Posted on 05/09/2009 5:27:52 PM PDT by humblegunner
This afternoon I happened to look out the back and saw something
black and long in the middle of the yard. I just mowed yesterday
so I knew the yard was free of sticks and such.
Turns out it was a big black snake!
He isn't a rattler, does not look loke a water moccasin or a black snake.
What the heck kind of snake is he? He has the triangular head which
means he is a bad one, but I can't place his breed.
Anyway, photography being as dangerous as it is, he got wrecked up some
which is just as well. He might have bitten one of the animals.
So who knows any herpetology?
Least yer Hoe is still safe.
Where is Eaker ?
Numbnut.
Yellow bellied water snake. Non venomous.
Texas Night Snake
____________________________________________
Or this?
Western Cottonmouth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Texas_reptiles#Snakes
____________________________________________
The next is your photo:
From the Blue Racer fact page:
http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/snake/fact%20pages/racer_blue/racer_blue.html
Appearance
The Blue Racer is a long, fairly slender snake with back,
sides and belly colored plain black. Usually there is some
white color on the chin and the throat. The scales
are smooth, without keels, and the anal plate is divided.
This snake is similar in appearance and habit to its close
relative, the Black Racer. Interbreeding with the Black Racer
often occurs where their two ranges overlap. Resulting
offspring sometimes display characteristics of both parents,
or may look the same as one of the parents.
Tell them they are clueless.
LOL. !!!
Yep, I’m thinking cottonmouth.
I seriously doubt a blue racer would be that size nor near Houston TX.
Yep, thats what it is. FWIW, its a beautiful snake and quite harmless. Too bad it ended up dead......
It’s merely pinin’ for the fjords...
It’s the extremely endangered “Black Snake.” Hope you didn’t do anything to hurt it. Hillary might be visiting this site.
Does the “Northern” in “Northern Black Racer” mean northern Houston, Texas?
Apparently you didn’t look at all his photos. Neither snake you show in your photos is a pit viper, the snake in his photos is definitely a pit viper. Probably a moccasin.
which was really hungry one day and ate a rattler
Posted on this board
Also, not dissimilar from the Indigo .. which populated my avocado grove when I lived in FL. They were good to have around 'cause they ate the rodents, and we had a beauty that was about 8ft. long.
King Snake or Rat Snake
The common water Moccasin is not the same and this looks more like one {non poisonous} or more likely a racer as someone posted. Racers can look like monsters getting up to about 5 feet long. By the way don't depend on what you read about where snakes may usually be as being an absolute. Many things can put them on the move quickly for different terrain. Copperheads like low areas close to water. I killed one about 800 feet away from my spring, 80 feet higher in elevation, and right outside my door. I do know Copperheads though when I see the wretched things. I killed another one that year in my front yard with the mower. They go where food sources are.
Not poisonous, comes from Kentucky.
Barring the possibility that someone has brought in a snake from some other country and released it that IS a cottonmouth water moccasin. It has the triangle head of a pit viper and I don’t know of another American pit viper that might be that color. I have seen many cottonmouths and the color of that snake is not out of the range of variations for one. Some are lighter and show patterning but some are almost black with no visible pattern. Copperheads also vary a lot but I don’t think that is in the copperhead range.
It doesn’t matter what kind of snake it is because ANY KIND OF SNAKE TO ME IS BAD!!!
I HATE SNAKES!
My skin would still be crawling if that was in my yard!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
