And the easiest way to distinguish between venomous/non-venomous is simple education. There are 4 types of venomous snakes in the US - 3 (rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, and copperheads) are pit vipers possessing heat sensing labial pits on the snout. Nothing else really looks like rattlers or copperheads out there, though plenty of non-venomous snakes will rapidly shake their tails when feeling threatened to deter predators. Cottonmouths can be a little tricky since there are so many species of water snake out there too, and they're all meaner than hell and more than willing to stand and fight if given the chance. Cottonmouths generally don't want to bite, and the threat display of a gaping mouth is just that. The best way to tell the difference is that cottonmouths will have a distinct and thinner neck whereas water snakes necks and heads seem to be one. They (cottonmouths) also have a dark band running through their eye and aren't quite as tapered as water snakes, though the latter will puff and flatten themselves out in a defense display. Coral snakes make up the forth group, and they're the only terrestrial elapids in North America. Their venom is extremely potent, being of the same family as cobras and mambas, but they are uber secretive, possess tiny fangs, and the chances of being bitten by one are astronomically small, even if you're harassing the snake like an idiot. Red on yellow kill a fellow - easy as that.
While we're on the topic, these snakes are venomous not poisonous - venom is injected while poison is ingested. Just a pet peeve of mine.
Not ideal, but us Human Exposure/Rodent Potency enthusiasts just use this site now. http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cpdb/herp.html
This was in my parents yard today.... What is this devil snake?? My mom bashed its brains out with a shovel and did the the lords work as he would have wanted.
What an accurate and informative post. Thanks Pelican I might add that pit vipers (water moccasins and rattlesnakes are in this group) have quite distinctive diamond headed shapes when you look at them from above. The head shapes are so distinctive that it doesn't take much to differentiate a moccasin from a rat snake or whatever. My rule is poisonous snakes get killed with enthusiasm, and non poisonous snakes get relocated to a strategic spot where they will do the best hunting. But also, Ive been privy to the rule of wild cats, which eat all snakes with gusto. Im probably team cats in that scenario.
I mentioned before I met a guy who used to bodybuild and got bitten by a recluse spider in NJ fucked him up for years. Never was the same. Also on rt 86 in NY. There's a rest area that's infested with timber snakes. There's a fence 15 yards from the pavement that has signs posted to not touch the fence. Fucks you up when the few portapotty are full and you need to piss. I fucking booked it back to the pavement when I saw that. I googled it FU!!!
I was always taught to look at head shape from the top as well. Venomous snakes will carry the venom in their head forcing them to have a wider face while non-venomous snakes typically look much more streamlined and thin in the face.
It's clearly not, but the ignorant will believe what they want to. Regards, Also lives in Alabama and knows more about snakes than you do.
No, it wasn't. Copperheads have a distinctive hourglass pattern. The one in the picture is, as Owsley said, a canebrake.
My maternal grandparents are from a small east Texas town near the Louisiana border, called Jasper. The area is coral snake central. Literally, every time I'd go visit as a kid, we would find one in the yard or a neighbor would bring a dead one over for us to look at. My grandparents would always hammer into our heads "red, yellow, black - stay way back." This was a saying to help distinguish the corals -- which, as you know, are made up of red, yellow and black stripes, in that order -- from a king snake, which has red, black and yellow stripes, in that order. The snakes (which also included cottonmouths, copperheads, and a couple of species of rattlesnake) were so bad in the area that everyone in the neighborhood, my grandparents included, would line the exterior of their homes with mothballs, which serve as a decent snake repellent.
My GOAT snake story: When I was a sophomore in college, some buddies and I were driving down to St. Simons/Jacksonville for the Georgia/Florida game. We left midweek and decided to stop off and spend the night at a friend's ranch in South Georgia to hang out and maybe do some hunting. Instead, I got really drunk and decided to cruise the property on a four-wheeler. While riding, I cam across a nearly 6' eastern diamondback stretched across a trail. It had a giant lump in its upper neck area and was moving very sluggishly. I had a shotgun with a slug on the back of the 4 wheeler, but in my 19-year old drunken stupor I decided that shooting it would ruin the skin, keeping which had become goal #1. I also assumed it wouldn't be able to strike very effectively due to what appeared to be an animal carcass probably 8 inches into its throat. I started by grabbing it by the tail and slinging it into the middle of the trail so it couldn't get away and then I beat the shit out of it with a long stick. Once it appeared unconscious, I bashed it in the head with the butt of my gun. After having some fun with the carcass (which included coiling it up in the bathroom we were using and later dropping it in front of my friend who had eaten mushrooms), I skinned it and removed freshly skilled squirrel from it. I had a great picture of me holding the carcass in one hand and the squirrel by the tail in the other. Unfortunately, this was pre-iphones and I haven't been able to find the photo in several years. Still have the skin hanging in my parents garage. Side note -- I am huge pussy when it comes to a lot of things, primarily heights. But for whatever reason, I am not scared of handling dangerous animals (except sharks, which terrify me).
For cotton mouths vs just normal mud snakes in the water- the cotton mouth will swim on top to look scary and haunt your dreams
They've got that deep under channel for their 'belly' that allows them to float better than others..and yes they are downright menacing when you see one swimming to shore..
Yeah I've read a few articles that they're misunderstood, and just pretend to be aggressive- fuck that, most snakes will get up and out of your way. The first move for these guys is to get into the attack position- maybe he wouldn't bite me, but I'm not going to test that theory.
Good thing is it's easy to see them coming- at my hunting camp when I see one swimming across the pond, hurry up get a gun, put a tree between us and walk up to where he's headed- then shoot him when he gets close to land. #NoRegrets
Exactly. These little bastards are my number 1 fear when I'm fishing. Here's the video I was referring to. The guy has much bigger balls than I.
Found a Garter snake Monday afternoon in my front bushes. I also slapped a co-worker who told me his F-I-L killed a black snake in his backyard. Also, if you didn't know that large non-venomous snakes eat venomous snakes please retrieve the nearest shovel and cut your own head off. Thanks
Clicking on this thread was one of the worst decisions I've ever made. Reading it all the way through?
I had no idea that large non-venomous snakes eat venomous snakes. Doesn't make much sense honestly unless the NV are just eating baby venomous ones. I mean most of the venomous snakes in the U.S. are larger than the NV ones unless you're talking about pythons and shit
My best friend's parents live out in the woods in NE Alabama and have boston terriers. Some kind of venomous snake got into their pen one day and cause all sorts of problems. It was probably 5ft I'd guess and the two male terriers tried to kill it and keep it away from the rest. They wound up killing it but both died due to bites. This happened while the folks were gone so that was a quite a heartbreaking scene for them to come back to.
A buddy of mine growing up had a Jack Russell Terrier who killed probably a dozen cottonmouths in his day. He also killed neighborhood cats when he got out. Then there's this:
Most King snakes are immune to the venom from the venomous snakes in their region. And King snakes can get big as fuck. Being from NE Georgia we used to catch them all the time. They are actually very docile for the most part compared to others.
Also a friend of mine apparently found a den of these on his hikes near his house. Sounds like hell to me.
One thing I know about snakes: Any snake with "king" in it's title, eats other snakes (king snake, king cobra, etc..)
Indigo snakes are the largest native snakes to the U.S., and they feed on rattlesnakes amongst other things they can overpower.
Standing there while your puppy decides to fight a fucking cobra is a dickhead move. Should throw that snake in bed with them and see how they like it.
I knew King Cobras eat other snakes. Didn't know that about King Snakes though. Had no idea they were immune to venom.
Do any snakes feed on cottonmouths? With the canal on the other side of our fence, that's the one species I'm worried about with my dogs.
Judging from the video, that wasn't his first rodeo. It's from India, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was his job.