Biggest snake you've ever seen (in the wild)

[bk42261]

When I was about 8 or so, my brother and I were out in the "workshop" looking for nails or something, moved a keg (yes, keg) of nails, and this frigging Milk Adder came at us with it's mouth wide open and hissing. We left posthaste.
A few days later, on top of the woodpile, I found an entire skin, I assume from that snake, that measured 48 3/4 inches!
Maybe that's not BIG where you're from, but up here in Maine, it's frigging huge!
My Dad says when he was young on the same farm, a "black snake" came down from the loft in the barn, and was so long that it's head was down through the hole in the floor while it's tail was still up in the loft!! would have had to be at least 10 feet long!
My brother's FIL and his friend say they were chased away from a pond by a "black snake" whose head was "as tall as they were" while it was chasing them! (It apparently had it's head up like a cobra as it came after them)

 

[Texas Star]

Well, look at the bright side: that black snake that chased them with its head held high probably wasn't a Black Mamba. Probably would have caught them and it'd be all over for them. I dread the thought of people keeping foreign snakes like that that may escape. It sometimes happens.

But I can easily top your account. A python escaped from a pet shop in New Brunswick a few years ago, slithered through the A/C system, and constricted two boys in a home next door. Killed both. Hadn't swallowed either by the time of discovery.

The RCMP investigated, and it was speculated that charges might be filed against the pet store owner. Never read how that case ended.

Here in the South, rattlesnakes can grow quite long. An old photo apparently not faked, shows several men holding an Eastern Diamondback about 11 feet long. Others to eight feet have been measured in more recent times.

What is a "milk adder"? You need to give the real name of this snake to be understood. These local yokel names can be misleading. An adder is another name for a viper. Outside of a Russell's Viper (Tic Polonga) in a Sherlock Holmes story, I doubt if any drink milk, let alone milk cows for it.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Back in my Puppy Dog Days, worked on a pipeline up in Ohio.
The crew was mostly LA boys who were off their medication.
Super jokers!
And if you showed any fear of snakes, they would spend the day looking for snakes to throw on you.
One day they caught a regular black snake - bull snake about 8 feet long.
They passed it around and when I held it up, it's tail dragged the ground.
We turned it loose.
It will eat a bunch of vermin!

 

[LVSteve]

For me it's a close tie between a Great Basin Gopher snake and a California Kingsnake. The gopher snake had just eaten something and was rather torpid but I didn't want to stress him by mauling him about. Didn't have a tape handy but I would estimate somewhere between 5.5 and 6.0 feet.

The California King was extremely active and wanted nothing to do with me, my dad or my camera. Dad reckoned around 7 feet, but I'm thinking nearer 6.5. I have pictures of both somewhere.

Edited to add picture of the Gopher Snake. Note that he disappears out of the frame on the right under the brush.

 

[Texas Star]

I've handled a longer indigo snake at a snake park, but in the wild, I guess a water moccasin of about five feet was the longest for me.

 

[JohnRippert]

Biggest snake I have seen is the canebrake rattlesnake we saw on a gents property down by El Campo, Texas. At least 5ft and big around as my forearm.

 

[soFlaNative]

The one's practically in my face.
The 8 ft. black between the ties of a retaining wall at my folk's place in Otto, NC.
The coiled D-back in the plot I was clearing for a friend in Lake Placid, FL. The old boy pulled a Model 10 hid in his wheelchair and removed the head with 3 shots. He kept the rattles, the rest was skinned, cured and stitched to a piece of green felt. I think my brother has it somewhere, what remains is at least 5 1/2 ft.
The cottonmouth tucked under the myrtle in the middle of a trail near Monroe Station. No idea of the length but it was thicker than my calf.
By far the biggest was the baby D-back my youngest, about three at the time ran up on while chasing a throw toy. His cousin spotted it and stopped my son. I pinned it with a Frisbee, my brother picked it up and we walked it to Josephine Creek and gave it a swimming lesson. The two footer swam quite well the other direction.

 

[Alk8944]

What is a "milk adder"? You need to give the real name of this snake to be understood. These local yokel names can be misleading. An adder is another name for a viper. Outside of a Russell's Viper (Tic Polonga) in a Sherlock Holmes story, I doubt if any drink milk, let alone milk cows for it.

Do you "Google"??? Try it, you will find lots of information.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Longest snake I remember seeing was a 7-ft. python, owned by an officer I served with in Vietnam, offered for entertainment during its monthly feeding ritual (ate full grown chickens, took an hour or more on the patio of the officers club).

In southern Colorado we have prairie rattlesnakes in relative abundance. I have encountered them frequently, usually in the 24" to 36" range. Preferred method of dealing with them is a 12-gauge #6 shot. Couple of weeks ago I was sitting on my patio at 9:00PM and saw some motion in the gravel about 3 feet from my left foot, turned out to be a young prairie rattler, about 18" or so. Introduced the snake to Mr. Garden Shovel, and the snake kind of lost his head over the experience. While slashing and trashing on the snake in the gravel my wife opened the back door and asked what was going on. I told her to go inside. She asked what I was doing, I told her I was killing a rattlesnake. Heard the door slam shut, heard the deadbolt lock click shut. Wife eventually consented to allow me back into the house after assurances that the rattlesnake was done for. Third rattlesnake we have had in our development (20 homes, private cul-de-sac) this year, so we are all paying attention.

Regardless of the size or type, snakes will always get your heart going and your blood pressure peaked out.

 

[rwsmith]

That is the infamous..

When I was about 8 or so, my brother and I were out in the "workshop" looking for nails or something, moved a keg (yes, keg) of nails, and this frigging Milk Adder came at us with it's mouth wide open and hissing. We left posthaste.
A few days later, on top of the woodpile, I found an entire skin, I assume from that snake, that measured 48 3/4 inches!
Maybe that's not BIG where you're from, but up here in Maine, it's frigging huge!
My Dad says when he was young on the same farm, a "black snake" came down from the loft in the barn, and was so long that it's head was down through the hole in the floor while it's tail was still up in the loft!! would have had to be at least 10 feet long!
My brother's FIL and his friend say they were chased away from a pond by a "black snake" whose head was "as tall as they were" while it was chasing them! (It apparently had it's head up like a cobra as it came after them)

That's the infamous Black Racer. One got after my FIL, too. It was reared up and chasing him down a dirt road.

 

[Farmer17]

When I was a kid my dad took me rabbit hunting near lake Ft. Gibson in Northern Oklahoma. There had been some flooding and there were mouse nests all over the place so the next day we came back with dads 1928 take-down Marlin .22 pump loaded with rat shot. He would kick a nest and mice would run out in all directions and I shot that pump action as fast as I could! I was having a ball then my dad kicked one nest and this huge snake uncoiled out of it and it was hissing so loud you could hear it 50 yards away. The snake was between my dads legs and the head was almost level with his crotch and dad let out a yell and jumped backwards. He then realized it was just a Bull snake and started laughing out loud meanwhile I was racking that pump shooting the snake in the head as fast as I could and it took all 14 rounds and was still moving. Later my dad held it up by the tale and he was about 6' and the head was still dragging the ground so the snake was pretty close to 7 foot long and really fat!

 

[oldman10mm]

In the wild,just the small 1 foot garden snakes. When I worked at a local community TV station,we had the local animal show person come in to do a show. After the show,I got to handle the tarantulas and a 10-12ft albino python. I always check out the snakes when I go to Petsmart.

 

[amazingflapjack]

Oh yeah, Vietnam...

 

[AzShooter]

On an assignment with some Air Force military police we were entering one of the gunnery ranges and as we go to the gate there was a Western Diamondback curled up. Here are two guns with M-16s and their revolvers but they decided it would be cute to kill this snake by throwing rocks at it.

After a few minutes I had to get into the act and found a huge rock. I smashed it on the snake and killed it. We measured it to be justs over 6 ft. Not the biggest but it was the first snake I've come across after moving to Arizona.

 

[ameridaddy]

In South Africa, I saw a black mamba moving quickly through some thigh high grass, faster than I walk, about 10 ft from my car door. Its head was 3 to 4 ft. above ground, neck arched, so it was 8-10 ft long. I was glad I listened to the Rangers and had my car windows up. That thing was spooky.
Otherwise, the local black racer snakes, about 5 ft long. Copperheads around here are usually less than 2 ft.

 

[A10]

Biggest I saw was mebbe a 4 foot Prairie rattler. Not a lot of big snakes in the PNW.

 

[Frank237]

Saw two large pythons in South Africa. No idea how long, but one had to be as round as a stove pipe! Possibly called Rock Pythons?

 

[dubtap21]

Biggest snake I have seen is the canebrake rattlesnake we saw on a gents property down by El Campo, Texas. At least 5ft and big around as my forearm.

Excellent speciman!!

Sent from my SM-N930T using Tapatalk

 

[richardw]

The largest snake I ever saw in the wild was a Python in Nam. It was about 12 feet long. We ate it. Here in PA where I do a lot of multi day hiking in state forests the largest snake I have ever seen was about. Five foot timber rattle snake. But that are not a big problem because they prefer to retreat from people. The pesky snakes are the copperheads that get to about three feet and love to slither around in tall grass. Their venom is unlikely to be lethal, but who needs any snake bite. That make hiking in the bush a real exercise in situational awareness.

 

[arjay]

Tripped over a bull snake that was 5-6' long and as thick as my forearm while hiking a few years ago.He was stretched out on a mound digesting at least three ground squirrels.I think my heart stopped for a few seconds :-0
My son worked in the oil fields in the eastern part of the state for a few years and rattlers were a pretty common sight.One pad was so infested that they shut it down for a week to move the darn things.
Longest one he saw was about 5'.Said he ran it over...several times!