A Rare Texas Snake - They Eat Rattlesnakes; How To Easily Know If A Snake You See is Venemous From Safe Distance in U.S.

I first saw a Texas Blue Indigo snake near our geology professors house in Kingsville, TX. We tried to catch it but it was very quick. They are non-poisonous but you do have a chance of feeling its teeth if you grab one. The one we saw was an easy 8.5 feet long.



video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_XvHPh8LLk

Good Lord... I didn't know such a thing existed. I googled it to make sure you weren't putting me on... I was going to accuse you of photoshopping this! Ugghhh.

I feel the same way about snakes as Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

After looking up Kingsville, I have to ask how you were affected by Harvey? (EDIT: I see the other thread in CH that you started... will read that)

Where Panzer lives in Florida you have

Eastern Indigo Snake
https://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/drycou.htm

Well you're just starting to list where I've been stationed!

Texas - Lackland (well not stationed, but BMT AND tech school, so I was there about 7 mos)
Florida - MacDill

Most snakes that you encounter RogueSqdn in the U.S. will be harmless. That includes the indigo snake. It's very easy to know the poisonous snakes. In Texas we have a little over 20 different species of rattlesnakes - the ones you are most likely to come across however have the typical thick body with the somewhat triangular shaped head common in the pit vipers.

Cottonmouth = pit viper
Eastern & Western diamonback rattlesnakes = pit viper (plus the smaller species of rattlesnakes)
Copperhead = pit viper

Coral snake is not a pit viper and is much smaller and does not have the characteristic head shape of the pit viper. They are very shy snakes and will not strike out at you - you are not likely to be bitten by one unless you maybe step on one or attempt to handle it. Even then it is not easy for them to bite you as they do not have long fangs and have small mouths. Do not confuse them with a few other snakes that have the same colors ..... a coral snake is easy to tell .....look at their colors and just remember "RED & YELLOW KILL A FELLOW." If the red color is next to the yellow - its a coral snake.

That's it - that's all the poisonous species in the U.S. ! ALL OTHER NATIVE SNAKES IN THE U.S. ARE NON-POISONOUS

milk snake - notice the red is not next to the yellow = harmless


coral snake red color directly next to the yellow = poisonous


Pit vipers (rattlers, cotton mouth, copperheads) as I've said share some easily recognizable physical characteristics; use the link below its very good at showing you the difference in the head shape of the typical North American pit viper vs other snakes

http://www.rattlesnakes.com/info/shapes.html

Oh I know the poisonous ones. Had a cottonmouth pop out of a creek 3 feet from me when I was in third grade. I've also seen a few rattlers up close. Never ran into a copperhead or coral snake.

Speaking of snakes though, I was thinking of getting a few rounds of 9mm snakeshot. Would I be wasting money or does that stuff work out of a pistol?

Well I'm no member of PETA but without our snake friends there would be a LOT more mice and rats running around - rats can spread disease and how many snakes spread disease ? It's a shame that people would kill other creatures for "fun" or because they don't want to learn anything about them.

Yes you would be wasting your money - go see a good movie instead

Well, it will go bang, so if you aim well the first shot should do the trick. Whether that stuff will reliably cycle a semi-automatic pistol... you just need to try it and see. If you have a suitable revolver, then you have one less concern with using that type of ammo.

Thanks guys. I wouldn't be doing that for fun, only if we had a poisonous one around the house. The only one that's come around in the 2 years I've been in my house was a black snake that I chased off with a snow shovel.

i would have picked it up and tossed it out - in our herpetology field trips we would ride on top of Dr. Chaney's truck at Welder Wildlife Refuge. From 50 feet away we could spot a snake on the dirt road. The driver would stop after seeing our hand signal - we would jump off the hood and run up to the snake and attempt to grab it before it would start to bite. From 30 feet away we could already tell if it was poisonous or not. The worst biters were the rat snakes.

there are a good number of Rat Snakes but they are non-venemous, however they can and will bite and draw blood if you don't grab them close enough behind their head

Gray Ratsnake

Like most folks when I see a snake I back away not taking time to see if red meets yellow band or what ever..Don't own a gun by choice but have a machete if needed..Snaks do serve a pourpose in the food chain eating rats and stuff so i just leave them alone

I like snakes. I spent many years in and around the pet industry, either working or just associating with others involved. I have kept a few and cared for many and been bitten far too many times to count. A clean bite, fangs in and out, is not an issue, hardly hurts at all and heals quite quickly. The bad bites come from the natural reaction to pull away, allowing the fangs to rip through tissue.

The really big boas and pythons, 8 foot plus, are generally quite docile. They aren't afraid of you and they have no interest in trying to eat you so they behave well. The babies will strike at almost anything but their teeth are too small to be an issue. The only time I was ever bitten by a large one happened when an idiot brought an injured (rat bite) reticulated python into the shop to ask if it needed medical attention. While examining it my finger slipped into the wound and upset the snake. Two puncture wounds in the back of my hand were the total damage and I sent him to a proper herp vet.

I have a big fear of snakes. Around here we used to see the occasional Fox snake or Gardener snake. That was it. My Dad said they had Blue Racer snakes in southwest Pennsylvania when he was growing up. He said they would actually chase you on occasion. The only time I ever seen a poisonous snake in real life (other than a zoo) was in Nelsonville Ohio. A cotton mouth just slithered right thru a fence and right past all of us sitting at a picnic table. Freaked me right out.

Would you be afraid of the Texas Glass Lizard that can slither very rapidly through the brush and can grow to 40" in length and they look like snakes because they have no legs.

I'm too lazy to research... what makes the TX Glass Lizard not a snake. Aren't lizards cold blooded also?

Yep.

Some basic differences include eye coverings, which snakes do not have. Lizards have ears while snakes do not. Another difference that is not easily observable is that Glass Lizards can detach their tail, like most lizards, while a snake cannot.

I have only handled a couple of glass lizards but I can say that they are more rigid than snakes. They feel like they have a body and a tail as opposed to a snake which seems to be equally flexible over it's entire length.

If you don't like snakes come and live in Ireland Saint patrick chased all the snakes out. LoL
Actually we do have an indigenous small grass snake here in Ireland but its rare to find one
When i lived in the UK. i seen a adder once. frightened the #%&*$# out of me. LoL
No problems with spiders and the like but hate snakes.
I wonder are the many poisonous ones in Europe

and this is one of the many reasons why I continue to live in New England and deal with the winter weather which might last a month or two. No hurricanes like down south, very rarely will we ever see a tornado. One did come through some years back and killed a lady about 20 mins from my house though.
We have a Timer Rattler but very rare to find, only see the garder and water snakes the most while out hiking. Sharks are becoming a bigger siting on Cape Cod, but I don't enter the ocean so don't need to worry about them.

If and when we snow bird to AZ when we retire then I'll have to start worrying about snakes then...

why not retire in western NC near the mountains ? you have family in AZ ?

I've lived in a couple different parts of the country, all of which had snakes. They never really bothered me.

Montana - rattlesnakes. I used to have a picture of a small three foot long juvenile rattlesnake that was sunning on a rock ledge I had just climbed onto from underneath. I sat on one end, he laid on the other, and neither of us was in the mood for shenanigans. He finally moved when I got on my feet and began climbing again, but only to get away. In the mountains there are timber rattlers, which are actually dangerous. They tend to hide, get stepped on, bite, and then rattle.

Washington State - garter snakes and black racers FTW. Loads and loads of them, non-poisonous and good for a laugh. I used to carry one in my BDU breast pocket and act natural when it started crawling out while talking to someone.

Oklahoma - home to the biggest damned copperhead I've ever seen. I left him alone and he was disinterested. Rattlesnakes, too, but they seem to be more skiddish. Same can be said in most of the deserts in the USA.

The South - now we're talking snakes. Copperheads, rattle snakes, corn snakes, black snakes, you name it. But the one a person watches out for and gives wide berth to is the cottonmouth (or, if you prefer, water moccasin). Not only are they poisonous, they're territorial and can be aggressive. I have seen them swim across a pond or stream to chase off someone trying to fish their territory. Bonus: they're fast as all get out. Before swimming in a pond or lake most folks will throw a rock in the water to see if they're around. This rarely scares them off - they come out to investigate.

Recently we were at our friends house, a few blocks down.
Around 9pm, the girls were on the patio, and me and my friend inside (waiting for them to stop talking... ha!)
All of a sudden I see my Wife run by the windows, making screaming noises while doing an imitation of Jackie Joyner-Kersee setting a long jump record.

Needless to say, I walked out side.

"SNAAAAAKE!!!" she screams as I see her cowering in the far corner of the yard.

I noticed my buddy's wife has stacked the loungers and is roughly 8' off the ground, looking apprehensive.

Sure enough, a meter-long snake has wrapped itself around the bottom of my Wife's previous seating arrangement. Well I'll be darned, it is a Copperhead.
Yikes.
My Lovely Bride said she was sitting there talking, and she started feeling something against her foot....

nope, just been there a few times the last few years and we both love it. Been to the Page in the North, Sedona which we love, Phoenix and Tucson. Heading back in March again for the Northern part and then down to DM for an air show.

Never been to NC, only been to Myrtle Beach. Gets to humid for me

I've caught a few snakes like black racers and red rat snakes and little green garden snakes. I helped my Aunt when she needed help getting a black racer off her porch and it tied itself into a knot around my hand and arm lol. Took awhile to get it to relax and safely let it go before letting go of the buisness end. We've dispatched a couple of coral snakes in the past though they are pretty docile but when you've got dogs that like to play with things and who are outside dogs and kids well we just did what we do when we feel compelled to do so. We used to have rattle snakes before things got too developed. My grandmother was bit by one cleaning up brush. That or a recluse spider. Her arm swole up like a balloon and turned completely black and the poison did a number. Out of your head kind of fever and pain. She lay in bed praying in tongues and letting loose a little profanity from time to time which she would NEVER do. That poison is no joke. She did not go to the hospital or anything. God gets the glory that day. We used to have a couple a large corn snakes(yellow rat snakes I think?)hanging out in our shed. I've caught a couple of glass snakes and have seen plenty of dead ones. They do have a large section of their bodies that will snap off easy or that they'll let go of just like a lizards which I think they actually are a lizard without legs. My grandfather took me hunting once and way out in the country on a dirt access road we came across a huge Indigo snake. We got out and it looked like its head got run over. I was amazed at how huge it was. Its body was almost as thick around as a man's fist and when I held it up is was every bit as tall as me at around 6ft+.

So that's why we drink on St. Patrick's day, you'd have to be hammered to go chasing a bunch of snakes all over the place.

LOL, copperheads will do that! When I was at Fort Campbell my RTO came up to me late one morning with a perplexed look on his face. He had gone to sleep sitting up against a tree after radio watch, and when he woke up he had all this white stuff in and around his web gear.

A copperhead had used him as a good rubbing tool to remove its skin! We looked around and found him looking very good, all shiny and clean.

Yikes ! That story gave me the heebie jeebies. No thanks. I'll take the cold weather stuff any day. (I'm sure I will be whining about the cold in a few short months).

DONT MESS WITH TEXAS!

Garter snakes - mating ball (100 or so males per female)

When I was at Ft Sill OK, a friend lived on a small farm and his barn cats would kill rattlers pretty regularly. They'd run across the snake and tease it till it struck, dodge the strike and grab the snake by the head before it could recoil enough to strike again. Then it was just a matter of holding on as the snake thrashed around till it died. Afterward they'd strut around the yard all proud, with a 6' long rattler dragging between their legs. I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it. Pigs will kill them, too.

The problem with IDing a poisonous snake st any distance is that they tend to blend in very well with the environment. On a road or sandy path they'll be pretty easily visible, but walk on a dirt forest path or the forest floor and you'll be lucky to see one till you're close enough for it to bite you. One time while on a land nav exercise in Ft. Stewart GA, my partner was ahead of me and as he leapt across a narrow stream a small copperhead struck upward at him (and missed) from the edge of the bank as he passed overhead.

Yea we would only ID them at distance on the dirt road or in a field area with very short or few grasses and bushes where we could get a clear view of them