GOD SHUT THE FUCK UP WITH THE ARGUING ABOUT VENOMOUS/POISONOUS

7/31/2008 6:06:50 PM

i think that point was already made

7/31/2008 6:07:37 PM

prove it

7/31/2008 6:07:58 PM

here is today's lesson on watersnakes.

banded water snake:

not always easily visible in adults, the banding pattern from the back and down the sides is continuous. very few, if any of the "bands" break.

northern water snake:

looks very similar to banded water snake, only the lateral banding pattern starts to break apart from the dorsal banding about halfway down the length of the snake, towards the posterior.

redbelly water snake:

belly is solidly colored with a red to orange to yellowish color. adults have little dorsal pattern.

brown water snake:

squared pattern down the back, disjunct squares running laterally. head is differently shaped than other Nerodia water snakes.


NOW, for the venomous snakes:

copperhead:

pinkish-tan to light orange-tan base color with dark hourglasses (may be broken) that stand out distinctly. more typically found in leaf litter, at the base of trees, or around logs/stumps. tends to be pissy/bitey if you get too close.

cottonmouth:

the one venomous snake in the state most closely associated with water. if if you piss them off, they react by either opening their mouth (hence, cottonmouth), or they take off into the water and disappear. they will not chase you. bites happen when you accidentally step too close. you're more likely to find them in creeks than ponds. you WILL NOT find these in raleigh, unless you go to the museum.

of course, there are many other water-loving snakes in the area. one urban snake that many people often mistake as a baby copperhead is the Dekay's/Brown snake.



and
cottonmouth = water moccasin = trapjaw = Agkistrodon piscivorus. some people even go so far as to call them "cottonmouth water moccasins".

yes, the cottonmouth is known to occur in wake county. but as i mentioned, only a few records from extreme eastern wake county. good luck finding a canebrake rattlesnake (coastal form of the timber) in wake county. they're extremely rare and i believe once in a blue moon someone comes up with a dead one.

ambrosia1231...i agree, not everyone gets their panties in a wad. but obviously, snakes are a touchy subject with most people, and we try hard to beat the ignorance out of people by helping them learn the proper facts.

but the simple fact remains. if you cant properly ID a snake, don't fuck with it. most of us are educated people and can understand that the closer you get to a snake you dont know shit about, the greater your likelihood of getting bitten by something you shouldnt be bitten by.

[Edited on July 31, 2008 at 6:17 PM. Reason : taxispilota]

7/31/2008 6:12:36 PM

i live like a half-mile away and just saw a copperhead outside the apartment a couple days ago as a matter of fact

[Edited on July 31, 2008 at 6:14 PM. Reason : &]

7/31/2008 6:12:42 PM

Quote :

"there are no poisonous snakes. there are only venomous and non-venomous snakes"

instead of jumpin down a guys throat because he knows more than you, you should be thankful for the fuckin opportunity to learn somethin

too much fuckin pride nowadays...no one knows more than you and you are always right in both your "facts" and your damn opinions


[Edited on July 31, 2008 at 6:24 PM. Reason : x]

7/31/2008 6:21:56 PM

it would seem reasonable that if you eat certain parts of a venomous snake you will ingest its venom, thus making it poisonous, right?

7/31/2008 6:24:25 PM

thats not the way toxins work


they target specific cells and tissues

kinda like how antivenins are made from venom

[Edited on July 31, 2008 at 6:25 PM. Reason : a]

7/31/2008 6:25:41 PM

you can ingest venom without ill effects. though if there is an abrasion in the mouth, esophagus, stomach wall, etc...good luck.

7/31/2008 6:27:50 PM

some garter snakes are poisonous

hmm and keelbacks according to wiki

[Edited on July 31, 2008 at 6:29 PM. Reason : .]

7/31/2008 6:27:58 PM

snakes?

in my lake johnson?

7/31/2008 6:29:33 PM

i like this umop guy

good posts man

7/31/2008 6:31:19 PM

7/31/2008 6:33:05 PM

very nice post with descriptions, umop-apisdn.

7/31/2008 6:39:52 PM

Here are some pictures I've taken down in the Sandhills of NC. In order, we have a cottonmouth, pygmy rattlesnake and a copperhead

7/31/2008 6:44:03 PM

^and i would like to add that the sandhills are a couple hours from raleigh.

7/31/2008 6:48:20 PM

^^your cottonmouth looks different than upside-down's

that's why you ought to just kill them all

7/31/2008 6:56:35 PM

^
different localities, and even within the same locality you get variation in individuals.

the one i pictured was an adult. coloration like the one above is typical of younger individuals. with many species of snakes there is a shift in the intensity of the colors from birth to adulthood. in most cases, the color grows darker and duller, and the pattern obscures. lobes' picture is an exceptionally pretty cottonmouth, for those who know how to appreciate snakes.

7/31/2008 7:12:56 PM

i don't kill snakes. once there was one on my doorstep. a really really really skinny one and it was windy and it was blowing in the wind. i just let it blow and went out the backdoor.

7/31/2008 7:15:58 PM

appreciating snakes is like saying dnl isn't creepy. shit just doesn't work. That said, I don't fuck with them unless they get between me and my exit. If it doesn't move, its ass is dead.

7/31/2008 7:17:10 PM

i don't give a shit what it looks like. if it falls out of a tree and into my boat, i'm gonna fuckin what the ever-living shit out of it w/ a paddle until that bitch is dead.

i've done it before, i'll do it again.

7/31/2008 7:18:25 PM

why wouldn't you appreciate snakes. do you WANT to be overrun by rodents. rats gross me out way way WAY more than snakes.

emphasis on WAY.

[Edited on July 31, 2008 at 7:25 PM. Reason : .]

7/31/2008 7:19:41 PM

haha. reminds me of when bill dance had the snake try to fish with him.

7/31/2008 7:19:53 PM

we have poison for rodents

7/31/2008 7:21:00 PM

i don't get it. if it isn't hurting you why kill it. i hate people that see a snake and then run and get the shovel and chop off its head just because.

7/31/2008 7:26:27 PM

i think it's more he gets a kick out of pestering us...it is the wolfweb after all.

that and he's a pussy.

7/31/2008 7:47:54 PM

this is true. but i know tons of people do this. they're like "omg a snake" and instead of just going about their business away from the snake they take the time to kill it. i don't even know anything about snakes. i just think it is dumb.

7/31/2008 7:49:18 PM

it is dumb.

that, and they are scared bitches.

7/31/2008 8:10:44 PM

i've killed a cottonmouth with a shotgun at a pond in angier and my buddy shot one with a .22 (didn't kill it) at a pond in garner near white oak.

i didn't know it was a cottonmouth until after i killed it and examined it.

as for the one in garner, he stepped on it on a trail and it opened its mouth as you said, then he backed up and shot it with a .22. the snake slithered off

7/31/2008 8:24:37 PM

aww, i was at dinner and didn't get to contribute anything

in two years the only venomous snake i've encountered in the triangle area are copperheads (although raleigh does have one hell of a healthy population).

^ seriously, i could maybe believe angier. but i'm calling bullshit on garner, especially if you said you couldn't identify a snake based on sight.

[Edited on July 31, 2008 at 8:26 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on July 31, 2008 at 8:27 PM. Reason : id]

7/31/2008 8:25:07 PM

well, the one in garner he didn't get a really good look at except for its mouth...and that was a frenzied step back and shoot motion.

so...who knows.

but the one in angier definitely. that was the same pond i got into a nest of fire ants.

7/31/2008 8:29:00 PM

just saw two more copperheads within 10 minutes of one another

7/31/2008 8:59:08 PM

SNAKE JOHNSON

7/31/2008 8:59:53 PM

i think there is a copperhead in my patio wall right now. but i can't really tell. it looks like a copperhead but it is coiled up and i'm not going to try to make it come out so i can get a better look. i don't know a lot about snakes so i'm probably wrong but i just went out and looked at it. he looked scared. all these birds keep flying around it. but they're too little to eat him so i don't know what they birds are doing.

EDIT: i don't live near lake johnson. i just remembered there was a debate about copperheads being in wake county in this thread.

[Edited on August 30, 2008 at 2:27 PM. Reason : .]

8/30/2008 2:25:14 PM

birds will fly around a snake to keep it away from their babies and/or eggs nearby

8/30/2008 2:30:05 PM

look like this?


[Edited on August 30, 2008 at 2:34 PM. Reason : .]

8/30/2008 2:33:46 PM

i accidentally brushed up against a cattail on the edge of a small pond with my bucket when i was kid...i was fishing and i had a small net, trying to get minnows for bait. i hit the cattail as i walked by and then a snake's head rose out from around it. it was a foot and a half away from me...it opened its mouth and sat there, looking at me, with his head up. i drop my bucket and it goes into the water...i ran away and got my bucket later. this was in florida. this shit happened all the time.

8/30/2008 2:37:06 PM

^^ yea that is its coloring. i can't really see its head because it is coiled up and just the eyes are sticking out so hard to see the shape.

^^^ interesting about the birds hovering around it. i guess they probably do have a nest nearby. the whole damn family is out there flying around it. but its in the wall. he's just chillin.

8/30/2008 2:39:26 PM

birds will do that to alert other birds and to irritate the shit out of a predator in the hope that it leaves

8/30/2008 2:41:29 PM

we got mothafuckin snakes in this lake!

8/30/2008 2:43:58 PM

there are alligator gar in lake johnson...true story

8/30/2008 2:44:34 PM

in other snake news, yesterday on....national geographic (i think?) i watched the story behind this picture:



python eating alligator. and for some reason the python died half way through. BUT i had to change the channel when they tried to recreate why a python would attempt to eat an alligator...they tried to feed baby alligators to a python and i couldn't handle it poor poor baby alligators.

[Edited on August 30, 2008 at 2:47 PM. Reason : .]

8/30/2008 2:46:44 PM

Quote :

"python eating alligator"

that's the most badass thing I've ever heard.

8/30/2008 3:05:10 PM

yea it like exploded in the middle (obviously) or osmething while it was eating. and they were trying to figure out why.

8/30/2008 3:06:32 PM

^^^

8/31/2008 5:18:36 AM

and burmese python vs. electric fence

8/31/2008 7:57:46 AM

OK, even though my natural tendency would be to kill the snake and worry about it later, I am going to try and take the advice of the snake lovers in this thread and let them live. That being said, I am concerned about my dog being in the backyard and possibly stumbling across a snake. She is very curious and would probably try to play with the damn thing. Is there anything that I can do to keep the snakes out? I seem to recall that spreading sulfur around will keep them away, but who knows if that is true. But if there is something that I can spread around the fence perimeter that won't harm the dog or the snakes and will keep the suckers out, I would be interested.

8/31/2008 9:29:22 AM