Snake trapping

[DieselPower]

You can send all your snakes my way. I love them and import snakes to my property from other peoples property all the time. Almost 0 mouse and vole problems around my place. Relocated a couple good size Copperhead's and Black Snakes last year. Alway's room for more.

 

[BamaRob]

I'm with you, DieselPower. I have a healthy respect for all snakes. A little more for the venomous ones. Here's a couple I caught back in '04:

Kept them in a terrarium for a couple days then released them in the woods behind the house. This discussion comes up almost annually. I understand that some folks just have this need to kill any snake they see. I understand there are folks like that, I just don't understand why. For the most part, snakes are very good to have around (keep the rodent population down). Non-poisonous snake bites are no more harmful than a brier scratch. Treat it with alcohol and triple antibiotic ointment and forget about it. Most victims of poisonous snake bite are bitten while trying to either kill or catch the snake. Don't want to get bitten? Leave them alone. Simple as that.

For those with outside pets and/or small children, I can understand getting rid of poisonous snakes from around the house (kill or relocate). But, in addition to eliminating the danger, I'd encourage you to also use the opportunity to educate. My dad taught me at an early age to definitively know the snakes common to our area. I've taught my boys the same. They know which ones to give plenty of space (copperheads, rattlesnakes, and cotton mouths around home) and which ones are harmless. Even among the non-poisonous snakes, you learn pretty quickly which ones don't mind being handled, which ones will likely bite, which ones are going to exude the musky liquid that you seem to never get washed off, etc.

If it makes you feel better, kill or relocate them. But, it's probably effort in vain. If there's a food/water source there, another will come along to replace the one you got rid of. Remove the food/water and you'll remove any reason for them being there.

Later,
BR

 

[RobJ]

i'll import all the chicken snakes i can. but step on a pit viper and you might change your mind.

can you put a king snake on a leash?

 

[BamaRob]

i'll import all the chicken snakes i can. but step on a pit viper and you might change your mind.

My dad still has the scar on the arch of his foot where he stepped on a copperhead as a kid.

 

[RollingsFarms]

My dad still has the scar on the arch of his foot where he stepped on a copperhead as a kid.

a lady i know that was bitten on the hand by a copperhead about 15 years ago, still has the effects of it from time to time(severe pain, lack of circulation in her hand and lower arm). she was gardening in her flowerbed and the snake was in their unsuspecting to her and got her on the hand. also, a father of a friend of mine who is a cattle rancher was once "hit" in the leg by a 6' rattle snake. he had on chaps, but he said it felt like a GROWN man took an aluminum baseball bat and hit him as hard as he possiblly could in the leg......almost knocked him clean off his feet and for 3 weeks he had a bruise on his lower leg the size of a softball.....remember, this is WITH snake chaps on. loggers that have logged our land have told us we have rattlers that are so big he would put them up against any other peice of land theyve logged from Alabama to VA...and theyve said how big the snakes were theyve seen on our farm. that can be a compliment or it can make you look where youre walking even closer around here.haha those timber rattlers ive seen crossing our dirt road look like a small log in the middle of the road 'til you notice that log is moving slowly.

 

[riptides]

What about dogs? Are the snakes gonna run from dogs - or try to fight them? I believe our kids are old enough not to mess with any snake - but dogs will never be that smart.

Interesting you should bring that up. My dogs have a fairly large run area and they are the ones finding the snakes. It starts off with a barking (snake bark... yes we can hear the difference in their barks...) fit that gets one of us running to the pen. The snake is usually curled and defensive which makes relocation easier.

So far, no dogs have been bitten, but we have a pack (3). The dogs obviously confuse the snake. One on one, I doubt we would have the same results.

-Mike Z.

 

[BamaRob]

(snake bark... yes we can hear the difference in their barks...)

-Mike Z.

Mike,

I recently had a dog (gone missing, don't know where he went) that had a distinctively different bark when he had cornered a snake. When I heard that bark, I knew what it was. Usually, it was a non-poisonous snake, but he did find a couple of copperheads. Interesting thing about this dog is that all he'd do is bark unless I, or one of my family, approached the area. Then, he'd go into attack mode and usually dispatch the snake pretty quickly. He was like this with other animals, too. He cornered an opossum in the back yard late one night. After about 5 minutes of continuous barking (not the snake bark) right under my bedroom window, I grabbed the shotgun and went to investigate. He never even acted like he was going to attack until I got within about 10' of the 'possum. Then, he jumped on it. I really miss that dog.

Later,

BR

 

[sr160009]

One of my uncles beagles was bite on the nose by a copperhead (that is what we think since we did not see it and the the vet told us he though so too by the swelling), his nose swelled up pretty big. The vet gave him a shot and in a couple of days the dog was back to normal. The ventom doesn't seem to be has harmful to a dog as it is to a person.

 

[jinman]

Rob, those are two very nice copperhead pictures, but they do demonstate just how easily a copperhead is camouflaged by its surroundings. Those wood chips would hide the snake if you weren't really looking for it.

I know two people who have been bitten by copperheads, both women. One was my cousin's wife who went into the garden to pick peas right at dusk. she was wearing a pair of flip-flops and got bitten on the heal. The other was a friend's wife who stepped on a copperhead in her driveway about 9 pm on a cool spring night. The snake had crawled up onto the concrete to get warm and was just at the position of the car door.

 

[1bush2hog]

The ventom doesn't seem to be has harmful to a dog as it is to a person.

Not sure I would agree with that statement. I think it has more to do with the amount of venom that is actually injected and the age/health of the dog.

I saw my MIL's dalmation after it was bitten on the jaw by a copperhead. His head swelled and the flesh around the bite area rotted for about a month or so afterwards eventually leaving scars and indentions in the bite area. The dog also developed chronic problems with his nervous/muscular system after the bite. The dog actually attacked the snake, thus the reason he got bit.

I don't hate snakes, but do respect them. I just leave them alone and try to remind others to maintain an awareness when in areas populated by venomous snakes.