So after 20 years in the same house the wife all of a sudden is ready to move to.....anywhere else! I came home the other evening around 9:30 pm and opened the garage door with my remote and was about to pull my Mazdaspeed MX5 into the garage when I saw something laying in front of the door, on the smooth part of the concrete, directly in the middle of the garage door. I got out and quickly noticed it was a snake, went back to the car and got my glasses, then remembered there was a shovel next to the other garage door, grabbed it and sure enough, there were the classic "Hershey kisses" running down the side. About 2-2.5 foot long. I was hoping it was my resident King snake that lives near the cross tie wall, but something tells me he moved out. I don't kill non poisonous snakes, but this one got multiple whacks with the shovels edge. Which reminds me, I need to put a better edge on that shovel. After multiple bites to the shovel, the shovel survived but the snake didn't. And it did still try to bite the shovel even though it was dead. So I reshaped the head some. So one poisonous snake in 20 years and the wife is ready to leave!

__________________
Get off my lawn!

get some mongoose as pets.

That's a good snake... it's dead.
Know the difference between a dead snake and a dead lawyer in the road? The snake will have brake marks in front of it.

She would probably freak out if she realized how many have quietly slithered away unnoticed when they heard her coming. Snakes typically aren't looking for trouble until you startle them or you're just stupid and intentionally tick them off.

Around my house we have quite a few king snakes. I've got one that is a little over six feet long. Occasionally he comes up around the house and I'll have to take him back down to the woods and let him go. I like king snakes because they will eat the poisonous snakes. In the 26 years we've lived in our house I've only seen two copperheads and both were on the concrete driveway after a short rain shower. Those too get carried back into the woods on a shovel looking similar to the one in your photo.

You've got to see'um first! Nice lady next door approached flower bed and border grass to clean it out and as she bent over the wheelbarrow felt a "bee sting".Went inside to shower and noticed two fang marks about one inch apart on shin.Was observed in ER and had only about 1 inch around bite which was swollen.Given tetanus booster and sent home.Fortunately she had only a "dry" bite.
Don't reach into grass or shrubbery or woodpile without a good look first.

Out here in the country we have all manner of varmits that come through the yard.........Most get a pass.......armadillos/coyotes/possums/hogs/feral cats and snakes don't..................

__________________
S&W Accumulator

Take a look at your location. Get her some snake loads for that "mandatory" firearm she owns.

Jeff:

I think you're looking at this situation in the wrong way. What you should tell the wifey is that now you have to buy new/more guns to protect the home from snake invasions. Let's see...you'll need at least another .22 rifle, and at least an AR-15 in case there are a bunch of them really close, then a medium caliber long rifle in case there are some snakes at distance, then a couple of shotguns for those that are close in and personal, and let's not forget about handguns...ya feel me?

Glad you got that copperhead before he got any of you or your family.

Regards,

Dave

JS, I live in Kennesaw, too and have removed a total of 3 snakes from neighbors yards: one each eastern rat snake, black racer, and northern brown snake. Each time the neighbors wanted me to kill them but I took them down the power lines and set them free with explicit instructions never to return. Had it been a copperhead, I would have done what you did. A dog belonging to a friend on the other side of our subdivision was bitten on the nose by a copperhead but fortunately she survived. The snake was not as fortunate.

You should have dispatched the snake and not said anything to your wife.

__________________
That's gonna leave a mark.

The Copperheads I've dealt with have not been aggressive. If they are around the house send the to snake heaven, otherwise let them be. Put out some sticky traps if you think there may be more around your home. A shovel is an excellent tool.

Was it the shovel that was similar - or the condition of the snake???

The last rattler I dispatched had been discovered by my wife under the hose reel. She wanted to keep the rattles and I convinced her to let me throw it in the trash.

__________________
Paul
Salome, AZ

But if she doesn't know that they are there this could lead to tragedy - bitten with all the attendant pain & medical bills.

Wait until you find a 4 1/2 ft blacksnake in your garage. It was all shut up and I still can't figure out how it got in. My wife was ready to move that day.

__________________
Why duck?? It's a 9mm!

That is where one of my previously-mentioned neighbors found the black snake. I went into the garage and another neighbor was peeking around some boxes and did not hear me approach. "Where is it, Lee?" I asked. He jumped about 3 feet and and let out what I can only describe as a man-scream! Once he came out of orbit, he pointed behind a few boxes. That snake was the most aggressive snake I've ever dealt with - he did NOT like being caught!

Can I borrow the snake?

If only Eve killed the original snake........

__________________
Sure you did

What's the hazmat fee for shipping a poisonous snake these days?

His skin appears dark, perhaps he was getting ready to shed. Most snakes are more aggressive when shedding as it blurs their vision.

Dads farm was off a 200' bluff. Copperheads denned there, the spring was terrible. You only need 3 or 400 to catch me. All were dispatched in the yard, barn or garden.

Ive seen black snakes go plum crazy or ballistic psycho crazy when they are shedding.

Now I live in Ks, my neighbors friend killed a 4' Rattler a few weeks ago. Rattlers shake their tail, the bad new is pistol team shooting when young damaged my hearing. So I watch feet and hands...... and carry a pistol.

We have Coperheads around here. Killed one last summer w/my shovel.

__________________
Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

My Uncle now lives in my grandparent's adobe house in Arizona. He hates snakes but an adobe house has mice which attracts the snakes. He will never again open the hatch to the cellar under the kitchen floor, he said that it was a scene from an Indiana Jones movie. The house is on a septic system and snakes get into it and will occasionally get into the plumbing. He just hates finding one in the morning before coffee in the kitchen sink,
This of course could not happen to a nicer guy.

I killed a copperhead the march before last here outside of Richmond, Va. My family and I were going out to eat an early dinner, and had some cable guys working in mine and my neighbors yard. We needed to put our Akita out to use the bathroom and told the workers they were welcome to keep on working but they opted to go to the neighbors yard. After the dog had finished her business I walked over to the neighbors ( in shorts and sandals) to let the workers know they were welcome to finish. And as I crossed the yard I almost stepped on a small copperhead. I quickly dispatched it with a stick, and brought it to the front door to show the wife what a good thing I had done. Well she opened the door, saw the snake, slammed the door, tripped over backwards over the dog and crab walked clear across the room. The fastest I have ever seen her move in our 16 years of marriage. Needless to say it was a quiet dinner that night out. And don't get me started about the time I pointed the black snake out to her right as he struck the four wheeler tire we were riding. Or the time she ran over a snake at 50mph and would not exit the vehicle without me checking the undercarriage first... I told her she was safe they didn't have James Bond snakes in Baton Rouge...I was walking last week and came across this black snake laying in the walking trail. I didn't kill him, just moved him along so the next person wouldn't kill him or step on him. He was close to 5 feet.

Attached Images

IMG_2542.jpg (197.6 KB, 166 views)

Copperheads, my favorite one is a hat band on my old Steadson Open Road. I have heard that the smell like "cucumbers" but I've never gotten close enough to check it out.

I'm in the Richmond area too, and last spring and summer must have been the Year Of The Snake. Had a neighbor bitten by a copperhead on her back step costing her a week in the hospital, her dog was bitten about a week later, and I lost count of the copperheads seen around here and I killed 10-12 copperheads around my yard and neighbors' yards. Last fall, my wife called me to the front door, and there was a five-foot blacksnake on our porch with his head against the storm door glass, peering into the foyer.
We subsequently saw a couple other blacksnakes through the fall. Must be a good thing; so far this year, no copperheads.

I have rattles in both my guitars. Not sure why, I guess because Bill had a set in his mandolin.

Leon

I thought you were going to tell us you had purchased a Python and she found out what they are selling for these days.....

Same here . . .

She couldn't .... she didn't have a shovel.

__________________
Dan
Ps 96 SWCA 2930 SWHF 524

I ran over a snake on the road today. It was a very colorful snake about 6-8 feet long and maybe 2+" diameter. I saw the snake in my rear view mirror squirming all around. The front and rear tires ran over it.
By the colors I thought maybe it was a rattlesnake but wasn't sure. I forgot to look on my way back home to look for it. I might go out tomorrow and see if I see it.
Only good snake IMO is a dead snake. I have never seen a rattlesnake that I know of anyway. This snake looked like it might have had the colorful diamond pattern on it. It was one big snake I do know that much.

We don't have copperheads here. Plenty of rattlesnakes. The wife killed a small one last year. She was about to pull a weed when she said something told her not to. She looked down and saw the little western diamondback. I was at work about 20 miles away. She called me, and wanted me to come kill it. I told her she'd have to deal with it. We live in town, so she couldn't shoot it. She cut its head off with a machete. Did a nice job, too.

There are copperheads starting about 100 miles east, though. I have run into them now and then while out and about. I just give them a wide berth and let them go on their merry way. Not if they were in my yard, though.

I have caught a lot of Copperheads alive. I have never got the
cucumber smell everyone talks about. I caught them for a
Taxidermist that wanted them for mounts and hat bands. Most
of the time they are easy to handle, not aggressive. I put them
in a drywall bucket that had 1/4" holes drilled. Put bucket in
creek to drown them. Didn't want to shoot them and ruin the
skin. Biggest Copperhead I ever saw was 38", biggest one I
ever caught was 32". Most in 24" class. The most aggressive
snake in this area is the common water snake.

Yes, with some critters the three S's apply; shoot, shovel and shut up.

I'm lucky, my fiance enjoys the scorpion hunts in the yard. We have put a real dent in the local population.

__________________
Release the Kraken

They don't make shovel handles long enough to suit me.

...we live above the snake line up here at 9500 feet...we have seen one in 34 years and believe it came up in a neighbors load of firewood...there are some small non-poisonous snakes about a 1000 feet lower elevation...and 3000 to 3500 feet lower and to the east is where the rattlers are...

__________________
A Country Boy Can Survive

A friend of mine says they can jump several feet so I'd be nervous hitting them with a shovel.

Those are called the Eastern Jumping Rattlesnake, deadly to a distance of........... 2 feet.

Just kidding! There is no such thing!

Leon

I hear there's no snakes in Antarctica.

__________________
So many S&W's, so few funds!!

My wife has a REAL phobia of snakes. ANY SNAKES! Fortunately, we don't commonly have poisonous varieties in my area. Still, several years back, we had some common Garter Snakes nest and breed in the space under our sun room. They ended up everywhere ( by the dozens) in the yard come spring! The wife was beside herself (and also talking about moving.)
Short of buying a Mongoose, this was the solution I came up with.
GREAT STUFF!
Dr Ts Nature Products Snake-A-Way - 4 lb

What it does is mess up the snakes ability to sense prey ( or predator). If they can't hunt, the quickly move on.
p.s. This stuff smells (strongly) like Moth Ball crystals ( which seems to work nearly as well).

__________________
Dave

My daughter lives in an apartment on the 3rd floor. She had a rat snake on her patio Monday night. Her neighbor swept in off the patio and it landed on the 1st floor patio below her. She had a bird nest with 3 young birds in it and the snake had already ate one of them. I didn't know they could slither up a brick building.

I've always heard that the "cucumber" - and some say "watermelon" smell was associated with the cottonmouth snake as it coils up and opens its mouth wide as a warning. I've never noticed either scent with a cottonmouth, but I have smelled a musky odor with a cottonmouth in its warning position - some .22LR snake shot took care of that problem.

There was a story on one of the nature shows on PBS recently about a Texas rancher who was killing lots of copperheads in his front yard every night. He finally contacted the state biologists about this and they sent herpetologists to investigate. What they found was he had a lot of cicadas in his yard, and the copperheads were using them as a food source. Interestingly enough, the rancher said he had lost a relative to breast cancer, and the herpetologist wanted the copperheads for their venom as part of his research. Seems cancer cells won't grow in the presence of copperhead venom. The rancher now live catches the copperheads and saves them for the herpetologist. I love a win/win.

Regards,

Dave

Regards,

Dave

With all the flooding in our area the copperheads are showing up more frequently. I have shot several of them in the wife's flower bed. I am getting a bit paranoid. I went out yesterday and shot the water hose 4 times.

__________________
USAF Retired/VN Vet

Allright....I finally found the snake in the picture!

__________________
I fish, therefore I lie

We have lots of copperheads around here. When I raised chickens there was a cotton mouth water moccasin in one of the nests. Now we have armadillos here. I have to stay here, so may as well have reminders of TX. Of course I would prefer to be back in TX, but my wife won't move.

Copperheads are the most common poisonous snake in PA and also the most aggressive. The few I've run across have been foul tempered, one even struck at the tire on my mountain bike as I rode past. If I'd had a gun, he would have been in snake heaven.

The few my dad found died from a .38 Special CCI shot load to the head from his trusty Chief's Special.

__________________
Virtue,Liberty & Independence

A good Cottonmouth from many years ago. One of three we disposed of in about 10 minutes at the lake.

Eastern rat snakes are excellent climbers. My neighbor was on a ladder cleaner her gutters when she noticed the rat snake slithering across the roof toward her. It had a large lump in its belly; they had rats in their attic and he had actually done them a favor but I couldn't convince the neighbor of that.

I really don't like snakes, of any kind! But my wife is MUCH worse! I still chuckle when I remember pulling in the driveway from work one day and saw the wife riding on the mower way out in the back yard. As she turned and I got a better look, I just started scratching my head. She was driving the lawn tractor with her feet and legs up on the hood!

I just eased the truck on through the yard, peering at her through the windshield trying to figure out what was going on. She saw me and started my way. When she got next to me she started off saying "Is there a snake on this mower?!" I looked it over and "No, why?".

"I just ran over a big one in the yard and I'm afraid to put my feet down there until you find it!" I got out laughing and went to where she was mowing when she hit it. All I found was a snake's head, a rat snake, and it was a big one!. I had to promise her there weren't any "snake parts" on the mower deck before she would put her legs down. I wish I had thought to take a picture of that! Dang it was funny!

Knock on wood, we have never seen a poisonous snake on our property in the 32 years I've lived there, and I hope I never do. However I always have a handgun on my side when working around the yard and in the woods.

"I remember pulling in the driveway from work one day and saw the wife riding on the mower way out in the back yard."

Man, do you know how lucky you are? A wife that mows the yard! If my wife was to mow the yard, well, the first thing you should do is call that Ripley fellow. Then get out of the way as a lawn mower with a sofa, air conditioner, refrigerator, and bathroom can't be very maneuverable.

Regards,

Dave

I was morel mushroom hunting last month with some good friends of mine. I was the only one carrying a firearm, my old trusty 5" 63-4. When my good friend ask me to come up the ridge to him. I asked what for, he said so I could shoot the copperhead that was laying beside a morel he was going to pick. Well one shot one kill right through the head. And as I reholstered I proceeded to tell them that is how it is done.
No sooner had I opened my mouth when my friend who had taken about 4 steps says "I got another". Out comes the 63 and my shot was a little low and to the left and nicked his neck. This really had him mad now. After 3 more shots he was dead also. One of my other friends who had watched all this with amusement ask why it took 4 shots on the last one. I replied the first one was to easy and that I needed to make it a little more difficult...lol