Snake I.D.

[PH-2]

What shape was it's head afore you runt over it?

Mike

 

[2152hq]

I think it's a belt.

 

[rags]

A dead one?

 

[geoff40]

One of the interesting things about this species is that the venom has a chemical in it called contortrostatin (I think I spelled this correctly) which has been discovered to stop cancer spread and growth in mice. There are several ongoing medical research studies as you read this. This moderately poisonous snake may end up being an important critter directly involved in the production of a potent cancer fighting drug in the coming years.

 

[GF]

Geoff's right. It's a Copper Head.

Nope.

It's the dreaded and rare Rattle-Headed-Copper-Moccasin snake.

Best defense is to shoot at it 'til empty. Scream like a little girl, reload & shoot some more.

GF - snake expert

 

[OK Hog Shooter]

ummmm.... that's definetely a copperhead. Reminds me of a story regarding a timber rattler. (huh? how'd we get from a copperhead to a timber rattler? It has to do with a run over "dead" snake!)

Here in central Oklahoma we have scattered habitat for both copperheads and timber rattlers. The habitats may or may not overlap. According to my rural neighbors near my acreage, they had seen copperheads but no rattlers. I've seen copperheads but no rattlers... until last Spring. So I'm leaving the "farm" and decide to do my "Chisum" drive around the north side of the place. I'm tooling slowly along and see a dead snake on the shoulder of the gravel road. I drove about a 100 yards past and thought to myself "self... that didn't look like no bull snake I've ever seen"... so I backs up and peers out the winder... yes sir... it's a 4' long timber rattler. Stretched out like a board... the extra wide truck tire prints right across the body, just below the head. I'm thinking to myself... a set of rattles for my hat! I get out, flip open my trusty Kershaw Onion and start to bend over to perform surgery. Now I've picked up many a non-poisonous road killed snake that weren't anywhere near dead. My survival instincts kicked in and I stopped. Grabbing a dead fall branch from the bar ditch, I poked said dead snake. Ahhhh Hah! He weren't all that dead! Matter of fact... he skeeeedaddled right off the road. Now I know that coulda been death throw reflexes... but I wasn't in the mood to find out. Dang... I sure wanted those rattles!

Hog

 

[kozmic]

I breed king, corn and rat snakes. I breed for color and pattern. I can get that blotchy pattern and the colors of the snake shown (which was ready to shed within a few hours - eyes aren't blue anymore). But that is NOT a corn snake. In fact, I don't think you'll find corns to be native to central PA.
As far as a copperhead. Not sure there either. Head shape is wrong and eyes are wrong. If it is native to that area it does make it possible though.
I'm going to throw a wrench at this and say it is probably a NORTHERN WATER SNAKE. Similar markings, similar shape, similar size to a copperhead. I believe they have known to have red eyes and are found in central PA. FYI, they are a very aggressive and will repeatedly strike just-for-the-heck-of-it. Total pricks.
IMHO, I'd say I'm 85% sure it is a northern water snake. 15% could be a copperhead and no way a corn. I know snakes fairly well but not so much with copperheads 'cause they aren't found in my area so I'll leave it open that I might be mistaken.
I hope that helps.

 

[kozmic]

Ha! My kid, the true snake expert in the family and I just went head to head on this. It probably not a Northern water snake because they typically have "stripes" the go around the body and not the blotchy spots this one has. There are other native water snakes that more mimic a copperhead or a moccasin in that respect. But most have a "fake" set of teeth around their mouths (black scales).
He likes the idea its a copperhead (the top scales on the head do look right) but there are no pits and the head shows no venom sacs and those eyes just aren't right.
So, he and I can't definitively agree on this one!
I guess the more I know, the less I know....maybe my wife is right!

 

[RightArm]

Here in Texas, we call those hatbands.

 

[John Eilertson]

When I first saw picture # 1 I immediately thought, "no viper with that shaped head" but the 2nd pic leads me to think maybe otherwise. I wonder if you left it there, damaged maybe beyond repair, or finished it off? I'd have smacked it with a branch, or something, to save it the misery. (Then, maybe taken it home for a meal...)

 

[geoff40]

It's a copperhead. If you look closely, you can see damage to it's body, the right eye is bulged out, the jaw does not look like it is closed all the way,The body near the head has a dent or 2 in it. Broken bones I'd say. The whole thing was obviously crunched before the photos were taken, which is why the head doesn't look quite like a viper, but a viper it is.

 

[Leslie Sapp]

Rattlesnakes, Copperheads and Cottonmouths are all pit vipers. All pit vipers have a vertical pupil in the eye. See this link. Water snakes, corn snakes, etc, have a round pupil.

So in the future, catch him, hold him up in some good light and closely examine his eye, and you'll know for sure.