Assistance Identifying This Snake (Louisiana, snakes, dog, wildlife)

[TrapperL]

Still looks like a Texas Copperhead to me.

[Cleonidas]

Originally Posted by TrapperL

Still looks like a Texas Copperhead to me.

Trapper, I think that's a hognose...

[leftwinghillbilly]

You should post the picture. Lots of professional herpetologists here.

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[Woodrow LI]

Originally Posted by leftwinghillbilly

That looks like an








. The alterna phase does not have the rust colored bands in with the grey ones that a standard Grey Band has. Although they live in West Texas. Maybe it escaped from being someone's pet.

Originally Posted by woxyroxme

Yep. Either that or a prairie king snake, King snakes have a wide variety band patterns and are found all over the US.

Two strong possibilities.

I am 99.9% certain it is not a copperhead or water Moccasin. The pattern does not match any rattle snake I know. Coral Snake is instantly ruled out for numerous reasons.

Not any venomous snake that is native to Texas.

A third possibility is a juvenile Black Rat Snake. They come in a wide variety of patterns and do not become black until a year or so old.

The patterns on them can vary considerably



My gut feeling is the same as leftwinghillbilly. The Alternas come is such a wide variations of colors and patterns it is unbelievable. I tried to find a pic that comes close to the OP This Grey Gap alterna is the closest I can find



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[Woodrow LI]

Originally Posted by Cleonidas

Trapper, I think that's a hognose...

I agree. When I lived in Texas many folks called Western Hognoses various names like:

Texas Copperhead

Puff Adder

Spreading Adder

Rattle less Rattle snakes

etc

I do not see the labial pits found in copper heads either
in the picture.

I've lived quite often in Texas and every copperhead I seen there looked like this:



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[leftwinghillbilly]

A professor of herpitology said this about it Brown watersnake, Nerodia taxispilota. Harmless

[bjh]

Originally Posted by leftwinghillbilly

A professor of herpitology said this about it Brown watersnake, Nerodia taxispilota. Harmless

Do we have a winner? ---> Brown water snake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[rainroosty]

I will tell you that it is most certainly not a Brown Water snake.

[TrapperL]

The pic I posted is a copperhead and came right out of a Texas P&W game biologists library. As far as the other pic posted that shows a very brightly colored copperhead, maybe in a zoo where they are nice and clean but in the wild I've never seen a copperhead that color in Texas. They are more grey than a bright color. I've killed hundreds if not thousands over the years.

[Woodrow LI]

Originally Posted by TrapperL

The pic I posted is a copperhead and came right out of a Texas P&W game biologists library. As far as the other pic posted that shows a very brightly colored copperhead, maybe in a zoo where they are nice and clean but in the wild I've never seen a copperhead that color in Texas. They are more grey than a bright color. I've killed hundreds if not thousands over the years.

The cooperhead pict I posted was one that recently shed. Yes the colors are much brighter the first week or so after shedding.

The 2 things in your picture that makes me doubt it is a copperhead are the head shape and the pupils are easily seen to be round. Copperheads have vertical slits for pupils.



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Your picture enlarged



The head shape on a copperhead



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I don't doubt you that the picture was labelled as a copperhead. But, I am still convinced it is a hognose snake.