Snake ID Help

[KJQ6945]

It is a garter snake just like these from earlier in the week.

 

[bobjones223]

It is a garter snake just like these from earlier in the week.

That is what I was thinking also.

We saw one on the property last week and my daughter spent and hour trying to find it so she could catch it, hold it, and pet it! Not all little girls scream when they see one, just the full grown man type little girls...LOL

 

[Woobie]

Wow, those are some nice size garters! Free pest control

 

[thunderchicken]

That is what I was thinking also.

We saw one on the property last week and my daughter spent and hour trying to find it so she could catch it, hold it, and pet it! Not all little girls scream when they see one, just the full grown man type little girls...LOL

Hahaha. Just for the record, I don't scream when I see one. But typically seeing one induces a jump back reaction...similar to what some people do when they see a mouse

 

[rw02kr43]

I don't like them at all either. This past week I was giving away a huge engine hoist that had been sitting outside for a while. I towed it up to the front of the house. Then took it off the hitch. As I set it down a short little copperhead came out from the hitch area. I didn't like that at all. I'm almost afraid to go hike anymore cause of all the reports of copperheads and rattlesnakes.

Jason

 

[bobjones223]

Hahaha. Just for the record, I don't scream when I see one. But typically seeing one induces a jump back reaction...similar to what some people do when they see a mouse

Last year we launched the boat at Summit Lake and saw a 2'-3' water snake hanging out around the ramp. While I was parking the truck she set about to catching it. When I got back she had it and stated "He bit me three times but I still got him!".

She had a finger that has sprung a red leak but she was all SMILES!.

The guys that know my daughter has already told me "It is going to take a hell of a man to keep up with your daughter!"...Makes me think I am doing something right!!!

 

[Spike Jones 5 2002]

I am inclined to agree with your buddy. Around home if I see a snake it quickly loses it's head when I get my shovel or garden hoe. In the woods they usually get a shot of .357 or whatever caliber I may have that day. I don't even like seeing them behind glass

People wonder why their house or area is loaded with rats and mice. rats and mice destroy anything and everything included people. rats and mice pee and poo uncontrollably. so they leave their unseen Disease marker on everything including food.

snakes are the number consumer of rats and mice. they crawl into the burrows and eat them.
If you find a snake in your house. that means there smell rats and mice in there.

90% of poisonous snakes have a triangle head or like they say in Boy Scouts arrow head, and you do not want to be hit by an arrow.
The only poisonous snake that looks like an nonpoisonous snake is a corral snake.
it is like a stop light, when the light changes from yellow to red, YOU STOP.
When the snake's color goes from yellow to red, STOP and do not touch.

 

[WebSnyper]

Intuitively, I know that most of them are harmless. At a gut level, I can't stand to be around them.

Me too. I grew up in Florida, so everything there wants to eat you. I was constantly fishing and around lakes, etc, but kept a watchful eye and was always afraid of them as down there many are poisonous. Here I wade into places I would not have gone in FL.

Like you, I know most here are harmless and that they are good for rodent control, etc, but I just can't shake that fear. I don't want to actively seek them out for sure.

 

[oldpink]

People wonder why their house or area is loaded with rats and mice. rats and mice destroy anything and everything included people. rats and mice pee and poo uncontrollably. so they leave their unseen Disease marker on everything including food.

snakes are the number consumer of rats and mice. they crawl into the burrows and eat them.
If you find a snake in your house. that means there smell rats and mice in there.

90% of poisonous snakes have a triangle head or like they say in Boy Scouts arrow head, and you do not want to be hit by an arrow.
The only poisonous snake that looks like an nonpoisonous snake is a corral snake.
it is like a stop light, when the light changes from yellow to red, YOU STOP.
When the snake's color goes from yellow to red, STOP and do not touch.

100% right about how beneficial snakes are for vermin control, something that also applies with members of the weasel family, which includes (here in IN) weasels, mink, and otters, and (sadly very rarely) badgers.
Even if it's a venomous snake, I leave them alone unless absolutely necessarily.
We don't have Coral snakes anywhere in the state, but to clarify what you were talking about, they can be confused with the harmless and beneficial Kingsnake.
The old saying for instantly differentiating between the venomous (but still not very dangerous due to being rather shy and having short and weak fangs) Coral snake snake from the non-venomous Kingsnake goes like this: Red touch fellow, kill a fellow. Red touch black, good for Jack.

Kingsnake (red touch black) -

Coral snake (red touch yellow) -

 

[Hkindiana]

I don't like them at all either. This past week I was giving away a huge engine hoist that had been sitting outside for a while. I towed it up to the front of the house. Then took it off the hitch. As I set it down a short little copperhead came out from the hitch area. I didn't like that at all. I'm almost afraid to go hike anymore cause of all the reports of copperheads and rattlesnakes.

Jason

MOST people who claim to have seen a copperhead will always say it was "short and little", or a "baby". What they are USUALLY seeing is a young black snake which looks a little like a copperhead, or just a garter snake.

 

[oldpink]

MOST people who claim to have seen a copperhead will always say it was "short and little", or a "baby". What they are USUALLY seeing is a young black snake which looks a little like a copperhead, or just a garter snake.

Yep
A real Copperhead has a triangular head and vertical slit eyes instead of round pupils the way that Garters and Black snakes have.

 

[Woobie]

100% right about how beneficial snakes are for vermin control, something that also applies with members of the weasel family, which includes (here in IN) weasels, mink, and otters, and (sadly very rarely) badgers.
Even if it's a venomous snake, I leave them alone unless absolutely necessarily.
We don't have Coral snakes anywhere in the state, but to clarify what you were talking about, they can be confused with the harmless and beneficial Kingsnake.
The old saying for instantly differentiating between the venomous (but still not very dangerous due to being rather shy and having short and weak fangs) Coral snake snake from the non-venomous Kingsnake goes like this: Red touch fellow, kill a fellow. Red touch black, good for Jack.

Kingsnake (red touch black) -

Coral snake (red touch yellow) -

Dad always said "Red and yellow will kill a fellow. Red and black is a friend to Jack."

 

[thunderchicken]

People wonder why their house or area is loaded with rats and mice. rats and mice destroy anything and everything included people. rats and mice pee and poo uncontrollably. so they leave their unseen Disease marker on everything including food.

snakes are the number consumer of rats and mice. they crawl into the burrows and eat them.
If you find a snake in your house. that means there smell rats and mice in there.

90% of poisonous snakes have a triangle head or like they say in Boy Scouts arrow head, and you do not want to be hit by an arrow.
The only poisonous snake that looks like an nonpoisonous snake is a corral snake.
it is like a stop light, when the light changes from yellow to red, YOU STOP.
When the snake's color goes from yellow to red, STOP and do not touch.

Oh, I am clear on the positive impact they have and how to identity venomous from non venomous and I have never let them keep me from enjoying the outdoors. And I will usually just steer clear but sometimes they get too close for comfort

 

[oldpink]

Oh, I am clear on the positive impact they have and how to identity venomous from non venomous and I have never let them keep me from enjoying the outdoors. And I will usually just steer clear but sometimes they get too close for comfort

I thought you said that you decapitate any that you see around the house and blast any that you see in the woods.
Surely, not all of them are getting so close as to be deemed imminent threats.

 

[thunderchicken]

I thought you said that you decapitate any that you see around the house and blast any that you see in the woods.
Surely, not all of them are getting so close as to be deemed imminent threats.

I don't recall saying it quite like that. Yes around the house they get decapitated unless they get away before I get back with a shovel or garden hoe. And in the woods/ around lakes, I have seen more at a bit of a distance or in the water that I never messed with. When they are too close for comfort for me, wife, kids or my hunting dog then yes they get blasted. Oh and for the record sometimes just steering clear is out of necessity (maybe due to location or other reasons)

 

[oldpink]

I don't recall saying it quite like that. Yes around the house they get decapitated unless they get away before I get back with a shovel or garden hoe. And in the woods/ around lakes, I have seen more at a bit of a distance or in the water that I never messed with. When they are too close for comfort for me, wife, kids or my hunting dog then yes they get blasted. Oh and for the record sometimes just steering clear is out of necessity (maybe due to location or other reasons)

Okay, but exactly why kill all snakes you see around the house?
As was already mentioned above, they're excellent at vermin control, and they're -- you know -- harmless.

 

[thunderchicken]

Mostly because like any species if left alone they tend to over populate. A little creek runs behind my house, when you start seeing them you start seeing a lot of them. So, I draw a proverbial line in the sand and if seen away from the creek/wooded area on the back of the property they gotta go. Have I mentioned. I hate snakes? They stay away from me, I will do what I can to stay away from them. But thankfully God put us higher on the food chain

 

[oldpink]

 

[KJQ6945]

Here you go Thunder chicken, one is your friend one might not be. GO!

 

[KJQ6945]

Know your targets, and if your not in danger step away. It will make you a better gun owner also.