Found another snake at my house - copper head

“Well, several weeks ago I wrote about finding a black rat snake in my attic. Saturday I found a copperhead sitting on my driveway. Kinda cool. Didn't know they existed around my area, haven't seen one ever. But I just researched it and they are all over MD apparently. Guess I'll be a little more careful roaming around my woods now!”

“no pics? lol”

“http://community.webshots.com/photo/175557419/175559218jXRukw

Copperheads occurr pretty frequently around here, and all over the Mid-Atlantic for that matter. Phantom Soul saw one up in Ithica.”

“did it look like this?

like a cigarette butt???”

“...an this here's the elusive but deadly Copperhead, small by Australian standards, but don't let this little beauty fool ya, he's packing twin fangs capable of injecting him prey with a paralizing venom.....OW!!!!!...and they're sharp two...the little bugger just bit me!, luckily, my staff has a range of anti-venom at it's disposal...(What's that?...the bag was lost by the airline?..crikey mate, it's a hundred miles to the nearest hospital...!)

uh..yeah...careful in yer woods is good...LOL”

“Yup, that's what he looked like - the "butterfly" patterns down his back, etc. Didn't have the accessory butt, though, ha! Mine must have been the northern buttless variety. :-) I've lived in the same county all my life and never found one there. I now only live about 20 minutes north of where I grew up. Oh well, I'll be more careful now.

That's funny SuperTroll, a friend of mine was over and we found the thing together - and he lauched into a Croc Hunter impression, too! His was quite funny.

At least they aren't too poisonous, and they often dry bite a human anyway. I won't try to find out.”

“A rattle on the trail the other day!

HE was sitting in the middle of the trail flattened out and didnt care theat i steped right over him!!

When they are flatten out that means they are going to attack!”

“I saw a flattened one on the road the other day and he (she?) didn't look to be in the attack mode. j/k”

“A snake will coil before it strikes. I'm not sure what you mean by "flattening out". If it's just stretching out, then it's sunning itself since its cold-blooded.”

“Yes it is stretched out sunning but it looks almost flat thus i got flttenin out!”

“Don't copperheads flatten out when they're pissed?”

“I have no idea never seen a copper”

“Most rattlers coil in preparation to strike. I've seen this up close and personal-like, lol...”

“I'm pretty sure that's the case with all pit vipers, but I could be wrong.”

“That this rattler didnt care what i did or my dogs!!

My pups got reall coles to him before i could grab him he just looked around and didnt move or coil up”

“Digesting a kill, probably. They get real torpid after they eat.”

“The one on my driveway was coiled up when I found him and was coiled when he tried to strike my face. He didn't come too close, but I did blink. Didn't stretch out until he took off into the woods.

Never heard of a snake "flattening out" to strike - they always ball/coil up to protect themselves (less surface area for the enemy to hit).”

“Unless it's a coachwhip. They'll just come right at you even if you don't provoke them (see the "wicked mean snake" thread)!”

“

Mecklenburg County, NC -- A woman accidentally set fire to her own home Tuesday while trying to kill snakes on her front porch, according to investigators.

She said she found a nest of snakes in a couch on her porch and doused the snakes with lighter fluid.

When she threw a match on them, the couch burned and so did her house.

more...”

“worth it!”

“I love you guys down there.”

“Nope, we ain't all geniuses, Gremlin.”

“LMAO...sorry...couldn't help but laughing.”

“I guess it works.”

“wonder if she gottem all”

“That is so incredibly idiotic. The likelihood that those snakes were even poisonous, and therefore posed any kind of threat at all, is very slim.

This is the kind of mind-boggling stupidity which makes one wonder if all those scientists are correct and "intelligent" life really is just a pathetically random occurrence with no significant meaning whatsoever.”

“Grem - do you mean Americans or Southerners? You should hear the stuff that doesn't make the national news.”

“This comes to mind:

http://www.drbukk.com/gmhom/park.html”

“There was a post a year or two ago about somebody who blew their house up with bug bombs trying to get rid of a bug infestation. Put out some of those cans where you seal up the house and pull the trigger, but forgot to turn off the pilot light on the stove like it says to do on the can ...

Got rid of the bugs, I guess!”

“she better be careful, or she is a good candidate for a Darwin award.”

“I live in Mecklenburg County.”

“run for your life Bob!

either the snakes or the locals will get you!
last edited: 6/16/05 11:13:36 PM”

“oops”

“Tons of them hereabouts. I see them on my route from time to time. One of the groundskeepers at an apartment complex where I was filling in for another mailman was bitten on the finger last week. His finger turned black. He can't take anti-venin due to some allergy. Just the tip turned black. The rest of his finger seems okay. (Index finger.) Only got him with one fang--and a smallish copperhead--about ten inches long.

I have never seen a rattlesnake on any route I walk. But lots of copperheads.

Last week I was delivering mail in a neighborhood I'd never been in and came upon a HUGE alligator snapping turtle crossing the road (a back street in a lightly traveled neighborhood). I pulled over to see if I could lift him out of the road and walk him down to the creek where he was headed. When I got to him I realized how huge he was. Easy 70 pounds or so. As I leaned down, he turned his head and opened those enormous jaws and I said, "Screw it, pal. You're on your own." Then I tried to nudge him onto the grass with my foot. He slammed his tail to the right and his right leg to the left and JAMMED MY FOOT BETWEEN HIS LEG, HIS TAIL AND HIS SHELL. I COULDN'T GET MY FOOT OUT!! Finally, I just pulled back hard and got loose.

After that, I waited and soon he bagan to amble on down toward the creek without my help. Seemed I could feel the earth shake under his ponderous tread. He was one huge sumb*tch.

I need to start taking my digital camera with me to work.”

“I saw my first water moccasin last weekend. It was swimming right across the lake (glad I had just got out of the water) and went to try and squeeze in a crack of rocks on the shore. It was so cool seeing him swimming. I have never seen a snake do that before. It probably would freak me out a bit to find a snake nest in my couch, but comeon now, setting fire to them? Ignorant people.”

“Dang Bob, you never heard of the Ninja Turtles???”

“The poisonous snakes in the US should not be fatal unless if very young, very old, infirmed, or massive envenomation. Never seen a bad snakebite until last month, Timber Rattler bite to lip. Take home lesson: Do not mix alcohol and rattlesnakes.

Snakes in Australia are BAD.”

“The only thing that keeps a very young snake from being lethal is that it's mouth is so small that it's difficult for them to bite a human. However, they lack the control that a mature snake develops in "rationing" it's venom. If a young rattler gets hold of a finger, it will pump its venom sacs dry before letting go, making them very dangerous indeed.”

“Water moccasins are very aggressive snakes. They will actually follow you and hunt you down. There used to be one that would follow my dad and his dog every time they walked aruond the pond. All the way around. If they got close to the the water it would open its mouth wide and hiss.
I just encountered a smallish moc at a local nursery yesterday, too. About 18 inches, and dark brown with lighter markings. A handsome snake that left before a nurseryman could get it with a shovel. I'm glad I was wearing my hiking boots too, and not sandals. Not that I got near the thing.”

“Did you know that chemically a rattlesnake's venom is identical to that of a cobra; only a cobra injects a higher dosage when it bites you and is therefore more deadly. Also, a cobra can produce an endless amount of venom, unlike rattlesnakes.

Not trying to be a know-it-all, it's just that I LOVE snakes!!”

“Stephen Sodones spotted it along the edge of Route 23 in Jefferson, a snake just starting its precarious slide to the other side of the highway.

So the 62-year-old animal lover picked it up, hoping to carry it to safety. But in doing so, Sodones quickly learned one of nature's more important facts: Snakes bite.

What bit Sodones three times on the arm Monday night was a copperhead, which can grow to 4 feet and have fangs like hypodermic needles. No one is quite sure how big this one was.

Sodones, who lives in the Newfoundland section of Jefferson, remained hospitalized last night in the intensive care unit at Chilton Memorial Hospital in Pompton Plains. His condition was listed as critical, but improving, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Sodones was given an antivenin intravenously, and is expected to be fine, said Steven Marcus, medical director at New Jersey Poison Information and Education System.
[...]
An animal lover, Sodones lives alone with a white long-haired cat named "Old Cat." He likes to feed bears and stop traffic so ducks can walk across the road. Not too long ago, he tried to revive a bumblebee, keeping it in the palm of his hand with some water until it buzzed away two hours later, said John Bross, a friend and neighbor.

"One time, I stepped on a spider and he wouldn't talk to me for two days," Bross said. "Steve's got a problem with animals. He loves them too much."

Friends said Sodones routinely takes walks along Route 23, not far from his house. At about 8:30 Monday night, he spotted the reptile in the road. When he picked it up, it attacked him, police said.

At first, Sodones didn't think much about the bites. But about four hours later, when he felt woozy, Sodones called 911, police said.

By then, the snake was long gone.
[...]

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1124257245168850.xml&coll=1”

“teehee good story!

he should have given the bee mouth to mouth”

“OMG.....never EVER pick up a snake....ewwwwww”

“So how long before he gets mauled by a bear?

Feeding them is a bad idea.”

“My God thats my neighbor! ok not really but...if theres a fly in her house she doesn't swat it she catches it and sets it free. amazing!”

“ewww flies are maggots....


splat the buggers!”

“Insectist!”

“Once (a long time ago)at my old house, I had a bunch of land on another mountain. I came whipping around the corner of my property in my VW bug. (loved them)

Stopped alongside that(still) snake in the road, because I wanted to see what kind it was. OPened up my door & that snake wasn't dead. He lifted up his head & body inches from my thigh & leg. I freaked.

Now, I aim for them & don't stop. SAw another poisonous snake with my jeep, years later.

Thump, thump... BAck up...thump, thump.

Went to go forward again & he was GONE. All I could think was he was in my under carriage or gonna come in my open jeep.

Don't like snakes.”

“themz gud eetin”

““ewww flies are maggots....

splat the buggers!”
mapleleaf
10:30:09 AM
8/17/05

Thats what I say too maple!”