Our chocolate lab found a speckled kingsnake this morning on the fence line. The dog was glued on it until my wife got the dog away
Snake Thread: 2023
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Last: 11 mo ago by 12f Mane
It's happening!!!!!
I finally saw my first snake of the year.
A banded water snake but I was too slow to get a picture
A banded water snake but I was too slow to get a picture
Houston area from a buddy asking for identification?
Juvenile Nerodia erythrogaster. Probably the YBWS phenotype in that area.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Thx
Saw a nice PBWS while checking cows yesterday. My wife actually spotted it from the four wheeler and freaked out. It disappeared in the tank before I could get close enough to get a picture.
On another note, why are people so hard headed about snake ID? We had a young PBWS pop up on nextdoor last week. Several correct IDs with a few hognoses and ratsnakes thrown in. Fast forward a week, and some guy comes in saying we're all wrong, it's not any type of water snake, and is instead a Texas rat snake. It seems like except maybe politics, snakes make people forego all logic and reason and completely disregard any attempts to correct or educate them.
On another note, why are people so hard headed about snake ID? We had a young PBWS pop up on nextdoor last week. Several correct IDs with a few hognoses and ratsnakes thrown in. Fast forward a week, and some guy comes in saying we're all wrong, it's not any type of water snake, and is instead a Texas rat snake. It seems like except maybe politics, snakes make people forego all logic and reason and completely disregard any attempts to correct or educate them.
Saw a good size green snake on a run today, was actually proud of myself for spotting it. Two people walking by at the same time didn't see it until I touched it.
taken off another site, (from louisiana). time of year responsible for dark color? photo taker obv thought it was copperhead
MouthBQ98 said:
First copperhead of the year.
Gas and fire
Juvenile Nerodia erythrogaster... either PBWS or YBWS in that area. Non-venomous.
Edit: actually, that might be a juvenile Nerodia sipedon in that area. The juveniles are hard to tell apart but on closer inspection I'm gonna lean sipedon. Either way it is a water snake and non-venomous.
Edit: actually, that might be a juvenile Nerodia sipedon in that area. The juveniles are hard to tell apart but on closer inspection I'm gonna lean sipedon. Either way it is a water snake and non-venomous.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Thread derail...Badace, you a vet or work with animals? I know 12F works in the field so he has an excuse!
Good call, that is a sipedon. A species of water snake (midland watersnake) we only controversially have in Texas.
I am not a vet nor do I work with animals. I'm an emergency medicine doctor who was really interested in animals as a kid and tried to learn all I could about them back then and most of my current knowledge is holdover from back then combined with a continued interest in the outdoors.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
interesting. the tail looks like a blotched water snake, but the front half i thought maybe broad banded with odd coloring.Badace52 said:
Juvenile Nerodia erythrogaster... either PBWS or YBWS in that area. Non-venomous.
It's a juvenile and they look pretty different from the adults. Blotched water snakes actually are Nerodia erythrogaster and the Nerodia sipedon looks very similar as a juvenile except the first few bands go all the way across the back. Broad banded water snake juveniles look a lot like the adults.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
thanks. are there as many discrepancies among any other type of snakes as water snakes?
There's about a million types of rattle snakes in Texas, but most people are totally unaware of any of them other than diamond back and timber
Short answer is yes.
Long answer:
Racers, rat snakes, common kongsnakes and racers all have tons of subspecies, many of which at one time or another were considered separate species. The three species of coral snake in the U.S. were considered subspecies until fairly recently and now are largely considered three separate species. Garter/ribbon snakes are pretty difficult to figure out which ones are subspecies versus separate species and everything is always changing due to continued genetic studies and general disagreements among experts.
Long answer:
Racers, rat snakes, common kongsnakes and racers all have tons of subspecies, many of which at one time or another were considered separate species. The three species of coral snake in the U.S. were considered subspecies until fairly recently and now are largely considered three separate species. Garter/ribbon snakes are pretty difficult to figure out which ones are subspecies versus separate species and everything is always changing due to continued genetic studies and general disagreements among experts.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
First relocation of the year! Got a call last night about 11:15pm for a rattlesnake relocation from a guy's back yard. Found this little guy (Western Diamondback, about 3 ft) curled up outside his chicken coup. Took me about 30 minutes to get there, had to change out of my jammies and drive over. Guy said the snake never stopped rattling from the time he almost stepped on him until I got there. As wound up as that snake was he never struck at the tongs, he just looked at them with the expression of "don't you know who I am." Found him a nice new home in a heavily wooded creek system within an appropriate relocation distance.
Free Snake Relocation Volunteer Map
Free Snake Relocation Volunteer Map
i'd be changing out of my jammies after seeing it, not before i was going to capture him.Deus Vult said:
First relocation of the year! Got a call last night about 11:15pm for a rattlesnake relocation from a guy's back yard. Found this little guy (Western Diamondback, about 3 ft) curled up outside his chicken coup. Took me about 30 minutes to get there, had to change out of my jammies and drive over. Guy said the snake never stopped rattling from the time he almost stepped on him until I got there. As wound up as that snake was he never struck at the tongs, he just looked at them with the expression of "don't you know who I am." Found him a nice new home in a heavily wooded creek system within an appropriate relocation distance.
Free Snake Relocation Volunteer Map
Field trip to Houston Interactive Zoo. It's small, but very....interactive. My old roommate at A&M is a gas passer at Baylor in Dallas.Badace52 said:
I am not a vet nor do I work with animals. I'm an emergency medicine doctor who was really interested in animals as a kid and tried to learn all I could about them back then and most of my current knowledge is holdover from back then combined with a continued interest in the outdoors.
THE very best stories I still tell today came from his residency and his time at Galveston. Pretty good parties there when I was 24.
There were a couple from the prison circuit I use on students to get their attention. It works every time.
Deer lease work day on Saturday in Brisco County. Snake boots mandatory for everyone. Owner says he's running over them left and right just on the regular roads we have out there.
I would still putt my ball into the cup and see what happens. But I sure as hell would not retrieve said ball.Lonestar_Ag09 said:
https://instagr.am/p/Cn-VQPiOKg-
I'm golfing tomorrow…I might need to pack heat just in case 
….
…. The Red-Bellied Black Snake is probably the least dangerous elapid snake in Australia. Very few deaths result from its bite, and numerous bites are reported every year.Lonestar_Ag09 said:
https://instagr.am/p/Cn-VQPiOKg-
The was one of my reasons for posting, to see if what they said was even truthful
When I was in Australia a few years ago we went to a wildlife preserve. They had a reptile house. When we were going through we noticed the little door to the red bellied snake exhibit was open and no snake to be found.
This wasn't like a U.S. zoo exhibit. It was an L-shaped building with a long hallway. The snake enclosures were basically each an aquarium with a wooden back wall, sitting on tables lining the hallway all the way through.
My wife and I were the only two people in the exhibit. Talk about pucker factor.
We very slowly and methodically worked our way out, looking in every direction on the way for anything along the ground that looked out of place. Every table had a black cloth covering it, so every table we passed was... stressful. Keep in mind this is a low light environment too.
As soon as we got out we found the nearest employee and let them know.
They were not amused. They called a code red (learned that was for venomous snake on the loose). We basically had to stand there about 30' from reptile house until more help arrived. They cordoned off the area and made everyone leave the park, and were nice enough to drive us to the front gate and give us a refund.
Took them two days to find that snake.
This wasn't like a U.S. zoo exhibit. It was an L-shaped building with a long hallway. The snake enclosures were basically each an aquarium with a wooden back wall, sitting on tables lining the hallway all the way through.
My wife and I were the only two people in the exhibit. Talk about pucker factor.
We very slowly and methodically worked our way out, looking in every direction on the way for anything along the ground that looked out of place. Every table had a black cloth covering it, so every table we passed was... stressful. Keep in mind this is a low light environment too.
As soon as we got out we found the nearest employee and let them know.
They were not amused. They called a code red (learned that was for venomous snake on the loose). We basically had to stand there about 30' from reptile house until more help arrived. They cordoned off the area and made everyone leave the park, and were nice enough to drive us to the front gate and give us a refund.
Took them two days to find that snake.
ID
My guess is cottonmouth, but I've been known to get these wrong.
Appears to be a harmless Plain Bellied Watersnake.
AgreedMyNameIsJeff said:
Appears to be a harmless Plain Bellied Watersnake.
I thought the head seemed like probably not a cottonmouth, but the tail getting skinny and the body being flat made me think cottonmouth. What helped you come to that conclusion since you can't see belly or the lines on mouth?MyNameIsJeff said:
Appears to be a harmless Plain Bellied Watersnake.