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Had a real scary event a couple of nights ago... My dog and I were sitting on the patio minding our own business. I heard a sound and looked over by the door into the family room. There was a large copperhead curled up there. I ran over to the neighbor's for help, since there was no other entrance to the house. They just killed a smaller copperhead in their garage the day before. By the time he came over, the snake moved. He took a whack at it with a shovel and hit it, but did not kill it. It got away in the bushes/vine near the garage door. Still out there! This one was the third copperhead in a week in our North Raleigh neighborhood. I'm a real nature lover, camped a lot, want to coexist, but with kids and pets around, this is too close for comfort. When will they go back to their dens?
Had a real scary event a couple of nights ago... My dog and I were sitting on the patio minding our own business. I heard a sound and looked over by the door into the family room. There was a large copperhead curled up there. I ran over to the neighbor's for help, since there was no other entrance to the house. They just killed a smaller copperhead in their garage the day before. By the time he came over, the snake moved. He took a whack at it with a shovel and hit it, but did not kill it. It got away in the bushes/vine near the garage door. Still out there! This one was the third copperhead in a week in our North Raleigh neighborhood. I'm a real nature lover, camped a lot, want to coexist, but with kids and pets around, this is too close for comfort. When will they go back to their dens?
Ack! Was walking the loop at Shelley Lake and nearly ran over a smallish Copperhead with my stroller! My eyes were glued to the trail from then on out, that's for sure.
Had a real scary event a couple of nights ago... My dog and I were sitting on the patio minding our own business. I heard a sound and looked over by the door into the family room. There was a large copperhead curled up there. I ran over to the neighbor's for help, since there was no other entrance to the house. They just killed a smaller copperhead in their garage the day before. By the time he came over, the snake moved. He took a whack at it with a shovel and hit it, but did not kill it. It got away in the bushes/vine near the garage door. Still out there! This one was the third copperhead in a week in our North Raleigh neighborhood. I'm a real nature lover, camped a lot, want to coexist, but with kids and pets around, this is too close for comfort. When will they go back to their dens?
They won't be back for some time. Some folks think that they will hibernate when it's 60 degrees outside. It's more like when we're experiencing freezing temperatures that they will go hibernate. When it's 40 and 50 outside, if they can find a rock/concrete that is bathed in sunlight for several hours a day, they can be perfectly comfortable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JONOV
When the development pushes them away...
This is true, but we're often in their environments. I know that not far from my front or back door is a perfect copperhead habitat. I try to keep my wife and I on high alert. It seems paranoid, but when I've spotted four from my front porch earlier this summer, I got to work. I recognize that it's theirs, but you have to be extremely vigilant if you live in their areas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SilentP
Ack! Was walking the loop at Shelley Lake and nearly ran over a smallish Copperhead with my stroller! My eyes were glued to the trail from then on out, that's for sure.
That's frightening. Gotta be careful and keep the eyes peeled. We literally live in their habitat.
It seems like copperheads usually disappear between November and March. They seem to be especially active in April/May and September/October, which I assume to be the mating/birthing seasons.
Ack! Was walking the loop at Shelley Lake and nearly ran over a smallish Copperhead with my stroller! My eyes were glued to the trail from then on out, that's for sure.
It seems like copperheads usually disappear between November and March. They seem to be especially active in April/May and September/October, which I assume to be the mating/birthing seasons.
I think they mate in June/July... takes 3 months before they give live birth. So that lines up perfectly for the explanation of activity in September/October...
I saw a bunch in June/July (a mating pair near the house in the first week of July). I killed one, so hopefully the female. Hopefully I'm not dealing with killing babies come Setp/Oct.
I'm waiting until December to rid our property of wood piles.
Why are we seeing so many this year? I've lived in this house for 15 years and never saw a snake ( except for a pet boa that got away one time). And there were no other reports from neighbors. Is there something special about conditions this year? Cooler, wetter? Is this the Year of the Snake on the Chinese calendar? :-)
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