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Thread: Snake Identification please?

  1. #1

    Default Snake Identification please?

    Hey everyone.

    I found this snake in my drain grate striking at my dog.
    It's a good snake now, good and dead! But I'm worried that it's a copper head, and where there is one copper head, there are more.
    My fool Neighbor has piled Palm Fronds around our drainage grate, and I think there might be a nest of copper heads in there.
    I was worried about my dogs, but he has teenage kids, and yipper dogs.

    snake1.jpgsnake2.jpg
    Don't run, you'll only die tired!


  2. #2

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    looks like a copperhead to me

  3. #3
    Senior Member wholsomback's Avatar
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    x2 copperhead

  4. #4
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    Careful getting that thing out, it can still kill ya.

    I saw that guy Billy the Exterminator using some sort of natural garlic spray on an episode to keep snakes out of a yard, might want to check into something like that.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Daniel Nighteyes's Avatar
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    +3 Copperhead, +1 on the "careful getting that thing out..."

  6. #6
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    While a poisonous snake is not a good thing to have around the term "good = dead" snake is a little disconcerting to me. Snakes, like bats, serve an extremely important function in the ecosystem. To me, a "good" snake is one that's alive and healthy and living it's life eating mice and rats. I'm not suggesting you shouldn't have killed it. Safety first and always. Just don't want others thinking all "good" snakes are dead snakes.
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    It does appear to be a copperhead. From what little I know of them, they are perhaps the most aggressive venomous snake in North America. That being said, I tend to let any snake alone with these few exceptions; 1) a snake which must be captured and used for positive identification after an envenomation event; 2) a non-native or invasive specie (ie pythons in Florida); 3) a venomous snake which "resides" too close to a residence (here my preference is the relocation of the animal). Virtually all large native snakes provide rodent control which far exceeds any perceived risk of being bitten. The same cannot be said for many of the "introduced" species now establishing feral populations in the far southeastern US.

  8. #8
    Resident Wildman Wildthang's Avatar
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    Yep it's a copperhead! I found the biggest copperhead I have ever seen below a lilac bush last year. I caught him and brought it into the house and showed it to the girls. you would have thought I was holding a nuclear bomb! I took him to a wooded area a couple of miles away, and let him go!

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wildthang View Post
    Yep it's a copperhead! I found the biggest copperhead I have ever seen below a lilac bush last year. I caught him and brought it into the house and showed it to the girls. you would have thought I was holding a nuclear bomb! I took him to a wooded area a couple of miles away, and let him go!
    Awesome. A few years back I caught the biggest bullfrog I had ever seen. I broke into my friends apartment and put it in her toilet. That was hilarious
    Go Dawgs

  10. #10

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    I agree with the benefits of snakes; but the way I discovered this copperhead was, It was striking at Lola!

    016.jpg004.jpg

    This copperhead posed a very real danger, it was striking, and it was no easy feat calling Lola off it, I actually had to come between Lola and it, and spank her butt to get her to disengage.

    I haven't decided if I'll call the city on my neighbor, since I believe he's created a hazard with piling the Palm Frond in our drainage grate. I tried to talk to him last night since I thought we should tear that pile apart to make sure there are no more snakes in there. He was either intoxicated, or just unresponsive at the door.
    Last edited by jcullen24; 05-06-2012 at 12:57 PM.
    Don't run, you'll only die tired!

  11. #11

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    I don't kill snakes as a general rule.

    If you see a snake and you are not sure what kind it is. Just go around it. Give it some room and you'll be fine. Watch where you walk and definitely where you kneel and place your hands. Most leather boots will stop a bite. But, even snake boots or leggings won't help if you kneel into a diamondback while wrapping your climbing stand up at the base of the tree in the palmettos. Same thing goes for picking up fire wood, watch where you stick your hands. Never stick your hands in a hole. Even if you saw what went in there. That doesn't mean that is all that is in there.

    If you are bitten stay calm. The odds are GREATLY in your favor.

    Don't waste valuable time trying to kill the snake and don't ever capture try and capture the snake live. Nobody who is going to be involved wants you risking more people getting bitten! The only time you should bring the snake is if you can safely kill it with out wasting any time or working yourself up in doing so. Like you get bit and immediately dispatch it with your walking stick. The fangs are hypodermic needles with an easy to squeeze delivery system. Don't risk envenomation from a dead snake! You could also just snap a picture of the snake.

    We had a guy unfamiliar with snakes who was bitten by a green mamba. They were able to diagnose and treat a snake that shouldn't exist on this continent in the wild by the guys description of a snake he saw briefly. They also used the symptoms of the bite.

    Stay calm and get to medical attention as quickly as safety allows you to. Call ahead and give them all the information you have. Look at the time and monitor the bite area. I carry a small sharpie marker for this purpose. Mark the affected area and mark its expansion over timed increments. This allows them to know how much venom was actually delivered.

    It really helps to know the snakes in your area. But, in North America as far as I can tell you are only going to get Crofab for any native snake except coral snakes or sea crates. They no longer produce anti-venom for coral snakes. So, you'll be life support and symptom treatment only. The amount of crofab they administer will be based on the symptoms. While I think crofab is a 3rd generation anti-venom it still can cause allergic reactions and necrosis. That is why it is so important to monitor the spread of the inflammation with a marker of even photos with your phone if you don't have a marker. Because you want as little of the anti-venom as possible to prevent other problems. Also, the stuff is expensive!

  12. #12
    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    Yea, there's some good in every person and snakes need love too, just not from me!

    I have the lack of ability to identify the positive or negitive intent of a snake until it is dead.

    Kill them all, let God sort 'em out. He doesn't like them either.

    Pass the A-1 please.
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    Of course God likes snakes.

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    I killed a water mocassin less than 15 feet from my backporch last nite. The cats alerted the dog who alerted me. I couldn't even see it till I got close enough. This is in an area I walk often and really don't think twice about snakes.

    Yes snakes have their place, that place is over yonder not in my space!

  15. #15
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Along with what Batch said, don't forget to remove any jewelry below the bite so swelling doesn't impact the limb. Remember that snakes use venom as a primary means of capturing food. It's very possible that even if bitten you would not be envenomated either because the snake had recently fed or because they didn't inject venom. Or you were only slightly envenomated. There is a muscle at the rear of the venom gland in most snakes called the compressor muscle. Most have the option of biting without injecting venom if they choose.
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  16. #16

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    Rick, good catch I forgot to mention that. I kept trying to whittle down my post. I get long winded. LOL

    One of the reasons you don't typically apply a tourniquet is to allow the hemotoxin to dissipate. Remove all restrictive clothing and accessories.

  17. #17
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    I was always told to wrap in ice, like a trash bag filled with ice. I don't know why or if it's true or not.

  18. #18
    Senior Member RandyRhoads's Avatar
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    No ice, no tourniquet. Try not to move call for help and keep it below your heart. Copperheads aren't particularly aggressive, and there venom is very mild compared to other venomous snakes.

  19. #19
    Senior Member Stairman's Avatar
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    I kill poisonous snakes period! Never non poisonous and yes thats a Copperhead.

  20. #20
    Resident Wildman Wildthang's Avatar
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    I would think good advice on snakes would be this:

    1. If you know how to safely capture and relocate poisenous snakes, that is what you should do!

    2. If you dont know how to capture and relocate poisenous snakes, and there is one in your yard, and posing danger to your children, animals etc., killing it makes sense. Most people are much better at killing them than capturing them.

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