2021 Snake Spotting

[Axxe55]

Not entirely accurate. Maybe with the smaller western coral snakes y’all get here, but the eastern corals get big(3’-3-1/2’)
When I was 17 and working for a land surveyor in Florida our instrument man was a snake nerd like me. We had just found a ball of scarlet king snakes( I think there were 10-12 of them) and the the local pet store would pay $3 an inch for them. Almost a week’s pay each. The IM spotted a flash of red, yellow, and black in the same area we had just found the scarlets and he reached down and grabbed about 3’ of eastern coral snake, which immediately gave him a “ FU, let me go bite.”he let the snake go and noticed the blood on his hand. Within a minute he knew he had been envenomated. Spent 3 weeks in the hospital. Lesson learned. Alway be 100% sure of what you are grabbing, and the myth of “coral snakes have to chew” debunked.

The two coral snakes I have seen were barely over a foot long.

 

[Hoji]

Biggest western I have seen was about 24” and about as big around as my thumb. Have seen an eastern that was 40”+ and about as big around as a small garden hose

 

[ZX9RCAM]

We killed one on the Ranch back in the late 60s.
My dad cut it's head off, and stuck it in an ice chest.
Got home and measured it, with the head off, and chilled, it was 31" long.
Pretty close to the record at the time.

 

[Axxe55]

Biggest western I have seen was about 24” and about as big around as my thumb. Have seen an eastern that was 40”+ and about as big around as a small garden hose

Of the two I have seen close to the house, the first one many years ago, was dead, having been run over by a car. The second one the wife and I were walking out after dark along the road, and ran across one crawling along the road. I relocated "him" to the woods among the road. They don't move very fast.

 

[ronbwolf]

Great discussion, found out about several snakes I was unaware of. If they aren't close to the house, or grandkids, I generally just leave snakes alone. Btw, one of the posts said that the Lyre was protected, saw this when reading on Wiki, "The Texas lyre snake was formerly listed as Threatened in Texas, but was removed from the list in 2020."

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[satx78247]

We killed one on the Ranch back in the late 60s.
My dad cut it's head off, and stuck it in an ice chest.
Got home and measured it, with the head off, and chilled, it was 31" long.
Pretty close to the record at the time.

zx9rcam,

WOW. For TX & the SW states, that is a HUGE Coral Snake.
(When I was a young teenager, my boyhood chum, Charles Skelton, & I caught a Coral Snake at Texarkana Dam that was 23" long & about as fat as my index finger. = BIGGEST one that I've personally seen "in the wild".)

We had him, for a while, in a 20-gallon aquarium with some "furniture", like limbs, water holder, river rocks, sand & some moss. - To a couple of boys, the "decorations" looked like a place that a snake would like to inhabit.
Sadly, it would NOT eat anything that we or the HS Biology teacher tried to feed it, so we freed the snake in Sulphur River Bottom, on the suggestion of Mrs. Bonham.

yours, satx

 

[Darkpriest667]

The last time I saw a live WILD snake was 6 years ago on my back porch south of fort worth. I'm in a more remote area now and haven't seen any this spring.

I have a ball python in my closet. He's about 5 feet.

 

[BRD@66]

I can personally attest that after all this input, there are still those that believe that there are only 4 poisonous snakes in Texas.

 

[FireInTheWire]

My boy and I walked a rock section to mark for hard enduro Monday. It was warm and head was on the swivel for rattle bugs. I was really surprised we never heard anything.

 

[Hoji]

I can personally attest that after all this input, there are still those that believe that there are only 4 poisonous snakes in Texas.

There are actually ZERO poisonous snakes in Texas

 

[oldag]

My boy and I walked a rock section to mark for hard enduro Monday. It was warm and head was on the swivel for rattle bugs. I was really surprised we never heard anything.

More and more, the rattlers are no longer rattling.

 

[FireInTheWire]

More and more, the rattlers are no longer rattling.

Yeah... and that's not very comforting.

 

[BRD@66]

There are actually ZERO poisonous snakes in Texas

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

 

[KJQ6945]

I just now found this thread. Looked at a piece of property last week and found this little guy.

When I approached him, he quickly went into the classic, Water Moccasin defensive posture. I couldn’t get him to display his cottonmouth for the camera.

 

[KJQ6945]

Another find from this week. Found this while walking the Neches river.

 

[satx78247]

KJQ6945,

FYI, even though I'm a NATIVE of the NETX "swamp country" & have seen MANY Cottonmouths over my 74 years, I've NEVER SEEN a Moccasin that was that color & absent the traditional "diamond pattern", too.

"Up our way", the Cottonmouth is generally VERY DARK colored & usually have a MUTED DIAMOND PATTERN, too.

BTW, the BIGGEST Cottonmouth that I have seen "in Nature"" was about 5 feet long & as thick in the middle as the calf of my leg. = BIG, THICK-BODIED & AGGRESSIVE was that individual!!.

yours, satx

 

[Axxe55]

KJQ6945,

FYI, even though I'm a NATIVE of the NETX "swamp country" & have seen MANY Cottonmouths over my 74 years, I've NEVER SEEN a Moccasin that was that color & absent the traditional "diamond pattern", too.

"Up our way", the Cottonmouth is generally VERY DARK colored & usually have a MUTED DIAMOND PATTERN, too.

BTW, the BIGGEST Cottonmouth that I have seen "in Nature"" was about 5 feet long & as thick in the middle as the calf of my leg. = BIG, THICK-BODIED & AGGRESSIVE was that individual!!.

yours, satx

Just curious, but do you even know what a Water Moccasin or a Cottonmouth is?

Agkistrodon piscivorus - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[satx78247]

KJQ6945,

FYI, even though I'm a NATIVE of the NETX "swamp country" & have seen MANY Cottonmouths over my 74 years, I've NEVER SEEN a Moccasin that was that color & absent the traditional "diamond pattern", too.

"Up our way", the Cottonmouth is generally VERY DARK colored & usually have a MUTED DIAMOND PATTERN, too.

BTW, the BIGGEST Cottonmouth that I have seen "in Nature"" was about 5 feet long & as thick in the middle as the calf of my leg. = BIG, THICK-BODIED & AGGRESSIVE was that individual!!.
(FI, I did NOT stick around for a lengthy/cordial conversation with him.)
The TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT collection has a "captive" Cottonmouth that is every bit of 6 feet long & very heavy-bodied too.

yours, satx

 

[KJQ6945]

That was by far the lightest color morph of a Water Moccasin that I have ever found, and I have caught plenty over the years.

 

[rotor]

Live on a lake and have never seen one. Occasional rattler, skinny water snakes, some bull snakes. Glad I haven't seen one.