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Identify This Snake

CamoCachers

By CamoCachers
in General geocaching topics

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Posted
Posted
Found this looking for an Altiods box: Log Page

 

This one crawled right by my bare leg and curled up in the weeds next to a creek.  Heebie-jeebies!  Looked like a copperhead or a maybe fat watersnake.  Took a few pictures along with a DNF and after I got home and loaded the hi-res images, I saw the vertical pupils.  Copperhead.

Hard to tell what that snake is from the photo...but I can tell it's not a Copperhead. It's too dark. Copperheads are a very colorful snake. Here is a picture of one. Copperhead

 

El Diablo

I'd have to agree with El D, definatly not a copper head. The tail gives it away as a common watersnake. Notice how quickly the tail gets skinny. Almost looks like a half inflated ballon.

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SteveDex

+SteveDex

Posted
Posted
Found this looking for an Altiods box: Log Page

 

This one crawled right by my bare leg and curled up in the weeds next to a creek.  Heebie-jeebies!  Looked like a copperhead or a maybe fat watersnake.  Took a few pictures along with a DNF and after I got home and loaded the hi-res images, I saw the vertical pupils.  Copperhead.

Hard to tell what that snake is from the photo...but I can tell it's not a Copperhead. It's too dark. Copperheads are a very colorful snake.

 

El Diablo

The picture is deceiving the colors didn't come through well. I've seen smaller (2') copperheads that have a tan background and a "red" head. The older ones can lose that tan color and get darker and their colors will have less contrast and may even look dirty. This one was an old booger ~3' and as big around as my wrist. Cooked, it would have fed four adults!

 

At first I though that it might have been a northern watersnake but knew that a snake in Kentucky patterned like that could also be a darker copperhead. The darker variations will still retain the brown color around their lower jaw but still only the experts can be sure.

 

One big clue is the hourglass shaped bands and that tells you it's safe not to mess with it regardless. But if you can see that it's pupils have vertical slits then it is venomous. I didn't want to get that close (that pic was using the 3X zoom) but looking at the blowups there's no doubt about the vertical slits in its eyes.

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El Diablo

+El Diablo

Posted
Posted (edited)
Found this looking for an Altiods box: Log Page

 

This one crawled right by my bare leg and curled up in the weeds next to a creek.  Heebie-jeebies!  Looked like a copperhead or a maybe fat watersnake.  Took a few pictures along with a DNF and after I got home and loaded the hi-res images, I saw the vertical pupils.  Copperhead.

Hard to tell what that snake is from the photo...but I can tell it's not a Copperhead. It's too dark. Copperheads are a very colorful snake. Here is a picture of one. Copperhead

 

El Diablo

I'd have to agree with El D, definatly not a copper head. The tail gives it away as a common watersnake. Notice how quickly the tail gets skinny. Almost looks like a half inflated ballon.

I'm not quite sure now. It intriqued me, so I did a lot of research. The tail is normal for a Copperhead from several pics I've seen. Also I blew the photo up as mush as possible, and there appears to be a pit hole located between the eye and the nose which would make it a pit viper ie; a Copperhead.

 

El Diablo

Edited by El Diablo
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Jeep5

+Jeep5

Posted
Posted

A snake I almost stepped on while caching here.

I am not sure what it is. It is not listed as a native snake of northern Alabama. He measured between 8 and 10 feet long. There are no rattles on the tail, even though the picture does not show it.

 

accd5246-f05c-4564-b879-6a236afd44d2.jpg

 

6730bfd3-d443-4127-81c9-f2444fe72385.jpg

 

Does anyone know what it is? I showed the pic to a couple of local guys, (I am not from the area, I was there on business), and they didn't think it was native either.

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El Diablo

+El Diablo

Posted
Posted

Interesting. The only 2 non-posinous snakes that I know that grow to that length is the banded water snake, and the king snake. I don't believe that it's a Banded water snake, so I have to go with a King snake. Typically they are banded, but not always. I'll admit it's the first time I've ever seen a snake with those markings.

 

There are over 200 species of water snakes. Was this near water?

 

El Diablo

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PyroDave

PyroDave

Posted
Posted

I for one screem like a girl when i see snakes but I couldnt bring my self to kill one unless i real had to. Snakes play a vital role in the ecosystem mostly in rodent control. Personaly id rather see a snake cross my path and kno it might eat a potenolay desease carrieing rodent then to kill it and have desease spread cause of a population spike of rodents.

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SteveDex

+SteveDex

Posted
Posted
A snake I almost stepped on while caching here.

I am not sure what it is. It is not listed as a native snake of northern Alabama. He measured between 8 and 10 feet long. There are no rattles on the tail, even though the picture does not show it.

 

Does anyone know what it is? I showed the pic to a couple of local guys, (I am not from the area, I was there on business), and they didn't think it was native either.

Because of wide color variation within the same species, snake identification is difficult unless you have tell-tale signs like pits under the nostril, vertical pupil slits or a swollen foot. ;)

 

Your snake looks very much like a rat snake. Many have long stripes on their sides and belly and a blotchy pattern on top just like yours. Rat snakes can get the length you described and they are non-venomous.

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Apple Dumpling Gangg

+Apple Dumpling Gangg

Posted
Posted

We used to catch garter snakes all the time when I was a kid. My mother taught us how, and I've since taught my kids (I'm the mom). I taught the kids how to identify the common snakes in the area before I taught them how to safely and gently catch them so as not to hurt the snake. If there is a ring racer or garter snake in the area, my oldest son will find it and catch it. I like having garter snakes around because they keep the rodent population under control. :laughing:

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George1

+George1

Posted
Posted

Last year I was caching here in Central PA. I had just found the cache in a pretty remote area. As I was headed back out I was trying the track back with my GPS. I was not really paying attention to where I was going. I almost stepped on this little guy. It was not aggressive and provided me with quite a few nice pictures. The owner of the cache saw the picture and modified his cache to let people know there were rattle snakes in the area.

 

23922317-M.jpg

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Jeep5

+Jeep5

Posted
Posted

<There are over 2.00 species of water snakes. Was this near water?>

 

Sorry about the late reply. I have been travelling a bit.

 

This guy was at the top of a ridge, there was a small stream about a half mile from where I took the pic. There was no sign of any body of water near there.

 

He certainly got my attention!

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Airmapper

+Airmapper

Posted
Posted (edited)
A snake I almost stepped on while caching here.

I am not sure what it is. It is not listed as a native snake of northern Alabama. He measured between 8 and 10 feet long. There are no rattles on the tail, even though the picture does not show it.

 

accd5246-f05c-4564-b879-6a236afd44d2.jpg

 

6730bfd3-d443-4127-81c9-f2444fe72385.jpg

 

Does anyone know what it is? I showed the pic to a couple of local guys, (I am not from the area, I was there on business), and they didn't think it was native either.

Stevedex is right. This looks a lot like a member of the rat snake family to me, because of the flat belly and rounded top half. The way he has himself crinkled up like that also suggests a rat snake. It may be an "Intergrade" between a Grey and a Yellow rat snake. Both live in N. Alabama.

 

Edit to fix sloppy typing.

Edited by Airmapper
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Snow Birds

+Snow Birds

Posted
Posted

Where I winter in Arizona, there are 9 different kinds of rattlesnakes. I read an article down there about them and it claimed that 90% of all rattlesnake bites reported were incurred while trying to kill the snake!

 

I realize that in some cases, it has to be done, but...given the chance, I'm going to let it go it's merry way!

 

I have found that if I stand too close, and the snake still feels threatened, it will maintain it's position, poised to attack. If I back away, at a certain point, the snake will feel that it has a chance to escape, and will do so. Just be careful not to back into another snake! I did that once and found myself surrounded by no less than 6 rattlers! It still makes my hair stand on end!

 

Imagine being faced by a wolf, or some other dangerous animal. You have a single shot shotgun that you can use if you have to, knowing that you only get one shot, and the wolf is just out of range! As long as the wolf is within a certain distance, you will be frozen, knowing that you can't escape. If it comes closer, you will blast him to smithereens! But, once the wolf moves far enough away that you can safely sprint to your door, and out of range of your shotgun, most smart people will sprint to safety!

 

I was playing golf with a friend in Biloxi, MS many years ago. At one water hazard, my friend lost his ball in the tall grass. I waited for him to retreive it when all of a sudden he was flailing the ground with his 3 iron, clumps of grass and mud flying up in the air! He had come across a large water mocassin and beat it to death. He wasn't about to give up that golf ball! :blink:

 

One water hazard had an alligator that would patrol the hazard, listening for the splash of a golf ball. He/she would then rush over and eat the ball. You could actually hear the golf ball pop when he bit down on it!

 

But...I'm getting off the subject now!

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Jc4199

+Jc4199

Posted
Posted

I grew up hating snakes. I went to Boy Scout camp and the guys in the nature area had a pet boa and hog nose snake. After about 2 weeks I could handle them. In our high school bio classes we had 3 snakes a hog nose and two boas. I got to bring one home for the summer. My senior year in school I had one of the boas on my arm and some jerk off came up and yanked on its tail. The snake nicked me on the hand with its fang. I was not mad at the snake but wanted to kill the kid that pulled his tail. Sad to say the school made my teacher kill the snake.

Snakes are cool as long as you don't surprise them.

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