Snake identification and removal

[SpottedCrow]

Baby cornsnakes and milksnakes also shake their tails like they're rattling...but they're not venomous...

I've been bitten by both and was attempted to be eaten by an Albino Nelson's Milk Snake...it hurts to be bitten but it won't kill you.

I have a garter that suns on my front steps and on the front bushes...I just say hi and go on my way

 

[arlee453]

Definately not a cotton mouth or hognose. We don't have cotton mouth around here, and hognose flatten their necks out when threatened like a cobra - this snake had a very defined triangle shaped head.

Looked just like the juvenile on this page, but more black - the pattern was less defined, but still there, but almost black on black.


http://www.timberrattlesnake.net/

 

[BowChickaBowMow]

Quote:

You just made my night! That is too funny!

We have a Field Guide for our state for reptiles and amphibians... my son loves all the critters! It has been very helpful in IDing everything we find on our property or out for walks elsewhere. my son (8yo) knows that if he can't ID the snake to not touch it. He's good at keeping the other kids away too. Last week he found a black rat snake. Glad to read this post and now know they're chicken snakes! He relocated it out into the woods, on the opposite side of our property away from the coop. I hope it doesn't come back around!

 

[jnjross]

here is a interactive snake identifer site at msu cares
http://mdg.ext.msstate.edu/Tom_Snake/snake_id_intro.html

you can search by name or go though the id questions

 

[dogzrule5]

"Please notice that I said black and thin.
Heavy-bodied animals are almost always pit vipers.
Take the time asap to review lots of pictures before deciding you're ready for grabbing."


Question - the snakes I'm dealing with are thick-bodied. After reading a couple of other posts, I thought I was dealing with black Rat Snakes and they even look like the picture in one of the links here.

Aren't black Rat Snakes fairly thick? Two of the snakes were very thick.

I've actually grabbed them quickly by the tail and slung them out into the pasture. and then chased them out into the field. I know they'll come back - one already did - but if I can get the mouse problem under control, that will help.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

I have seen people who THINK a huge black rat snake looks "heavy", guess it depends on what you compare it to.

The "heavy" of a venemous snake is...well....different...thicker...almost chubby looking to me. Black snakes have a sleek look.

A friend of a friend asked me to identify the snake he killed a few days ago. I politely told him that I look forward to the day when huge rattlesnake bites him on the a** for killing a kingsnake. Some people need slapped!!!!

 

[dogzrule5]

Based on pictures, I THINK my snakes are black Rat Snakes.

I'll have to look as some more pics of venomnous snakes to compare - thanks.

 

[shaky]

Black ratsnakes rarely get over 1.5" in width.
Venomous pit vipers can be over 5" wide. When I say "heavy-bodied", I mean thick.
Rattlesnakes and other pit vipers will spread their bodies down flat to make themselves look even bigger.
Now, babies and sub-adult snakes, of course, are thinner, but as I recommended - LOOK AT PICTURES. Be familiar with all of the snakes in your area.
There's no time like the present.

 

[Somechick]

I'm a snake lover too...and there are plenty of us out there to come rescue you and the snake if anybody finds one! Even the poisonous ones!

I had such a terrible time with large rats 20 years ago when I housed my chickens in a large old barn that had been used to store corn. The rats ate the hens insides, killed at least ten of them before I figured out it was huge rats who had a hole entering the chicken pen. I wasn't even sure until I put bar bait down in the hole (I'd already removed the remaining hens) and dead rats filled a large washtub completely (they go to water when poisoned and the washtub had water in it.) A good supply of large snakes would have handled my problem. I'd have sacrificed a few eggs to the snakes in payment for some organic rat control.

This is what I tell people who want ALL snakes removed: when you remove snakes, especially rat-eating ones from your niche, you leave a hole...one that the much harder to see poisonous rat eating snakes will gladly fill.

 

[sred98]

I know you said you didn't have cottonmouths in your area, but that was the very first thing I thought of when I read your 1st post. I went to this website and looked up North Carolina snakes, and it says that they are in Eastern NC. If you are close to the area that they have shaded, you could very well have one, and they just not be that common. Here is a pic of one that really sounds like what you were describing. They have a similar pattern to a rattler, but darker and more muted. They are also extremely aggressive, and will strike more often than other snakes.

Here is the link. http://www.bio.davidson.edu/projects/herpcons/herps_of_NC/snakes/Agkpis/Agk_pis.html

Also, if a snake is getting ready to shed, or is older, they will be darker.

S