Flip it over

[jcountry]

maybe

could be a corn snake

either way no one wants to ride dirty

Not the kind of corn snake you want to make pals with.

Definitely a copperhead.

 

[jaybees]

It's a copperhead.

This reminds me of a story lol. Back in the mid 80s sometime when I was but a lad, a friend and I went to another friend's farm pond in Winston to go fishing. There was a canoe half in the water and half out of the water turned upside down. We decided to use it so we flipped it over, tossed out some wet pine straw and leaves and paddled out to the middle of the pond. I was in the back of the canoe sitting there with shorts and no shoes when my friend noticed I had a large copperhead coiled up and laying between my bare feet. I think I remember letting out an expletive or two but I didn't move my feet. I knew better. I started taking my fishing pole apart so I could distract and encourage him to move from between my feet where I could better position myself to flip him overboard. However, things did NOT go as planned. As soon as the snake moved forward (exactly where I wanted him to go), Johnny stood up and dove off the boat into the water. Do you know what happens when you are sitting in an aluminum canoe and someone on the other end jumps out? Yeah...it rolled over. I found myself now splashing around trying to figure out where the snake was so I wouldn't splash around on his pointy end. Then, I saw him swimming towards the other side of the pond. So I calmed down, swam for shore dragging the capsized canoe with me. My tackle box was recovered but it was open so anything that didn't float is probably still out there. Somehow, I never let go of my fishing pole though. Johnny is alive today ONLY because I allowed him to live past that day lol

Reminds me of a story my dad used to tell...... Him and his brother (uncle Larry) put in on the altamaha one day and after a couple of hours (or a case of beer), they decided they needed to shore up and stretch their legs. As they neared their landing spot, a swift current pushed the boat a little further down stream, right into a huge, overhanging oak. As they started grabbing limbs to guide them, I'm sure you can guess what happened next. My dad said there were at least 5-6 snakes that fell out of the tree directly into the boat. My uncle Larry did not think twice about grabbing his .45 and putting a magazine worth of holes in the bottom of the boat.

 

[uga_dawg]

It's a baby copperhead. Note the green tail.

 

[elmosdad]

And you would be wrong. It is a copperhead. And while shooting snakes, you put yourself and anyone around you in far more danger from ricochet than if it was a rabid flying rattlecobra with a vengeance against humanity. It is nobody's civic duty to rid the world of these necessary animals that are far more valuable to the ecosystem than your cat. Shooting snakes does not make you manly. It makes you a scared little ignorant *****. BTW copperheads may be the closest thing to a cure for cancer we see in this lifetime. Google "contortrostatin". It is almost unheard of a copperhead bite to cause a human death, though rarely it does ...very rarely and usually due to other circumstances none the least malpractice at the hospital. Yep...your doctor is thousands of times more likely to kill you than a copperhead.

You keep yours and I'll kill mine...

 

[TattooedGunner]

I'm not anti snake at all. I have relocated non poisonous snakes that friends have freaked out about to my property and used to catch them and let them go all the time when I was younger. If I see poisonous snakes in the woods I just leave them be.

Now all that being said: if I turned over one of my kids toys and there was a copperhead under it that would freak me out. That would be a dead snake.

 

[RdKill]

I'm not anti snake at all. I have relocated non poisonous snakes that friends have freaked out about to my property and used to catch them and let them go all the time when I was younger. If I see poisonous snakes in the woods I just leave them be.

Now all that being said: if I turned over one of my kids toys and there was a copperhead under it that would freak me out. That would be a dead snake.

I can understand that. I don't necessarily agree personally, but I do understand. I don't recommend anyone inexperienced in handling venomous snakes to try and catch one for relocation. What I do recommend is to stop inviting them to your yard. Clean up debris, and remove ground level shrubbery especially around water features such as gold fish ponds. Bird feeders should be well away from the house perhaps at a tree line. Fallen seed attract rodents. Rodents attract snakes. Feeders at the tree line away from the yard (if applicable) will provide cover for the rodents and snakes away from your house.

I used to take snake removal calls from the Chattahoochee nature center when I live in the Atlanta area. Pretty much every copperhead call I got, when I got there I could honestly say, "wow! If I was a copperhead, this is where I'd want to live...typically very over-landscaped yards with either a gold fish pond or a small creek or even a swimming pool, tons of ground covering foliage and bird feeders everywhere.

 

[Al Capone]

That pic of snake is all over Facebook. Nasty looking thing.

 

[RdKill]

Oh...something else I should mention so as not to confuse the fine Georgia residents of this site. This snake is obviously not in Georgia so the coloration and markings will differ a bit from the copperheads you are used to seeing. This looks to me like either a broad band or a trans pecos copperhead. I'd have to see the chin and belly markings to make a clear distinction....and it's not a baby. They lose the green in the tail usually in under a year. The tail turns black but still may catch light funny in a photo. They aren't any bigger than a pencil when the tail turns black.

 

[04 rocko taco]

And you would be wrong. It is a copperhead. And while shooting snakes, you put yourself and anyone around you in far more danger from ricochet than if it was a rabid flying rattlecobra with a vengeance against humanity. It is nobody's civic duty to rid the world of these necessary animals that are far more valuable to the ecosystem than your cat. Shooting snakes does not make you manly. It makes you a scared little ignorant *****. BTW copperheads may be the closest thing to a cure for cancer we see in this lifetime. Google "contortrostatin". It is almost unheard of a copperhead bite to cause a human death, though rarely it does ...very rarely and usually due to other circumstances none the least malpractice at the hospital. Yep...your doctor is thousands of times more likely to kill you than a copperhead.

Wow. panties hurt much?

I didnt claim for it to make me manly.
I also dont think cat's are the answer to any ecosystemic issues.

A ricochet? From .410 shot into soft ground? I have indeed shot a few snakes in my day, I've also let 100's of others live. I've also used shovel, hoe, etc. Never had an issue. Also never shot myself or anyone else...

I also didnt say I was scared of dying from a copperhead bite, or truly even worried about being bitten by a copperhead.

Please...carry on.

 

[Patronus]

Sorry kids. Be just a minute. I gotta replace the "serpentine belt" for ya.