Relations with Copperhead's

[Donnyboy]

I was working in my garden last week when a very rude copperhead introduced itself. As is normal, I was wearing my flip flops with no concerns about my bare feet. I felt something tickling the top of my left foot and looked down at a large copperhead slowly crossing over my foot. I patiently waited for him to finish his trip before I dispatched him. I don't dislike snakes, but I don't like them in my garden. I recognize snakes easily and would never dispatch a non venomous snake.

I had felt no pain at that point and assumed I had not been bitten. A couple of days later, I noticed a couple of small red spots on top of my foot. I realized the snake had hammered a hard bone under the skin on top of my foot. He was not able to inject venom. My skin did react to the venom, but it was gone within a week. I've always kept an oral steroid and oral antibiotic around for our dogs. If I thought I was bitten, I would have used both to prevent swelling and sepsis but I would not have seen a doctor except to get a new prescription.

[rxkeith]

patiently waited????
you must have great composure.
only snakes we have up here are garter snakes, and what we call copper bellies,
both harmless, once you get past the initial startle factor.
copper heads, rattle snakes, etc, i am happy not to be concerned about.


keith

[worth1]

There used to be a guy two houses down that told me he killed every snake he saw.
Because he didn't know what snake was what.
He killed a hog nose snake that he swore was a copperhead that came out of my yard.
It really ticked me off.
I know another guy that supposedly killed a 6 foot copperhead.
I looked at it and it was a chicken snake.
It had a checkered belly.
When will the stupidity ever end killing harmless snakes.
If I saw a copperhead in my yard I'd get rid of it quickly because I don't want to get bit.

[Donnyboy]

I keep a 22 caliber revolver near me (on my hip} when I am in the garden. I had a good reason to not react while he was still crossing over my foot.

[Donnyboy]

I have a pair of snake boots in my closet, but they are too uncomfortable to wear in the garden. The bottom of the boots are made of very thick leather while the tops protect my legs almost to my knees with a Kevlar like material. I can't bend over easily in the garden while wearing them, so I keep them mostly to wear in rattle snake country. I never had any snake bite concerns while wearing them.

[worth1]

I used to have snake boots in rattlesnake county and I did s lot of running around in the forest and woods.
As far back in the forest I went(miles)a snake bite could mean death.

[Frosti]

I keep a 22 caliber revolver near me (on my hip} when I am in the garden. I had a good reason to not react while he was still crossing over my foot.

lol that's the most American thing I've read in a while .
Guess I can count myself lucky to not have to worry about venomous snakes in my own garden. In fact, most of the time I'm barefoot when in the garden. I do have to watch out for the tiniest sensation of moving legs on my feet though. I hate ticks ...

[zeuspaul]

I was feeling around under one of my avocado trees looking for an irrigation drip line. I placed my hand on something that felt like it was alive. Whatever it was felt like something expanding/moving. I quicky pulled back and watched a rattle snake slither away.

The only snakes I kill are rattle snakes and only snakes that are hanging around the house.

[Donnyboy]

I was feeling around under one of my avocado trees looking for an irrigation drip line. I placed my hand on something that felt like it was alive. Whatever it was felt like something expanding/moving. I quicky pulled back and watched a rattle snake slither away.

The only snakes I kill are rattle snakes and only snakes that are hanging around the house.

I know the feeling. We used to keep chickens. It was always a shock to reach into a nesting box and feel something soft and slithery. I had to carry them far off or they would be back in the hen house the same day

[karstopography]

I keep a 22 caliber revolver near me (on my hip} when I am in the garden. I had a good reason to not react while he was still crossing over my foot.

Do you use Rat shot in your .22? Rat shot makes the aiming a bit easier. Otherwise, it can be hard to hit a moving snake with a .22.

[worth1]

We had real free range laying hens and one nest was at the entrance to the barn loft.
You had to put your hand next to the nest to climb into the loft.
There was always an old red hen that would peck me.
When we first moved there my dad got rid of the black snakes.
The rats took over.
I went out and brought black snakes in to take care of the rats and nature was back in ballance.
The rats were way more destructive.
And we had more than enough eggs to go around.

[karstopography]

I see a snake about every day if not every day when it is warm and sometimes several snakes in a day. I’ve yet to see a copperhead in the vegetable garden, though. Maybe the Coachwhips are keeping the copperheads in check since coachwhips eat other snakes. Coral snakes have been around the garden and those also eat other snakes. We have so many hawks and owls it has to be tough for the snakes. The latest menace has been a big red tailed hawk. This hawk has been lurking around the garden area scoping out the Yellow Crowned Night Heron colony. One of the fledglings was killed and eaten by the red tailed hawk right under the old pear tree. I would encourage the hawk predation even more if I could as the colony is getting rather large and quite messy. Lots of crawfish are caught and consumed by those specialized herons and the guano decorates our driveway and vegetation. They’ve even fertilized the tomatoes a few times when I wasn’t asking them to. Don’t dare walk under the colony or risk getting a guano shower.

There was a satellite colony trying to form up the driveway about 300 feet in a big pine, but the red tailed hawk put an end to that one. Now the hawk is moving in on this one. Come on hawks, do your thing and let’s perform some natural population control on the herons, please. We were watching television the other night and heard some strange noise very close by. The night herons were pecking at the window behind the couch we were sitting on. Calling all hawks and owls, heron colony buffett now open, help yourself and have any and all copperheads you happen to see while your are munching on the herons.

[Donnyboy]

I see a snake about every day if not every day when it is warm and sometimes several snakes in a day. I’ve yet to see a copperhead in the vegetable garden, though. Maybe the Coachwhips are keeping the copperheads in check since coachwhips eat other snakes. Coral snakes have been around the garden and those also eat other snakes. We have so many hawks and owls it has to be tough for the snakes. The latest menace has been a big red tailed hawk. This hawk has been lurking around the garden area scoping out the Yellow Crowned Night Heron colony. One of the fledglings was killed and eaten by the red tailed hawk right under the old pear tree. I would encourage the hawk predation even more if I could as the colony is getting rather large and quite messy. Lots of crawfish are caught and consumed by those specialized herons and the guano decorates our driveway and vegetation. They’ve even fertilized the tomatoes a few times when I wasn’t asking them to. Don’t dare walk under the colony or risk getting a guano shower.

There was a satellite colony trying to form up the driveway about 300 feet in a big pine, but the red tailed hawk put an end to that one. Now the hawk is moving in on this one. Come on hawks, do your thing and let’s perform some natural population control on the herons, please. We were watching television the other night and heard some strange noise very close by. The night herons were pecking at the window behind the couch we were sitting on. Calling all hawks and owls, heron colony buffett now open, help yourself and have and all copperheads you happen to see while your are munching on the herons.

I don"t often see snakes in the day time. Temps in my area exceeded 100 degrees F today. Most snakes try to hide in the shade during really hot weather. Copper heads are almost nocturnal in my area. If I want to lower the population, I go outside late at night with a flashlight, my pistol, and my snake boots. When we lived 6 miles deep in the piney woods of east Texas, my dogs were often bit at night so I started hunting them. I killed fifty three copperheads in the month of July in my yard. I lowered the population and never saw another copperhead for the additional four years we lived there.

When we lived in East Texas, I used .22 long rifle rounds. When we rejoined civilization, The long rifle rounds are too loud at night and disturb the neighbors, so I switched to the rat rounds. In East Texas, the closest neighbor couldn't have heard a cannon fire. We were separated by many miles of pine and oak trees.

[Donnyboy]

I've never seen a coral snake in Texas. We lived fourteen years in swampy Cajun country in Louisiana. Coral snakes were pretty common. I respected them more than any other venomous snake which inhabits the same area as me. I loved Cajuns to the same degree that I detested coral snakes.

[worth1]

I've got coral snakes in the woods around my house.
And I know my snakes.

[karstopography]

FullSizeRender.jpeg

Holy smokes, bat man, that’s a lot of copperheads! We see a few coral snakes like this one right by the garage. One stretch of woods about a mile from my home I used to frequent was ground zero for coral snakes. You couldn’t go there without seeing several. Interesting, the land got developed and I know a resident there and he still sees coral snakes 25 years post development.

I try hard to relocate coral snakes and copperheads to one of the refuges nearby. The last coral snake I saw this spring I despatched with a shovel as I had a plumber working a few feet away and the snake held its ground and refused to crawl off someplace. I ran out of time trying to get the snake to leave the scene.

[Cole_Robbie]

It is often illegal to kill rattlesnakes. I'm not saying I haven't done it...like when the army made me sleep on ground where they were everywhere..but you don't want to brag about it on social media. The wildlife authorities will come if you have one inside your house, but they just let it go again outside the house.

[karstopography]

Timber rattlesnakes are protected in Texas, the rest aren’t. I’ve never seen a timber rattlesnake. We had and still have native bamboo thickets, that held canebrake rattlesnakes, supposedly a form of timber rattlesnake, and were said to inhabit the bamboo, but thankfully, I never saw one.

[worth1]

I think they're more common up north by Eastern Oklahoma.
The Okies had a different name for everything.
The two main rattlesnakes were coon tails referring to the western and eastern diamondback.
Velvet tail was a timber rattlesnake because it had a solid black tail.
Cougars were called cogers, long O.
Huants were haints.
Yellow cat =flathead.
Snapping turtle was a logger head.
The ones I lived next to killed everything they saw especially if they didn't understand it

[Donnyboy]

Timber rattlesnakes are protected in Texas, the rest aren’t. I’ve never seen a timber rattlesnake. We had and still have native bamboo thickets, that held canebrake rattlesnakes, supposedly a form of timber rattlesnake, and were said to inhabit the bamboo, but thankfully, I never saw one.

You can get jail time for killing a timber rattle snake in Texas. Usually, folks only have to pay a really hefty fine. I spent a lot of time in New York state. Near Painted Post New York, a tall, rock hill had a tall chain link fence around it to prevent people from invading the snake habitat in the rocks and harming the protected rattle snakes. A large elementary school was located at the base of the hill near the fence. I was never able to figure that out.. The snakes were free to come and go as they pleased.