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8/2/2006 9:48:11 AM

Quote :

"ve seen copperheads 5 times so far this year in my backyard."

Sounds like somebody has been slacking on chopping their heads off. Is your hoe broken?

8/2/2006 10:12:31 AM

Quote :

"Is your hoe broken?"

No, shes on strike.

I dont have any kids or anything, so i dont mess with them. My dog is a big wimp, so she runs at the first sign of them. Id much rather have snakes then vermin.

8/2/2006 10:31:17 AM

I know someone who is in the hospital right now from a copperhead bite. So it must be at least a little dangerous.

8/2/2006 11:57:25 AM

common water snakes are often mistaken for cottonmouths

8/2/2006 12:01:12 PM

Quote :

"If I saw a snake up close to my house, I'd probably kill it too. My wife doesn't care if it's harmless or not, it's a snake and it's close to the house."

I feel the same way about dogs, cats, squirrels, mice and mormons.

8/2/2006 12:05:29 PM

^ + people selling magazines and plant life.

8/2/2006 1:23:34 PM

Copperhead bit my friend's parent's scotty (dog), and the dog almost died from it. They had to rush her to the emergency vet clinic near Tryon and she wasn't the same for a week afterward. Bit her right in the face...she was probably messing with it and didn't know it would bite her.

8/2/2006 1:33:35 PM

Quote :

"So wait, are we allowed to kill copperheads or are we supposed to try to fuck with them and risk getting bit?"

I'm not suggesting you tail handle them or anything. Capturing a copperhead with an appropriate container shouldn't be any more dangerous than killing it. If you see one, just grab a stick and a bucket, and herd the serpent into the bucket. It's easy. Then release it at a better location.

If you're scared, call up somebody with experience/who isn't scared.

Quote :

"I know someone who is in the hospital right now from a copperhead bite. So it must be at least a little dangerous."

The shit they do to you at the hospital is generally the most dangerous part. Copperhead bites certainly suck, but they aren't going to kill anybody.

8/2/2006 2:53:51 PM

^ Agreed

8/2/2006 3:00:42 PM

also agreed. people get so wound up over copperheads, and they're really much more beneficial than anything else. I deal with people every other day at the park, since we have a regular snake, that run up to me calling for me to kill our northern water snake. I love telling them that, no, its not a copperhead, and... wait.. even if it were, we wouldn't kill it!! playground mom's are the best. If you dont know what it is, stay away from it, and it'll go away.

grr@ kill first, ask questions later. can we bang you over the head w/a shovel b/c I think you look dangerous?

8/3/2006 6:56:40 PM

I really can't picture a copperhead with orange on its head with a black stripe

one more vote for you killed an innocent snake for no reason

8/4/2006 1:42:51 AM

yup, congrats for killing one of the prettiest snakes in the state...i sure hope it wasnt a southern hognose. those are pretty damn rare these days.

8/4/2006 4:53:09 AM

coral snake is about the only snake i'd even reccomend killing....

8/4/2006 8:42:15 AM

http://www.lnt.org/

8/4/2006 9:06:04 AM

I knew summer was missing something: threads about killing snakes.

This one doesn't hold a candle to, "I saw a snake in the yard and called diddy to come kill it with a bat," though. That was possibly the dumbest bitch I've ever had the displeasure of talking to on this site.

8/4/2006 9:40:02 AM

i wouldnt recommend killin any native animal whose population is below capacity

8/4/2006 3:00:30 PM

i wouldnt recommend killin any native animal whose population is below capacity

8/4/2006 3:00:30 PM

Sorry it took me so long, being in brazil my internet access is less than reliable.

I love how all the "experts" come out in these threads and most of them are definitely not from the herp community around NC State. Let's see if I can debunk some myths.

First, copperheads, cottonmouths, and rattlesnakes are all pit vipers. If you look in picture 2, you see that there is no big missing scale between the nose and the eye. All the pit vipers also have vertical pupils, again from picture 2 you see a round pupil, and the only venomous snake with a round pupil in NC is the coral snake.

Copperheads generally have the light brown background with dark brown markings sometimes with some pink thrown in. Not ALL copperheads look like this however, as is evidenced by the extremely uncommon all-black (hypomelanistic) copperhead kept in the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. If you go to the museum you will notice that it is not on display however, and I think that maybe in part because if the general public saw that they would go and kill every black rat snake they saw out of fear.

Reiterating what someone else said, venom is something that is injected and is harmful, poisons are something that are ingested and harmful. In theory you could drink snake venom and have no adverse effects, although I'm not about to prove this to anyone.

Copperheads have enough venom of a high enough potency to kill a dog, but it's very unlikely to kill an adult human. At worst it can inflict a very painful bite, and an untreated secondary infection could lead to a limb amputation.

Again reiterating what someone said, if you see a copperhead and it sees you, very rarely does it act aggressivley. Copperheads aren't mean at all, maybe you're thinking of cottonmouths which have a deserved reputation for being nasty. Most of the time they will retreat, but if they are going to strike, they usually rattle their tail. Most copperhead bites are a result of someone stepping on the well-camouflaged snake. If that is the case they usually inject venom because for all they know something warm-blooded moving near them could potentially be a meal.

Triangular-shaped heads are not always a tell tale sign of a venomous snake. For example boas have triangular heads and are not venomous, and coral snakes have non-triangular heads and are venomous. Vipers have their venom glands at the rear of their head, giving them a somewhat triangular appearance.

One thing about the hognose snakes is they flatten their heads and necks to form what looks like the hood of a cobra. In that regard, in the heat of the moment a flattened hognose might be mistaken for a venomous snake.

As all the so-called "tree-huggers" have said, next time please ask before you kill a harmless animal. Personally I don't consider myself a tree-hugger, but I definitely am an environmentalist.

8/4/2006 5:10:51 PM

Quote :

"If you go to the museum you will notice that it is not on display however, and I think that maybe in part because if the general public saw that they would go and kill every black rat snake they saw out of fear"

keen insight, thats actually a good heads up decision by the museum

8/4/2006 5:17:32 PM

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"coral snake is about the only snake i'd even reccomend killing...."

Why? Though it'd be bad, it's hard to get bitten by a coral snake. They're small and easy to deal with.

Also, in NC, they're extremely rare.

8/4/2006 10:21:57 PM

Quote :

"yup, congrats for killing one of the prettiest snakes in the state...i sure hope it wasnt a southern hognose. those are pretty damn rare these days."

and they'll remain rare if they're in my yard. although i had a change of heart the other day when i found a black snake in my yard. i got the shovel, scooped it up, and carried it down the street to a neighbor who i don't particularly care for's yard.

8/4/2006 11:20:59 PM