Snake Identification

[BigBoxaJunk]

Snakes are cool as long as they don't get all bitey.

The snake in my avatar was named Bitey by my kids. He had a different name when my son got him as a hatchling, but for obvious reasons, he was given the new name. Funny thing was, Bitey mellowed as he matured, and when he was full grown, he was the nicest handling snake we had.

Raising snakes was a fun hobby that I did with my son when he was younger, but we sold most of them years ago. I only have two left (that were supposed to be the kid's pets, but somehow, when the kids moved out, the snakes stayed)

 

[bwframe]

Snakes are cool as long as they don't get all bitey.

Meh... tiny teeth, weak jaws. At least the non-venomous ones.

Right, tell that to my heart attack...

 

[rhino]

Meh... tiny teeth, weak jaws. At least the non-venomous ones.

Ah! Yeah, for the li'l fellers native to Indiana. Ever been bitten by a good sized boa or python?

 

[rhino]

The snake in my avatar was named Bitey by my kids. He had a different name when my son got him as a hatchling, but for obvious reasons, he was given the new name. Funny thing was, Bitey mellowed as he matured, and when he was full grown, he was the nicest handling snake we had.

Raising snakes was a fun hobby that I did with my son when he was younger, but we sold most of them years ago. I only have two left (that were supposed to be the kid's pets, but somehow, when the kids moved out, the snakes stayed)

Seeing little snakes in my yard as a kid was always a treat. Usually it was a garter snake running from the lawnmower!

 

[spencer rifle]

Ah! Yeah, for the li'l fellers native to Indiana. Ever been bitten by a good sized boa or python?

Bit by a 6' black rat snake years ago. The next day I couldn't even find where he bit me.

 

[OkieGirl]

He was in my woods in Owen county, and took an interest in me !

IndyJohn got a glimpse of a smaller version of this while messing around in a stand of pines in Owen County today. I saw a quick glimpse of the tail of a brown snake moving very quickly away from me but nothing I could identify. Looks like Owen County is the place to be for reptiles, yikes!!

 

[Cameramonkey]

Almost got bit by a 4 foot rat snake last week.

Was at a buddy's new house with a wooded backyard to help him run cable . I stepped out the back slider and took two more steps and my buddy behind me started raising hell. I didnt see it move, but he did. It was in the corner where the patio meets the wall under the sliding door frame.

He was plenty warm but not too aggressive. Just enough to chase us a bit to tell us to go away when we tried to use a floor squeegee to convince him to go another direction. He chose to drop into the pit for the basement window... the one under the hole I needed to use to run the cable into the house. Luckilly it was plenty deep so he hung out down there while I did my thing.

 

[MindfulMan]

IndyJohn got a glimpse of a smaller version of this while messing around in a stand of pines in Owen County today. I saw a quick glimpse of the tail of a brown snake moving very quickly away from me but nothing I could identify. Looks like Owen County is the place to be for reptiles, yikes!!

Must be ! Besides snakes, I see a fair quantity of lizards.

 

[gmcttr]

I used to keep snakes a pets and am very protective of them in the wild.

Found a new black rat snake friend a couple of weeks ago just off the yard...

On the other hand, the two of these that I recently found in less than a week died...

Had never seen a black widow spider before in my life and I've lived here for 28 years. One on the trash bin and one on the siding between the garage doors.

 

[rhino]

= bueno

= bueno

= NO BUENO

 

[djones]

Last summer we had the same kind of prairie garter snake eat a large toad in the yard. It took about an hour for the toad to be swallowed. The toad was breathing eyes open the whole time. I wanted to intervene for some reason but resisted the urge.

 

[rhino]

I didn't know garter snakes got that big (using the hose as a reference). That guy is definitely big enough to make a mouse into lunch.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

You can see the toad inflating itself with air as a defense. If the snake is too small it will have to give up and let the toad go. If the snake is large enough, it will eventually get a good enough grip to use it's teeth to puncture the air sacs and deflate the toad.

I happened upon a seen just like in the pic above once, and watched the struggle, with the toad gulping air to get as big as possible, while the snake steadily worked it's jaws one side at a time to get further up on the toad's body. Then, I heard the pop and the air rushed out of the toad and the snake finished swallowing it.

 

[rhino]

You can see the toad inflating itself with air as a defense. If the snake is too small it will have to give up and let the toad go. If the snake is large enough, it will eventually get a good enough grip to use it's teeth to puncture the air sacs and deflate the toad.

What is the toad's INGO username?

Heh heh heh See what I did there?

 

[CindyE]

What is the toad's INGO username?

Heh heh heh See what I did there?

On another note, I found an injured toad in the flower bed yesterday. It was lying on it's back, looked inflated, was red in the groin area and not moving its legs. I wonder if a snake got it? The redness was in the same area that the snake in the picture is biting. I didn't know what to do about the toad so i put it under the deck, so it could at least die in peace, unless it was just temporarily paralyzed from the snake venom?

 

[bwframe]

Daughter seen this in the hedge by her front door...

 

[Wolfhound]

Daughter seen this in the hedge by her front door...

That looks a little like a copperhead to me.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Daughter seen this in the hedge by her front door...

It's banded like a copperhead.

 

[bwframe]

That looks a little like a copperhead to me.

She's pretty convinced it is.

They have a neighbor who has claimed to have killed "dozens of copperheads" this year. Neighbor doesn't look to be the outdoors sort and a LOT of folks think everything that slithers is a copperhead. On top of that, the SIL killed a "copperhead" earlier this year that upon inspection was not.

Without a pic of the head, I was skeptical. The daughter seen the head though and insists it was a triangular shaped pit viper head.


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