# Help identifying snake



## Sandy H. (Oct 10, 2013)

Title says it all. See 2 pics.

Sandy.


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## PaulDoug (Oct 10, 2013)

That is one of those invisible snakes!  Watch out for those.


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## mredburn (Oct 10, 2013)

Copperhead
copperhead - Bing Images


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## monark88 (Oct 10, 2013)

Copperhead also used to be called a Yellow Rattler even tho it has no rattles. I'm originally from SW Ohio and have had several encounters with these snakes.


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## Tom D (Oct 10, 2013)

Hopefully a dead one


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## rrfd4 (Oct 10, 2013)

Copperhead, and they are BAD news!


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## Edgar (Oct 10, 2013)

Copperhead - the least dangerous of US poisonous snakes. I was bitten by one once - drove like a maniac to get to the ER & all they did was give me some pain medication & kept me overnight for observation. Hurt like hell & the tip of my finger where I got bit has slight permanent numbness.


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## WildThings (Oct 10, 2013)

to me it looks like a bunch of future pens!!


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## rrfd4 (Oct 10, 2013)

*Injuries from a Copperhead bite on a finger. *​


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## JohnU (Oct 11, 2013)

I'm glad they aren't native to my parts of IL but I sure would like to have some of their skins. They sure make nice looking pens.


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## BKelley (Oct 11, 2013)

It sure looks like a copperhead, but look at the eyes of the picture showing head.
Are the pupils round or elliptical?  All poisonous snakes in the United States have elliptical pupils except for the coral snake.

Ben


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## The Penguin (Oct 11, 2013)

I thought that too Ben, but I think it's the angle the photo is taken from that causes confusion.

definitely looks like a copperhead


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## juteck (Oct 11, 2013)

Charlotte location ----  Copperhead.


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## Kenny Durrant (Oct 11, 2013)

It's a copperhead. The head is heart shaped like most of the poisonous snakes in the U.S. Nice color and markings.


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## seamus7227 (Oct 11, 2013)

i think the word everyone is looking for is "venomous", I hope you killed that thing too and have the skin in some solution cuz that will make some pretty pens!


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## Sabaharr (Oct 11, 2013)

In my younger days I actually studied herpatology and made trips to the serpaterium in Miami where the legendary Bill Haast works. Nothing more fun than helping to milk the venom out of a 15 foot king cobra. Enough with qualifying my opinion, its a copperhead, and great skin for pens as the scales are usually smaller than rattlers, but they aren't near as tasty.


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## wolftat (Oct 11, 2013)

edohmann said:


> Copperhead - the least dangerous of US poisonous snakes. I was bitten by one once - drove like a maniac to get to the ER & all they did was give me some pain medication & kept me overnight for observation. Hurt like hell & the tip of my finger where I got bit has slight permanent numbness.


 I am going to have to disagree with this statement. I catch a lot of copperheads and they are not only extremely aggressive (especially during mating season), they are highly venomous and there is no antivenom for them. It sounds as if you may have gotten a dry bite with very little venom or you are immuned to their venom but they are bad news.


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## monark88 (Oct 11, 2013)

wolftat said:


> edohmann said:
> 
> 
> > Copperhead - the least dangerous of US poisonous snakes. I was bitten by one once - drove like a maniac to get to the ER & all they did was give me some pain medication & kept me overnight for observation. Hurt like hell & the tip of my finger where I got bit has slight permanent numbness.
> ...


 

And I am going to disagree with you. I grew up in an area, that back in the late '40's and 50's were rife with plenty of Copperheads. We were taught to avoid, but also we were likely not to die from their bite. I did a fast search and found this to back up my experiences:
"Venom from copperheads is not deadly, and when people die from  copperhead snake bites it is due to an allergic reaction. People who are  weak or either very old or very young may experience a significant  impact on their body functions from a copperhead snake bite".

Antivenin for Copperheads: Crotalidae polyvalent immune FAB (ovine) (Rx). Even tho this is not often given. Little need for it.

This  behavior explains why more people receive legitimate snakebites from  copperheads than from any other species of venomous snake in North  America. Still to be investigated is another aspect of copperhead bites:  many are not serious enough to require more than minor medical  treatment. This may be so not only because the venom of a copperhead is  significantly less potent than that of rattlesnakes or cottonmouths, but  also because they seldom inject much venom.
Read more at (Article) How dangerous are Copperhead snakes? - Survivalist Forum
This  behavior explains why more people receive legitimate snakebites from  copperheads than from any other species of venomous snake in North  America. Still to be investigated is another aspect of copperhead bites:  many are not serious enough to require more than minor medical  treatment. This may be so not only because the venom of a copperhead is  significantly less potent than that of rattlesnakes or cottonmouths, but  also because they seldom inject much venom.
Read more at (Article) How dangerous are Copperhead snakes? - Survivalist Forum

Just do a check of the internet for info.
Russ
​


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## Sandy H. (Oct 11, 2013)

Thanks for the information everyone.  My neighbor and I killed it as we thought it was a copperhead and there are kids/pets in the neighborhood and that seemed like the best thing to do at the time.  This particular snake wasn't very aggressive, but it might have been because it was cool outside or something.  I'm generally not a 'killing things' kind of guy, but I thought the possible outcome of 'live and let live' might get the best of someone's kid and that's not cool.
 
At the end of the day, it was done in and no effort was made to do anything with the skin.  If someone in Charlotte wants to come by and get it, I'll see what the neighbor did with it.
 
Sandy.


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## wolftat (Oct 11, 2013)

monark88 said:


> wolftat said:
> 
> 
> > edohmann said:
> ...


I never said they were fatal, just highly venomous and aggressive.
Copperhead Snakes
Copperhead Snake.com
 I also know from personal experience that a rattlesnake will take any opertunity to leave if allowed while some copperheads will continue to advance on you even if you are backing away from it. Please remember that there are more than one type of copperhead and some may be more aggressive than others.


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## wolftat (Oct 11, 2013)

I think the one thing we may all agree on is that they make nice pens.


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## walshjp17 (Oct 11, 2013)

Sandy H. said:


> If someone in Charlotte wants to come by and get it, I'll see what the neighbor did with it.



Next month's penturner's meeting topic:  prepping Copperhead skin for pen blanks :tongue:


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## Edgar (Oct 11, 2013)

It certainly wasn't a dry bite and I may have a partial immunity, but I'm not going to intentionally test that possibility. My grandmother was bitten on the back of her hand once & we were quite concerned due to her age, but her experience was very similar to mine - lots of pain, badly swelled hand, and a big black spot where she was bitten for a few days but she was just fine too.

To be sure, some people have much worse reactions as Jack (rrfd4) noted but that's not the usual case (as bad as mine hurt, it's hard to imagine how much pain Jack was in). I did mean to use the term "venomous" rather than "dangerous" in my original post. The ER nurses & docs pretty much echoed monark88's comments regarding the potency & amount of venom that is "usually" injected. The hospital did have an antivenin on hand, but they rarely use it - partly because it usually is not necessary but also because people often have a worse reaction to it than the bite itself.

I'm pretty much in the "dead snake = good snake" camp. I'll leave them alone if I am 100% certain that they are harmless, otherwise I shoot first & check ID later.

Ed


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## sbwertz (Mar 29, 2014)

When we were first married, we were in Highland Falls, NY, and I had a new baby (long before disposable diapers.)  I had to hang up diapers every morning, and there was a copperhead that liked to sun itself on the flagstones under the clothseline.  It scared the wadding out of me every morning.  

One day I'd had enough and took the 20 gauge out and blew it away.  Unfortunately, there was a mountainside right behind the clothesline and the ricochets blew out two upstairs windows in the house!


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## Nikitas (Mar 29, 2014)

It is not a copperhead but I don't know what kind it is.....


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## sbwertz (Mar 29, 2014)

edohmann said:


> I'm pretty much in the "dead snake = good snake" camp. I'll leave them alone if I am 100% certain that they are harmless, otherwise I shoot first & check ID later.
> 
> Ed



We always kept a bull snake in the barn to keep down rodents.


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## Edward Cypher (Mar 29, 2014)

*Sounds like it was a draw!!*

I know then it was probably not funny at all but reading it now and knowing no one was seriously hurt it is humorous.  Way to go Sharon.



sbwertz said:


> When we were first married, we were in Highland Falls, NY, and I had a new baby (long before disposable diapers.)  I had to hang up diapers every morning, and there was a copperhead that liked to sun itself on the flagstones under the clothseline.  It scared the wadding out of me every morning.
> 
> One day I'd had enough and took the 20 gauge out and blew it away.  Unfortunately, there was a mountainside right behind the clothesline and the ricochets blew out two upstairs windows in the house!


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## tbroye (Mar 29, 2014)

Only good snake is one on a pen blank.


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## BSea (Mar 30, 2014)

Nikitas said:


> It is not a copperhead but I don't know what kind it is.....


I have to disagree.  I no snake expert, but I'm almost positive that is a copperhead. Why do you think that isn't a copperhead?


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## bruce119 (Mar 30, 2014)

BSea said:


> Nikitas said:
> 
> 
> > It is not a copperhead but I don't know what kind it is.....
> ...



My first thought at first glance it wasn't a copperhead either....
I didn't see the large triangular shape of the head and more important elliptical pupils of a viper....


After farther review I can see the triangular shape of the head, and it's hard to see but but the pupile looks half a circle not round and not elliptical but that my be due to angle and lighting...


I concur it is a copperhead....


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## Marko50 (Apr 1, 2014)

rrfd4 said:


> *Injuries from a Copperhead bite on a finger. *​



GEEZO-PEEZO!


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## Jim Smith (Apr 1, 2014)

That it almost certainly a Copperhead.  They are by far the most common venomous snake in the area I live so I see a number of them every year.  I understand why Sandy killed the snake since it was in an area where kids and dogs could get bitten, and I would have done the same thing.  That said, they are becoming much less common and it would be a shame to kill one that was not in an area where it would be likely to hurt someone.  They really aren't overly aggressive as many believe and they are actually beautifully designed predators.  

Jim Smith


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## Nikitas (Apr 1, 2014)

BSea said:


> Nikitas said:
> 
> 
> > It is not a copperhead but I don't know what kind it is.....
> ...


Looks to me as the eyes are round. The copperheads that I looked up had a black shadow around the pattern and this one has a white shadow. Everything I have read all non venomus snakes in the US have round pupils. I am no snake expert but just doesent appear to be a copperhead. I might be wrong and wont be the first time! lol


 I have searched more and I have changed my opinion...It looks like a southern copperhead...I found one with the same markings...See I was wrong...It will happen again im sure..


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## Scotty (Apr 1, 2014)

I don't have any letters after my name to claim to be an expert, but that is a copperhead.  I have killed at least one in my yard every year for the last 32 years.


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## sbwertz (Apr 1, 2014)

If the eyes are widely dilated,   they ALL look round!


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