I saw a snake and it saw me

[Guildedagain]

 

[West R Lee]

The Southern Black Racer will eat Copperheads

And this snake is fast, hence racer name.

Several around here eat copperheads, and more power to them. We get a lot of copperheads. King snakes are great copperhead hunters. I can't stand copperheads because I've seen so many, several over the years right here at our place. And I know more than a few folks who've been bitten. Those suckers are just so hard to see. We also have a whole bunch of cottonmouths around here as well, along with the rare, but occasional timber, or canebrake rattlesnake. Just a few coral snakes as well.



And you know Cynthia, I see that you live in North Florida. I had no idea until fairly recently that both Texas, and even Florida beaches have rattlesnakes up in the dunes near the beaches. We used to duck hunt down near Padre Island and would just lay down in the brush on the small islands in the bays. I was talking with a local guy down there, a fisherman who told me that even in winter, on warm days, the rattle snakes are not only out down there, but they are infested with them. Summertime they are everywhere. Then almost every year we vacation in the Destin/Panama City area, and a local there told me there are rattlesnakes in the dunes there. I've never seen the beach in quite the same way since.

I'd imagine Florida has about the same venomous species as East Texas, just more rattlesnakes.

West

 

[davismanLV]

The rattlesnakes that would come to the barn or the house we'd kill. You'd think horses would have some kind of instinct regarding deadly snakes, but apparently not. So we'd chop their heads off. And you still had to be careful because that head and jaw can still bite!! It's like a muscle reflex thing and if you get near it with a hand or anything OR worse if a cat comes noseying around it can still bite. So we'd bury the head nice and deep.

 

[ReevesRd]

I can't stand copperheads because I've seen so many, several over the years right here at our place. And I know more than a few folks who've been bitten.

Yeah, the copperheads are hard to see.

 

[Christopher Cozad]

...you still had to be careful because that head and jaw can still bite!! It's like a muscle reflex thing and if you get near it with a hand or anything OR worse if a cat comes noseying around it can still bite...

Tom, you are sooo right. I remember learning about this as a boy, when we would travel to Eastern Oregon. I also remember thinking how horribly ironic it would be to be envenomated by a decapitated viper! Holding your thumb and forefinger about 1/2" apart, your last words might be, "Missed it by THAT much!"

 

[lungimsam]

They're non-existent here on Long Island, and that's just fine with me.

The native Lawng Island snakes are non-venemous but a copperhead was captured on Long Island in 2018, right after it vanquished a rat at a body shop. It is invasive. But don’t know if they thrive there or not.
But not to fear. I am sure any hospital has anti-venom-venom around.

Venomous copperhead snake found in Mineola body shop

<p>Owner Efrais Cruz says he found the snake outside the rear door of A2D Auto Works on Sagamore Avenue.</p>

bronx.news12.com

 

[twocorgis]

The native Lawng Island snakes are non-venemous but a copperhead was captured on Long Island in 2018, right after it vanquished a rat at a body shop. It is invasive. But don’t know if they thrive there or not.
But not to fear. I am sure any hospital has anti-venom-venom around.

Venomous copperhead snake found in Mineola body shop

<p>Owner Efrais Cruz says he found the snake outside the rear door of A2D Auto Works on Sagamore Avenue.</p>

bronx.news12.com

I hardly ever see any kind of snake around here, much less a poisonous one. My best guess is that Copperhead was somebody's pet that got to be too much for them. The winters can be long and cold here, but I'm a good cold weather beast, and there are a lot of advantages to living in a place where everything freezes and dies in the winter!

 

[HeyMikey]

I’ve always loved to catch and release snakes, frogs and turtles… and still do. However, I’m in MA so the ones I see are all non-venemous.

Yes, there are sightings of rattlers and the occasional copperhead is some parts, but in all my years I have never come across one and don’t personally know of anyone who has. If I did I wouldn’t go near it.

However the little garters, ring necks, and larger milk snakes are pretty common around my house and great sport for a woodsy kid who hasn’t fully grown up.

 

[Guildedagain]

We get these Garter snakes, quite harmless to humans.

By contrast, the Daphne berries are insanely lethal to children.

 

[GGJaguar]

 

[Guildedagain]

So there, the round eye - prob photoshopped - would indicate a non venomous snake.

I always wanted to find snakes as a kid, and toads, later kept snakes, turtles and crawfish as pets. Turtles are fun, you buy a bag of Goldfish occasionally, fill the tub, sit back and watch, this is pre internet, activities were more creative.

 

[HeyMikey]

So there, the round eye - prob photoshopped - would indicate a non venomous snake.

I always wanted to find snakes as a kid, and toads, later kept snakes, turtles and crawfish as pets. Turtles are fun, you buy a bag of Goldfish occasionally, fill the tub, sit back and watch, this is pre internet, activities were more creative.

I agree. The internet ruined true kids play. Growing up my brothers and I in grade school would spend all day in the woods, following streams, scouring ponds or cranberry bogs looking for something to catch. We only came home (dirty as sin) for lunch or dinner.

These days kids play games across the interweb even if sitting next to each other on the couch. It’s not right.

 

[fronobulax]

So there, the round eye - prob photoshopped - would indicate a non venomous snake.

I always wanted to find snakes as a kid, and toads, later kept snakes, turtles and crawfish as pets. Turtles are fun, you buy a bag of Goldfish occasionally, fill the tub, sit back and watch, this is pre internet, activities were more creative.

I'm going to question your comment about Photoshop. The image appears to be the same as one used in an article in National Geographic in 2013.

Year of the Snake: The Serpent Behind the Horoscope

Ring in the Lunar New Year with horoscope predictions that accurately describe the actual animals.

www.nationalgeographic.com

Photo credited to JOEL SARTORE.

TinEye is your friend.

TinEye Reverse Image Search

TinEye is an image search and recognition company. We are experts in computer vision, pattern recognition, neural networks, and machine learning.

tineye.com

 

[Guildedagain]

I knew I should have said maybe instead of probably.

 

[fronobulax]

I knew I should have said maybe instead of probably.

Wouldn't have made any difference. The suggestion that it wasn't a real photo set off my BS detector. ;-)

 

[GGJaguar]

set off my BS detector.

Is yours analog or digital? I've got analog.

 

[fronobulax]

Is yours analog or digital? I've got analog.

Analog. But I do have some problems keeping it calibrated.

 

[Guildedagain]

The suggestion that it wasn't a real photo

I never suggested it wasn't a real photo, merely that maybe the eyeball had been Photoshopped, enhanced, because it's a meme.

 

[fronobulax]

I never suggested it wasn't a real photo, merely that maybe the eyeball had been Photoshopped, enhanced, because it's a meme.

Getting pedantic with me is not winning you any points.

So there, the round eye - prob photoshopped

Why don't you tell me what you meant? What I understood was that you were suggesting that the image of the snake had been altered and that the real snake "prob" did not have a round eye.

 

[Guildedagain]

I suggested that the roundness or size of the eyeball had been retouched, because it's a meme.

Most pro photographers do "Photoshop" their images, makes changes, however subtle, so most images have been in fact digitally altered.

Digital Photography was just taking off when I was going to school for photo, and even then there were serious cries from photographers
that there should be a watermark or some warning label on images that were manipulated, because how could a photographer compete against digital manipulation, but of course this never happened.

The bottom line is I never suggested it wasn't a real photo, but possibly enhanced, in fact nothing about that photo looks like it's from a pro photographer and the eyeball still looks wonky to me, and I've taken pictures of a lot of snakes over the years.

That's a Garter snake it looks like to me, and all I see is a pretty poor image and a funny looking eyeball, but that's just me.

The point of my post is that non venomous snakes typically have round eyeballs rather than slitted.

Other Garter snake images, not used in silly memes.