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So we had another copperhead this time on our prop btn our house and my neighbors.....my neighbors dog found it and caught it but not b4 the snake bit him on the cheek.....no sooner than my neighbor realized the dog had the snake which was dead at this point noticed a 4 ft black rat snake....which was about 30 ft from where the copper head was but this rat snake was not docile and slither away it coiled up like it wanted to attack.....so my neighbor killed that also....
I went online and read that rat snakes feel on copperheads so I'm wondering if the rat snake had flushed out the copperhead and thats why he was found where he was.......as for the neighbors dog he had to go to the vet have his face shaved....his cheed and jawls were drooping where he was bit....they knocked him out to test him for the venom levels which were not high at all.....cleaned out the wound and gave him anti biotics and pain killers.......and this was a big hunting dog......if it was one of mine or my parents I'm afraid to think that they may not have fared as well......
why was a copperhead in your classroom?????and how did it get there???
We have lived in our home a couple of years, and spread moth balls around our home, and have never
seen a snake in our yard. However, that is not to say that they are not there. As long as I don't see them I am fine.
Copperheads have different coloration at different times of the year. The News and Observer offers a poster (for a fee) that clearly shows how to identify copperheads and other snakes--great for educating the children.
OK, the short version, more corn snakes, hognosed snakes, brown water snakes and bull snakes are killed each year because people think they are killing a copperhead, if it rears up, goes into a convincing threat display, hisses and is genuinely scary looking,- it is a hognosed snake and they are quite harmless, if the threat display doesn't work, their next trick is to play dead. A Copperhead is live bearing (doesn't lay eggs) and will actively try to avoid you if possible, but, as with most snakes, it is deaf and, when you are close, it will freeze and hope you do not see it. If you are more than 40 lbs the bite is seldom fatal, though quite painful. It will bite in self defense, they put a lot of energy into the poison production and don't use it freely- ie. you step on it, or try to pick it up, they will bite-, other wise it is reclusive, it seems to understand that, by-in-large, in confrontations with humans, they lose.
One year our koi ponds attracted several snakes, including copperheads. No snakes for 12 years and then one day we looked out the window to see 3 sunning on the rocks
We went armed with shovels to inspect. DH threw shovel at one on a rock but we thought he missed.
A few days later we smelled something horrible and saw dead snake in the water. After that no more snakes.
Could the smell of dead snake be a deterrent to other snakes? don't know but it worked for us.
Buy yourself a nice, long-handled hoe and don't leave a copperhead snake the option of hanging around your garden or flower bed. Kill it if you can. This comes from someone who chased, but didn't harm, a rat snake in my garage because they aren't venomous. Any encounter with a snake is potentially dangerous as other posters have mentioned.
I've never considered calling a squirrel-chaser type wildlife company to remove a snake but it would be $125 or so and you wouldn't get near the snake.
Either way, a copperhead MUST leave your property.
Coperheads are rare and generally not a threat in this area. We let all snakes live as we choose to co-habitate withg them. I was at the NC aquarium recenntly and they had a tank with red snakes, corn snakes and other local snakes, and copperheads in the tank and asked people to guess which one was the CH and EVERYONE around us got it WRONG. They one they THOUGHT was a CH was a plain old garden snake.
Please just because it is red or copper in color, please don't KILL IT!
So now that we're getting settled into our new home and loving it...<> What should we do? If it was in the back out of the way I'd say let it be but it was right where you step out of the front door......so anyone walking out or up the steps their little doggie included would easily have stepped on it.....Thats the concern
Balance the upside and the downside. On the one hand you may kill a perfectly innocent snake. On the other hand, your dog or your child may die.
Venom poisoning is NOT, omigoshthatsortofhurtswaaahhhhh. It is about losing important parts like fingers or toes or possibly dying. There are plenty of snakes, the impact of killing a few is minor; take care of your family and neighbors.
That is the moral process we went though in out neighborhood.
"kill them all; let God sort it out"
really...some of you guys way over exaggerate this stuff.
I have told you a thousand million times, I never exaggerate.
"well, hardly ever!"
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Poster from News and Observer
