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What kind of snake is this?
Humblegunner's yard | 5/09/09 | humblegunner

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?


TOPICS: Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: assaultshovel; beneficialsnake; dead; herpetology; hgass; pestcontrol; snake; snakekiller
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To: cva66snipe

Agree...... we don’t kill for the fun of it aside from fuzzy bowling pins and even that is to keep the cattle from breaking a leg. Game we kill is harvested and used or shared with less fortunate neighbors and friends.

as it should be.....;o)


161 posted on 05/09/2009 7:19:36 PM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: humblegunner

Looks like a dead snake to me.


162 posted on 05/09/2009 7:19:41 PM PDT by Danae (Amerikan Unity My Ass)
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To: CurlyDave

LMAO ! agree..... If it rattles or scares my horse it gets shot !


163 posted on 05/09/2009 7:21:06 PM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: humblegunner

First of all, why did you kill it? I never see snakes anymore, sigh ...


164 posted on 05/09/2009 7:21:21 PM PDT by Scythian
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To: nina0113
"Would little plastic BB’s from a little plastic BB pistol solve this problem?

Brother, I don't know and I'm not going to find out. The snakes I've killed were all cotton mouths/Moccasins (as I highly suspect this one was as well).

Pit Viper's are mean, mean, mean. Plus, they can strike at least the length of their body, and I believe some can strike 1.5 times the length of their body. I'm not going to take the chance with a BB or Pellet gun. It's double-ought buck or nothing for me.

165 posted on 05/09/2009 7:23:39 PM PDT by Big_Monkey (Flubama - bringing disease everywhere he goes.)
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To: humblegunner; All
In addition to the heat-sensing organs ('pits'), pit vipers apparently have 'folding' or 'movable' fangs. The fangs of other vipers' are fixed.


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
__________________________________________

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
__________________________________________

How to Identify a Pit Viper

1) Know the pit vipers range and habitat. A pit viper is one of the widest reaching groups of snakes in the world. They are found throughout the Americas, as well as Asia. They can survive in the hottest deserts, as well the wettest rain forest. Pit vipers are very adaptable snakes.

2) Realize that in North America, there are three major species of pit vipers. They are the cottonmouth, copperhead and rattlesnakes.

3) Observe that pit vipers can range in size from less than 30 cm all the way up to 12 feet long. An average size for a pit viper is probably around 5 feet long.

4) See that a pit viper has a heat sensing organ between its eye and nostril. This pit is the major feature that sets pit vipers apart. It allows the snake to sense heat. Some refer to this as a sixth sense.

5) Compare a pit vipers fangs to a rear fanged species such as the cobra. A pit viper folds its fangs under and back into the roof of its mouth. A cobra has fixed fangs that do not fold. The pit viper will extend the fangs out when it strikes in a stabbing motion, burying venom deep within its prey.

6) Observe that a pit viper's head is often triangular in shape, and is markedly wider than the neck of the snake. This is often due to the large venom glands in the snake's jaw. These glands also contain an extra muscle that allows for delivery of the venom through the fangs.

7) Know that pit vipers are generally give birth to live young as opposed to many other snake species that lay eggs. This allows the pit viper to deliver large amounts of young in a single birthing.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4493653_identify-pit-viper.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

166 posted on 05/09/2009 7:24:05 PM PDT by ETL (ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: davetex

I live in New York City. Not too much of a snake problem here. Rats, roaches and pigeons, yes, but not snakes.


167 posted on 05/09/2009 7:27:11 PM PDT by ETL (ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: ETL; humblegunner

In the morning, go out and see if you can pull up some fangs out of his mouth? His head seems intact enough.


168 posted on 05/09/2009 7:27:58 PM PDT by txhurl (fish are fixin' to fear me....)
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To: Kirkwood
"Blue Racer. It is a GOOD snake. I wish I had more of them. Too bad some idiot killed it."

Not with that head. Way too triangular. That snake was poisonous, and probably a cottonmouth.
169 posted on 05/09/2009 7:29:07 PM PDT by DesScorp
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To: humblegunner

You’ve probably been told this countless times by now, but...looks like a Cottonmouth to me. Called in husband to look at the pics. He says Cottonmouth too. Glad you saw it before your pets did.


170 posted on 05/09/2009 7:29:59 PM PDT by LucyJo ("Yep, son, we've met the enemy and he is us.")
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To: humblegunner

You know the rules, if you kill’um, you got to eat’um.

He is thick, I bet he tastes good.


171 posted on 05/09/2009 7:30:16 PM PDT by dila813
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To: humblegunner

Don’t know where you live, but consider the possibility of it being a brown rat snake, which can be black in color and even comes in peculiar light and dark color patterns. I once saw one in S.E. Minnesota that was 5-6 ft. long and yellow with scattered black stripes curving around its body in a random pattern.


172 posted on 05/09/2009 7:31:23 PM PDT by Elsiejay
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To: ETL

If you ever get down this way, stop by, I’ll hook you up with all the bar-b-q you could ever want (and cold beer).
We could even go across the road to our snake infested pond. I’ve got an extra 22 for you to use. Might be a hell of a time.


173 posted on 05/09/2009 7:34:10 PM PDT by davetex (If it's in stock, we've got it.)
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To: Scythian; humblegunner
First of all, why did you kill it?

You advocate killing all pitbulls but killing snakes is wrong?

Hypocrite.

174 posted on 05/09/2009 7:35:09 PM PDT by Eaker (The Two Loudest Sounds in the World.....Bang When it should have been Click and the Reverse.)
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To: dr_lew
Yep, http://www.texassnakes.net/YellowBellied.htm
175 posted on 05/09/2009 7:36:24 PM PDT by dmcnash (y)
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To: txhurl
In the morning, go out and see if you can pull up some fangs out of his mouth?

You want ME to travel from New York to Texas TONIGHT to check out that friggin snake by tomorrow morning?? Not unless YOU pay the airfare!

((joshing)) :)

176 posted on 05/09/2009 7:38:55 PM PDT by ETL (ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: humblegunner

doesn’t look poisonous. The head on a poisonous one is much more triangular in shape.
I’ve seen Northern Water Snakes that look like that...but he’s a good snake now.


177 posted on 05/09/2009 7:40:05 PM PDT by Ikemeister
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To: davetex

Sounds great! I’ll bring a little Rat-atouille from New York.


178 posted on 05/09/2009 7:41:50 PM PDT by ETL (ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: humblegunner

Whatever it was, it probably tastes like chicken.


179 posted on 05/09/2009 7:43:15 PM PDT by Ikemeister
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To: dmcnash

I’m leaning yellowbellied. It just wasn’t cantankerous to be a moccasin, and I’ve ran across at least a hundred.

Moccasins don’t run, they run AT you, flashing their mouth the whole time.

And they’re fat from head to (especially) butt, with short, skinny tails.

The one TX way is to smell it. Moccasins stink to hell - an undescribably rank, putrid scent that no other live snake possesses. If HG’s snake has no scent, it’s probably not a moccasin.


180 posted on 05/09/2009 7:44:14 PM PDT by txhurl (fish are fixin' to fear me....)
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