG! Sorry, but if I saw that in my yard I would be frozen stiff. I am soooo afraid of snakes. Not sure why --- but I am. Thank goodness both of my boys are not afraid so I am well protected.

MoKelly

 

[KPark]

Nice pics! Glad you got the opportunity to see it. Makes me like king snakes a bit more.

 

[dmccarty]

We have only seen three Copperheads at our place but we should have tons of them. My dad killed one and I ran over the another with the truck. I was going to kill the snake with a 2x4 that was in the bed of the truck, which I thought was pretty stupid, when I could just run the danged thing over. :laughing::laughing::laughing: The third one I saw working on the tractor and the snake ran up a mound of spoil dirt I was moving. The mound was covered in high grass and there was no way I was going looking for a poisonous snake that was at the level of my face hiding in the grass. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

I leave even the Copperheads alone as long as they are away from the house. We do have quite a few black snakes, and at least one, is 6+ feet long. I think the black snakes are keeping the Copperhead population under control.

Man, I am jealous of the photos of the snake eating the snake and toad. Those are great photos. Car Doc's photo with the toad and snake looking at the camera might win a wildlife photo contest. The NC Wildlife magazine has a contest every year and if I had photos like these I would enter them in the contest.

Later,
Dan

 

[creekbend]

Thanks for posting. The photos were Great. I have only seen Copperheads and CottonMouths around here. I don't worry about any snakes in our 1 acre yard that is fenced in. Our two outside dogs take care of anything that enters. There was a dead Turkey Buzzard in the yard not long ago. It must have flown off course. Thanks again for posting.

 

[cqaigy2]

Thanks for the great pict!

 

[Buckgnarly]

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That's amazing pics and goes to show a person never is done with their education and snakes dont think about how big a meal is before hand! I was fortunate enough to catch a garden snake eating a huge toad by my wood shed. I thought it was a freak of nature until I looked closer and it had a toad in its mouth.

Wow! Was the toad still alive? Our dogs spit out toads, wonder if it tasted bad to the snake?

 

[murphy1244]

Thanks for the neat photos