Just found one in Timbergrove. It was a baby but I assume there are more.


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It was 100% one of these guys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massasauga

A type of Rattlesnake.

There are definitely more!

Be on the look out for momma

Well since you said EVER ....... Yes . In the middle of the old football field at St Thomas HS on Memorial in 70 or 71. Couple of us found it , called a coach over and he went to his car got a shotgun and .....
Probably crawled up from the bayou across Memorial.

Pics? Did it have a rattle? Otherwise I'm betting it was a hognose.

I didn't take one. But it was the same markings and color as the one above. tiny little nub for a rattle on the end. About 12 inches long.

Anything is possible I suppose but we're talking about an exceedingly rare chance. I fish White Oak Bayou regularly and even water moccasins aren't that common. Mostly diamond back watersnakes or broad-banded watersnakes.

Both are regularly mistaken for water moccasins.

And the number of times I see people mistake a rat snake or hognose for a venomous snake is astounding. People who spend a lot of time outdoors too.

I would think with all the rain and runoff in the rivers and bayous, displaced snakes from other areas getting caught up in it and washed into terrain that isn't normally their's is possible, or even likely. Drought years or years with less rain, not so much

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Pics? Did it have a rattle? Otherwise I'm betting it was a hognose.

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That's what I was thinking. But yea, I guess anything is possible. With so many people, (not specifically the OP because I don't know him), misidentifying snakes I would be hesitant to think there was a rattlesnake in the loop.


Hognose


Massasauga rattler on left and hognose on right.

The ones I've heard about have all been on the east side near the the ship channel. Easy to find a place to hide and a steady diet of rodents.

KDub

It was like the one one on the left in the second pic.

i would put money on juvenile ratsnake.

Just went for a walk. Found another one dead in the street. Took this pic. Smaller than the other no button.

Is the pic I posted a ratsnake or a rattler? Looks more like the rattler to my eyes.

Not ITL but we had a copperhead bite a worker inside our plant in Pearland. A couple of people had said they'd seen them but I figured it was not actually a copperhead. I was wrong...

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Not ITL but we had a copperhead bite a worker inside our plant in Pearland. A couple of people had said they'd seen them but I figured it was not actually a copperhead. I was wrong...

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Copperheads are far more common than rattlesnakes around Houston. Unless you're down on the coast (especially in the dunes) or over in the Piney Woods the chances of seeing a rattlesnake near Houston are extremely small. Copperheads, coral snakes, and water moccasins are pretty common though.

But not nearly as common as all the non-venomous snakes around here. Which are generally misidentified.

Just a ratsnake. There are no rattlesnakes in the loop and about 1% chance of one being within the beltway.

While we're throwing out statistics, I'd venture to bet all monies in the world on the 100% chance of 1 rattlesnake being somewhere inside the beltway.

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Native and not a pet? I'd take that bet. You're best (or only) shot would be a pygmy rattlesnake in the Sheldon area, IMO, and the last record is at least 50 years old.

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And I live about 10 minutes from Sheldon and walk the trails there (plus Eisenhower Park off Big Eddy) regularly where a pygmy might be found but only see the usual suspects. Saw a timber rattler on the road at my lease in Tyler county a couple years ago.

Thanks for the invitation to come look for timbers on your lease!

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Thanks for the invitation to come look for timbers on your lease!

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If it were up to me I'd have no problem. But it's a large "hunting club"- approximately 45 members on about 5800 acres leased from 8 different landowners (mostly timber/paper interests) in the Neches River bottoms. I'm just a junior member who doesn't spend near the time there I'd like to. But it's cheap and close.

Pour one out for all the king snakes killed as corals.
No shortage of corals in Austin County, though.

Within 10 minutes of the Renassance Fest there must be a million copperheads, I swear.

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Pics? Did it have a rattle? Otherwise I'm betting it was a hognose.

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That's what I was thinking. But yea, I guess anything is possible. With so many people, (not specifically the OP because I don't know him), misidentifying snakes I would be hesitant to think there was a rattlesnake in the loop.


Hognose


Massasauga rattler on left and hognose on right.

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Western Hognoses are not found in the Houston area. Eastern Hognoses are. Easterns have a much different patterning.

Yep, was gonna say you won't find a hognose that looks like that around here. They're much darker here. Used to make great pets when we were younger.

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Thanks for the invitation to come look for timbers on your lease!

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If it were up to me I'd have no problem. But it's a large "hunting club"- approximately 45 members on about 5800 acres leased from 8 different landowners (mostly timber/paper interests) in the Neches River bottoms. I'm just a junior member who doesn't spend near the time there I'd like to. But it's cheap and close.

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What county? Think our leases are pretty close to each other.

Corals and copperheads all over the place in Kingwood. Never seen a rattler.

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The 4,352,789 rat snake killed, mistaken as something poisonous.

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If you read his post, you'd know that he didn't kill the one in the picture. It was found dead on the road.

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Thanks for the invitation to come look for timbers on your lease!

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If it were up to me I'd have no problem. But it's a large "hunting club"- approximately 45 members on about 5800 acres leased from 8 different landowners (mostly timber/paper interests) in the Neches River bottoms. I'm just a junior member who doesn't spend near the time there I'd like to. But it's cheap and close.

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What county? Think our leases are pretty close to each other.

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Tyler.

We're west of the Neches between 255 and 190.

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The 4,352,789 rat snake killed, mistaken as something poisonous.

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If you read his post, you'd know that he didn't kill the one in the picture. It was found dead on the road.

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Yep. And as I walked the dogs this morning I saw another one. Also run over by a car.

I was grilling in the backyard one night, and I heard a commotion in the street out front. I went through the house and started heading out to the street, only to meet my 5 year old son heading back toward the house. The commotion had excited him so much that he had run out of the house in his underwear and was coming back to put on pants. Turns out, a neighbor had a dead 6 foot long snake in the street. He had just killed it and was explaining to all the neighborhood kids how it was poisonous, and you could tell by looking at its head. I walked up, took one look, and said "bullsnake." Not only did the gentleman not appreciate it when I properly identified his fresh kill; he apparently also thought I was cursing him. He sheepishly ended his snake lecture, and went to dispose of the beautiful creature, who should still be eating baby rats in my backyard.

Could have been my kid.

Really makes you think.