poisonous snakes

[raktrakr]

all my life ive been told a snake with a blunt tail is poisonous,and from what ive seen,thats true. but yesterday after mowing the yard i saw a big black snake about 4' long and it had a blunt tail.he wasnt really black,he was more a real dark gray with a blueish cast.was this snake poisonous

[GSP]

No, usually the female snake has a shorter, blunt tail. The male has a long slender tail.
If the snake you saw was black/blue with a grayish cast, you were probably looking at a blue racer that is getting ready to shead.

[Darton73]

gsp is right, raktrakr. Depending on where you are in the state, there are really only 3-4 poisonsous snakes you may run into. The copperhead, timber rattlesnake, the cottonmouth (if you live west of Muhlenburg Co.) and there is a small rattlesnake that has been known to occur in LBL (pygmy rattlesnake, maybe?) These snakes are generally stocky, have traingular shaped heads, there bodies will be shaped more like a loaf of bread than round, and there pupils will be vertical slits instead of round (if you want to look that close!). They will also have two small "pits", one below each eye.

There is no telling how many hundreds of harmless rat snakes and water snakes are killed each year as "copperheads and water moccassins"



Brian Grossman
Darton73@alltel.net

[Flintlock54]

It has been alot of years since I ran into a pigmy rattler. But when they were building the Mountain Parkway going up Slade Hill, my foreman killed one. It was just like Darton73 described, certainly not the 4 and 5 feet timber rattlers that we were normally seeing. That country was/is full of copperheads.

[GSP]

Hey Flintlock,
Did you work on the Slade hill when they were building it? Why I ask, my dad did a lot of the dozer work on it. I used to go watch.

[GSP]

Raktrakr,
Something else to check if you are not sure. Pick up his tail and look at the scales on the bottom. If they are a set of single scales on the underside of the tail? I would turn loose REAL quick!

Non-venomous snakes have a double row of scales on the bottom of their tail.

This is the best way to identify the venomous ones. It's best if you don't hurt they snake, it sure sharpens your reflexes!!!!<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

I ain't BSing you about the scales either.

[Big58cal]

Everything that everyone has said is true..........But I don't think I really want to lift up their tail to see if they are poisous or not. Just me personally. You guys look at snake's butts if you want.

[raktrakr]

thanks for the info. believe me,theres nothin wrong with my reflexes, but im not grabbing a snake to find out!!!<img src=icon_smile_dead.gif border=0 align=middle>

[Flintlock54]

gsp:

I spent one summer as a "burning runt" clearing right of way for Codell Construction. I was still in high school at the time. A fella by the name of "Casey" Jones lived across the street from us and got me the job. That was the summer I figured out that a college education, for me, would be worth its' weight in gold.

[kathleen m schmitz]

i am trying to identify a particular snake.they have decided to move into my house and my parents house.i have never seen a snake like this in our area.we live in no ky.accross from cincinnati.the snakes we usually see ars common garter snakes.i do not think these are that type.they are small but our concern is that someone had pet snakes and let them loose.they are greyis black with lighter grey DIAMOND markings.even though they are small they seem very aggressive/ they also stand up and seem to RATTLE when approached.this behavior is not typical of the snakes you ussually see oround here .how do we get rid of the critters. we have children and small cats and dogs.WE WOULD SURE THANK YOU FOR ANY ADVICE

kathleen m. schmitz

[GSP]

They look anything like the one on the left here?
http://www.kentuckysnakes.org/snakes/watersnakenorth-mid.jpg

[Salty]

Hey Flint54.........good to see you back. How ya been? BTW all snakes that ain't got legs is deadly in my book!

[GSP]

Salty, that was an old post from Flintlock54. Have you heard from him in awhile? I've been thinking about him too.

[Turtleky]

GSP seems to have some real good info on snakes. Its good to hear that I'm not the only one educated in the matter. Seems like everyone considers all snakes bad, myself, I like them. However, if I would not tolerate a poisness snake on my property if had small children around. Here is a great website, that should help you all identify the type of snake you have seen.
http://www.kentuckysnakes.org/

[bower]

what do you mean by blunt tail? and the single row of scales, double also. never heard this before.

&gt;--&gt; if it's brown it's down&lt;--&lt;

[GSP]

Next time you see a snake dead/alive. Look at it's tail, (you don't have to get real close either) you will see the anus vent. If the tail looks rather short, fat and blunt from that point back, it is a female. A males is long and skinny.

On the underside, if the row of scales, from the vent back is double (having a slit in the middle) you are looking at a non-venomous snake. The venomus ones have a single set of scales.

BTW, Skeeters have killed more people in KY this year than snakes.[V]

[Finn209]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by kathleen m schmitz</i>
<br />i am trying to identify a particular snake.they have decided to move into my house and my parents house.i have never seen a snake like this in our area.we live in no ky.accross from cincinnati.the snakes we usually see ars common garter snakes.i do not think these are that type.they are small but our concern is that someone had pet snakes and let them loose.they are greyis black with lighter grey DIAMOND markings.even though they are small they seem very aggressive/ they also stand up and seem to RATTLE when approached.this behavior is not typical of the snakes you ussually see oround here .how do we get rid of the critters. we have children and small cats and dogs.WE WOULD SURE THANK YOU FOR ANY ADVICE

kathleen m. schmitz
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Kathleen,
I've dealt with the snake you describe several times. They will get into houses and buildings. They have diamond markings and they do appear to be rattling and are aggressive. They are "Diamondback Water Snakes" and they turn up in places away from the water.
In buildings use glue boards. On the smaller ones you can use the little sticky mouse catchers.
Jeff


http://prod.bsis.bellsouth.net/coDataImages/p/Groups/9/9518/folders/3361/15369flyfisher.gif

[Finn209]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by raktrakr</i>
<br />all my life ive been told a snake with a blunt tail is poisonous,and from what ive seen,thats true. but yesterday after mowing the yard i saw a big black snake about 4' long and it had a blunt tail.he wasnt really black,he was more a real dark gray with a blueish cast.was this snake poisonous


<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

raktrakr,
If he looked thicker than a black racer, and had the build of a poisonous snake, he may have been a copperbelly water snake. I have seen them away from water areas at times and they have the appearance that you descibed.



http://prod.bsis.bellsouth.net/coDataImages/p/Groups/9/9518/folders/3361/15369flyfisher.gif

[ksp965]

Hey raktraker, I may have the solution to that blunt tail snake, after all you did say you had been <font face="Arial Black">mowing grass</font id="Arial Black">, didn't you?[:D]
Kathy, I'm sure that these guys know more about snakes than I do, but I have seen black snakes "rattle" their tail in a darn good imitation of a rattlesnake by sticking their tail in dried leaves and vibirate it quickly, enough to give you a heart attack! I have also seen blacksnakes take on a diamond pattern when scared or angry. Rattlers I know, as I have killed six and caught one since moving onto my farm about 5-6 years ago. No fun! No walking around at night without a light either.

[mike.one]

Kathleen,

Kathleen,

There are several varieties of rat snakes around. They "rattle," that is, they vibrate their tail in the leaves. If that is what you have, they are constrictors with no teeth to speak of, and they will eat a LOT of mice. Rat snakes make good pets because after a short period of handling to used to it, they do not bite. They tame down fairly well. Their lack of fear might, I suppose, be considered aggression to someone pre-disposed to be nervous about snakes anyway, but that might be what you have seen. Just a thought. Can you take a pic, and post?

"It isn't THAT you hunt, but how you hunt."

[broadside]

Thanks TurtleKy, that was a great web site.

If she wasn't mad about that, she'd be mad about something else.Let's go huntin.