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I've never intentionally killed a non-venomous snake (as an adult). I killed a big king snake with a pellet rifle. A passerby later informed me that it was a harmless snake, and I shouldn't have killed it. I learned as I got older! I shot a copperhead with my BB gun when I was about 8 or 9 years old though! That was the last live copperhead I've seen that wasn't behind glass, in NC. Somehow we just don't see them here at our house. I see a lot of little "yard snakes" and the occasional rat snake, garter snake, or black racer. Even that black racer that struck at me well over 20 times last summer, survived. I put him in a bucket and took him down into the woods and dumped him! Although I have second guessed that decision several times. That was one MEAN snake!
My kids get a kick out of me catching the little "yard snakes" that I always uncover when doing yardwork. I found three one day last fall when I was cleaning up the fall leaves. I put them in a bucket and let them watch them for a little while, then they go back into the yard.
The most frequent places I see snakes are while bike riding. I was out at Lake Crabtree last year, and saw so many snakes one day, that I lost count. I think by 15-18 I got confused, lost count, and quit noticing them. Also along the Neuse River greenway, I've never been down there and not seen snakes. Never. Was MTBing up at Beaverdam at Falls Lake one days years ago, and came around a bend to see three snakes lined up perfectly side by side ( I I I, like that), about 1-2' apart across the trail in a patch of sunlight. Two were hognoses, and one was a garter snake. Strangest thing I've ever seen. And then the one day I was in Umstead Park, and walked down beside one of the lake spillways towards the rock filled pool at the bottom. As I got to the bottom of the trail near the waters edge, I see a snake on a rock. I stop, and start scanning the pool closely, and realize there are snakes everywhere! That was a bit unnerving, kind of a Indiana Jones moment. I counted 12 snakes sunning themselves on rocks around that pool at the base of the spillway. I slowly turned, and closely watched my steps as I made my way back up the hill!
Big Kahuna - you seem to have seen a lot more snakes than most people on here. What are you doing wrong? :-) Why do you have so many in your garden? This Indiana Jones place sounds like a nightmare!!!! Actually your posts sounds like snakes on planes.
I can just about go out in my yard and find a snake on queue. Especially under leaves and other debris. These are little snakes though, about the size of a #2 pencil, gray to brown colored with pink bellies. They are called "rough earth snakes" and are completely harmless, unless maybe they "relieve" themselves on you! If you've got natural areas in your yard, with a layer of pine straw and leaves, you can go out there and rake the covering back to the ground, and probably find these little snakes too.
The snake day at Lake Crabtree was a little strange. I felt like I was totally in tune, and seeing every snake I rode by! The day at Umstead was a fairly isolated incident...in an area with little foot traffic. I just happened to catch a LOT of snakes sunning themselves on the rocks that day, and then got the heck out of Dodge!
I see maybe 1 or 2 bigger snakes a year at our house. And we live really close to a lake, and in the woods. I always expect to see a lot more.
Neuse River Greenway:
Found these 3 on Nov. 8th while cleaning up leaves in the yard.
Two are "rough earth snakes". They are typically brown or gray with pinkish bellies. The one with the stripes appears to have been a baby garter snake, at least that's what I thought at the time. The color in that pic isn't spot-on...as it wasn't bright out and it's a cell phone pic.
That's a small sand bucket like you'd take to the beach. Those snakes are maybe 10" long. They are small.
That king snake at the Neuse River Greenway was about 4' long.
If the ones that don't have stripes have really small heads they could be worm snakes. They have the pink belly you're describing. Rough earth snakes can have a little bit of striping. The stripey one could be a brown snake, too. I've seen those in the area. They're also small. The one I saw was maybe a 12-14 inches long.
Is there a place that can expose people to snakes in a closed environment and let people see in person what the local snakes look like, etc?
I know some of these, but we relocated from New Orleans, and we've got tons of snakes down there, but I think (could be misinformed) the only ones we had there that are common here are moccasins (cotton mouth) and garters. I'm not overtly familiar with copperheads and question my ability to identify them.
I'm more concerned with my wife's inability to identify them leading to her irrationally freaking out. She assumes every single snake is the worst thing possible. I'd like to expose her to them and educate her to the point of having some comfort with them. I speak for myself as well in terms of identifying local non-venomous and venomous snakes.
I accidentally ran over a snake on Friday while riding my bike. It was a good sized black snake (adult rat snake?), about 3'-4' long and about 1"-2" in diameter. I came around a tight corner and there he was laying across the trail. For a split second I thought about slamming on my brakes, but then I realized I may not have been able to stop in time, so I went right over him. Hopefully the pine straw under him, and my low pressure knobby tires above him, was cushion enough that he wasn't harmed too badly.
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