Must be the year of the Coral Snake!!!!

[hotglue #43]

This seems to be the year..... it happens here every 3 or 4 years...... we see coral snakes..... they are small ... not agressive.... don't have fangs... but if they get a bite on ya.... It's a bad thing!!!!!.. and they  are the most venomous snake in the U.S.   ...... related to the cobra....  FB saw one last week while walking.... and I saw one today right at the back door of the shop......
Brazoria County ... where we live has the world record for the largest Coral Snake........
We could have ...Maybe beaten the world record...... but it's hard ta tell when the snake is chopped up into less than 1 inch pieces.....

RED AND YELLOW..... KILL A FELLOW....

[wizard -vrccds#125]

You can keep them. You are to close. I will have to keep an eye out for them !

[BnB Tom]

UGH!  I HATE SNAKES! 

  Sure glad you didn't see this guy BEFORE the GOTF!   

I mighta backed out.

        . . . Did I tell you how much I enjoyed that trip . . the food . . the company . . and the Host and Hostess most of all!!   

[Sparky51]

Did see a small one at GOTF, slipping into the culvert at the road in front of the new garage/ barn.  I think he was more scared of us!   Looks like he got a little more daring and wanted to check out the Valk!

[B]

I would like to maintain my record for never seeing one! 

[SideCar]

I understand that dragons scare them away.   

[Ghillie]

Coral Snakes are very docile, I have handled them repeatedly in classroom situations with nothing more than cotton gloves. They venom delivery is accomplished through a chewing motion meaning the snake has to get ahold of an area that it can get a pinch of the skin to envenomate.

Although the Coral Snake carries the most toxic venom of any snake in the States, because of it's difficulty in injecting a human and the small amount of venom it can deliver, death from Coral Snakes is practically unheard of. Since the introduction of antivenin, there are no know deaths in the U.S. The vipers in Texas carry a much higher bite mortality rate.

I doubt any of this will keep you from turning them into one inch pieces, but you are more likely to suffer an injury from the yellow jackets living in the planter box behind the smoker lol.

[5_19]

I already killed 2 rattlesnakes  in the last 2 weeks, while out walking. Lotts of snakes out on the road getting killed also.

........................SNAKES ARE ON THE MOVE....................  Just keep an eye out happens every year when it warms up TJ:cooldude:

[flamingobabe #44]

Saw coral snake 2 different times this morning while walking...went to get a shovel and no more snake........I don't like snakes.....but I've learned to look down where I walk....they, the snakes, don't make me scream like a girl...as I use to.....

[bigguy]

Years ago when I still lived in South East Arkansas I was jogging on a dirt road that went around a piney knoll in the middle of a lowland rice field. It was just before sun-up. Bright enough to see, but no sun in the sky yet. I was on the back side of the hill, farthest from the house when I spotted the copperhead just before my foot would have landed on him.
I did the dance, accompanied by the requisite vocalizations and arm flapping and somehow managed to land on the other side of him without getting bit. My dog, who was accompanying me, stopped when I did. Unfortunately, he was standing directly on top of the snake. It was big for a copperhead being easily 4 foot long.
I hollered at the dog, (an Australian Sheep dog) hoping to scare him off the snake. The dog, not sure why I seemed suddenly angry with him, dropped to the ground submissively. The snake began popping him repeatedly. The dog never seemed to notice, being more concerned with my temperament. I jumped closer to the dog, waving my hands trying get him to get up. He rolled over on top of the snake which renewed it's strikes. Realizing the dog had been bitten 5 or 6 times at least, I gave up and backed away. Eventually, the dog began to follow me again and I jogged the 3 miles back home.
We were getting ready for work and I told my wife to go out and say good by to the dog, because he would surely be dead by the time we got home that afternoon. At her suggestion, I removed his collar so that he wouldn't choke to death because of the inevitable swelling.
Arriving back home that evening I was scanning the yard looking for a dead dog.  Suddenly something appeared around the corner of the house that almost made me through the car in reverse. The dog had never been pretty by any stretch of the imagination. He was spotted black and white over fleshy colored patches. The area around his lips and eyes were of the same fleshy color. He had one blue eye and one yellow eye. I always though that he looked like he had leprosy.
Now, imagine that swollen on one side till the eye almost appeared to be on a stalk, and the lip on that side almost dragging the ground. He came bounding out to the car as always, glad to see me and completely unaware that anything was amiss. The swelling went away a few days later and he never showed any signs from the encounter.
My son had named him Super dog. I never laughed at that name again.

[Ten Bears]

Last year I killed 5 cottonmouths at my east Texas farm, count this year so far is 1 cottonmouth and 1 copperhead......hate snakes.....if it has no legs and crawls I shoot it.

[Lyn-Del]

Fortunately, since copperheads are generally fairly common, they're not "dangerous" to most dogs.  Many many dogs survive a bite with little or no medical attention

I haven't seen a coral snake in 30 years, used to take them away from kids who liked the "pretty snake".  They're pretty docile, don't really get upset until you try to stick them in a coke bottle to take home

I like snakes!

[laserpat]

along with a Valkyrie belt buckle(now it's Valk related) they help to hold my jeans up.

[bigguy]

I like snakes!

Me too. I don't understand the almost instinctual aversion most people seem to have to them. Don't get me wrong. I'll hoop and holler just like anybody else when I'm surprised by one. But once we get our territories agreed upon, I'm happy to live and let live.
The one snake I will kill on site is a cotton-mouth. My experience with them is SE Arkansas is that they're mean and dangerous. They're just born mad, and their disposition worse every day. Extremely territorial, they will attack when you happen upon them. And they prefer damp areas as opposed to open water. A flat bottom boat pulled up on the bank is an ideal spot for them. Back home, you NEVER just walked up to your boat and pushed it into the water. you ALL WAYS check under it first. In a summer of fishing, you'll run at least a couple of cotton-mouths out from under it.

[B]

I doubt any of this will keep you from turning them into one inch pieces,

WHY? Are they good in stir-fry?      

[roboto65]

I like Snakes but my Dad on the other hand hates them.

My Dad says that the only good snake is a King snake I asked him how he could tell if it was a King snake he told me

"I holler King if he does not answer I kill him"

Of course my dad and mom had to deal with my brother and I bringing home Rattlesnakes we caught coming home from school LOL

Of course I like gators also 

The Gator and me

[bigguy]

This snake was supposedly killed at Yancopin Arkansas. Story goes it was driven ot of the woods due to flooding. The person who sent me the photo does not know the individual in the photo.
I've got several questions about the photo. First of all, the most common rattle snake in that area is the timber rattler. (A mch smaller snake.) This one appears to be a diamond back. Various sources list differing sizes for the largest recorded specimen, but generally, 8 ft. is the upper limit and 90lbs the maximum weight. This snake would appear to be right at that limit.
Personally, I'd deem the photo plausible, but not probable.
Anybody seen this photo before?

[SideCar]

Agree. I've seen it attributed to Florida and Texas as well.  I think he needs taller snake boots if he is hunting them that size.

[Ghillie]

We used to do this all the time when I was teaching Biology classes. The photo is in forced perspective. Because the critter is so much closer to the camera than the guy holding the stick, the snake looks far larger than it is. A regular 3-4 foot Rattlesnake can be made to look 5-7 feet long.

[Disco]

I believe Wanderer would call that foreshortening.  Right, Jeff???   

[GreenLantern57]

Can't believe that you can't believe in 5-7 ft rattlesnakes.  I used to be a field operator in the eastern panhandle. I saw my share of 6 & 7 ft snakes every year. Usually alongside the road, but those 3 footers still scared the hell out of me when opening a meter run. I always wore tall boots on that job. 

[Ghillie]

Not debating the existence of BIG rattlers, I have seen several over 6ft in my years of catching herps. I'm just saying I can tell from the picture that the perspective is that the snake is larger than it really it. I have caught a couple that were very close to six and have caught an Indigo King that looked like a piece of black 3 inch pvc pipe when it was on the road.

[Disco]

...in my years of catching herps.

Good place for an edit???      Just sayin'   

[RainMaker]

...in my years of catching herps.

Good place for an edit???      Just sayin'   

Herps is correct for the subject matter.  Reptiles, Amphibians, etc.. 


http://www.zo.utexas.edu/research/txherps/

What were YOU thinking it was?

[roboto65]

 

[Disco]

Herps is correct for the subject matter.

What are you doing citing anything from UT/tu???   

I couldn't find "herps" as an abbreviation for herpetology, or any other form of the word, so I just poked a little fun.      

Interesting/ironic that the base word, herpeton, is Greek for "creeping thing".   

[flamingobabe #44]

today I was walking and found a 3 ft. either cottonmouth or diamondback water snake....I didn't hang around long enough to determine the difference.......I just love sping in south Texas when all the snakes are out.....not!!!!!

[HayHauler]

today I was walking and found a 3 ft. either cottonmouth or diamondback water snake....I didn't hang around long enough to determine the difference.......I just love sping in south Texas when all the snakes are out.....not!!!!!

FB,
Where are you walking to see all these snakes?  I want to make sure I don't go strolling there

It's funny the night before hg posted this I was walking the neighborhood, there was one of those split seconds when I questioned 'did that stick I just stepped over just move?' I turned around and there was nothing there anymore.  Yikes! Now I walk with my phone. 

Be careful out there and enjoy this rain!

BJ Hay