Is this a copperhead?

[motherofmolly]

yup watersnake. we have them here. we have quite a few smaller ones, but had to get rid of the larger one. he was too big and freaking out the kids and the dog. i am not one to just kill something to kill it, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. moving it was not an option.

 

[20736]

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.


We just don't cotton to no serpent round these here parts.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Hind-Sight is 20/20 and there seem to be a good number of armchair authorities here at the moment spouting righteous indignation...what was done was done.


......the kids are not injured (that is what is important) and a lesson is learned.


I see nothing wrong here....

 

[Joe.G]

I am pretty sure that it is a northern/eastern water snake, they can be nasty but they are not venomous.

 

[themadchicken]

you didn't let it go to waist did you? if you kill it then you should eat it. i hear they tasted pretty darn good on a BBQ. TASTE LIKE CHICKEN!!!

 

[HEChicken]

Even venomous snakes have their place and deserve respect. Try teaching the kids to avoid rather than indiscriminately killing things you don't know what they are.

I agree.... killing something just because it's there... that's just wrong.

x2. I have a corn snake which is a type of rat snake that looks almost identical to that in terms of size and markings. My guess would be that snake was completely harmless but even if it wasn't, I believe its better for us to learn to move around them in their environment than indiscriminately kill anything we come across that we fear or just don't like.

 

[Joe.G]

I do understand why you would kill a snake if you thought it was a copper head, if you have those kinds of snakes around you I would get a chart that shows the different kinds around you so you know what is what when you come across one.

 

[CariLynn]

I was never one for killing anything...but when my Siberian Husky got bit in the face by a cotton mouth...a good snake is a dead snake. I can identify most of the good snakes here in Virginia, I turn the other way when it is a black snake or our small dirt snakes or the very pretty and soft snakes that are a steel grey and pink in color that eat earth worms and slugs.

I would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to children and a snake that may or may not be poisonous.

 

[chefchick]

Sorry- But I would have done the same thing her daughter did. The snake coiled and didn't move and there were small children around. She felt they were in danger. Funny how some people can say to shoot shovel and shut up when it comes to dogs around our chickens, but we are supposed to leave the snakes around our children alone.....It doesn't sound like she killed it for the sake of killing it. She was protecting her kids,so lets give her a break.

 

[flewdacoop]

not a copper heat its a water snake