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?
Please insert Monty Python dead parrot sketch lines here:
He’s just resting
He’s dead!
No, he’s taking nap
He has ceased to exist
He is no more!
etc
You're right, it's weird......head shaped like a rattler, thick fat body like a rattler, but coloration and tail of a black snake.
I'd say you got some sort of Obamanized morph pit viper in your yard. Good you offed it.
_______________________________________
How to Spot a Cottonmouth Snake
The Cottonmouth is the only poisonous water snake found in North America. It is a pit viper and senses movement with its pit in between its eyes. The Cottonmouth snake is found in three subspecies. The Western Cottonmouth, the Eastern Cottonmouth, and the Florida Cottonmouth have common characteristics and traits that distinguish them from nonvenomous water snakes.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2090701_spot-cottonmouth-snake.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art
_______________________________________
Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma is a venomous pitviper subspecies[4] found in the south central United States. It is the smallest of the three subspecies tends to be darker in color.
Common names: western cottonmouth,[2] water moccasin, cottonmouth,[3] more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agkistrodon_piscivorus_leucostoma
There are only three kinds of snakes in the whole world.
Dead Ones.
Ones I haven't see yet.
Ones that got away.
LOL !!
all the folks here against snake killing need to post a address so I can send em the rattlers from up here in the panhandle if they are so dedicated to the slithering sniks lives !
Snakes get kilt here real quick !
“he had fangs, he showed them to me”
Then you are totally not guilty sir!
It was self-defense!
Nerodia
It’s not venomous
I started up a snake in the back yard a couple of weeks ago, and it looked harmless to me (round head and longitudinal yellow stripes) but the handyman working next door insisted it was a copperhead and killed it with a shovel. He made such a mess of it I didn't care to look for any fangs, since it was too late anyway.
That said, I would be wondering where the rest of this dead snakes family is?
sw
Nope, just bluish-black.
You said — Cottonmouth, AKA Water Moccasin
—
I remember being warned, as a kid, about the water moccasins in the water, in Oklahoma. I guess they’re around in Texas and Oklahoma...
http://www.oksnakes.org/snakes/westerncottonmouth.htm
Nope.
Already had dinner plans.
A few years back a game office asked if he could use my place as a drop site for deer etc. I said sure they're safe here. I stopped deer hunting quite a while back due to lack of time. The only thing I've killed is Copperheads. He said you know they're protected don't you? I said not near me they aren't. He said not ones around my home either.
Damn....bringing back my teenage whoremongering memories.
My sister’s Texan mother-in-law used to catch rattlers for a living - she kept them in some sort of cage out back and a guy would come every week and take them away. When I met her, she was on the back side of eighty and had had to give it up, but boy! she was still a pistol.
I started using this:
http://www.liquidfence.com/snake-repellents.html
Smells awefull, but it’s worked so far. They show up around the house every so often. Nasty critters.
Lots of folks do that outside the city........ yer extended MIL sounds like a tough ole bird !
Use caution and take a stick or rod of some kind and use it to open his mouth. You should be able to use the rod to pull the fangs out if they're there.
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.