I think copperheads are awesome snakes.But not as pets.Best left admired from the tv or pictures.LOL

 

Ok, this is me (DvlRacer) under my father's name again.

I went to the petstore today and to no surprise the lady had no idea about what to do with the snake. So I bought a dozen crickets and took them home to the guy. I believe he did eat seeing as I cought him last Friday and it is now almost a week and a half later and he's still very aggressive and mobile. Well anyways my dad and I pulled him out (with gloves) to really examine him. We could not be positive about the identity of my new friend but to be on the safe side we took him in our woods behind our house and set him free. He really seemed glad to be out and quickly scurried under some leaves, and it made me feel good about not killing him too. Anyways, we snapped a couple cool photos of me and the snake and some close-ups of just the snake so I hope to post them here within the week, maybe tomorrow if I have the time. I think for my next pet I will get this cool frog I saw at the pet shop today for $25.00. It's small now but the woman said when it grows up it will eat mice, and hey, any frog that eats mice is cool in my book. Who knows, maybe I'll walk out back and find my buddy later in the week or maybe he'll go and get his head chopped off by one of the neighbors, but either way I got the joy of owning him for a week and the pleasure to release him back into the wild. Thanks a lot for all the posts, negative and positive.


Keith
~Houston, TX

 

good call man!
I've had several snakes before, and one morning when I woke up for school,
I found a 15" long water snake on my chest, with it's head about a hands-width from my chin!
Needless to say, they can get out of small places.
The most recent snake I had was an albino corn snake, very beautiful snake, and commonly available in pet stores, no license needed to keep, either.
I'd hazard to say that a corn snake would be a much better pet than ANY poisonous one-even if you're Steve Irwin!
What kinda frog did you get, anyway? Must gonna be a big one, to eat mice, most I've heard of, eat crickets, and bugs, and worms, etc etc
(sorry for the long post, too)

 

I been bit by a copper head once, my hand swelled up and hurt a while and then I was ok, I later learned that only one in four copperhead strikes inject venom, guess I was one of the three that doesn't, which turned out nice cuz the nearst hospital at the time was over 50miles away

 

Woogs,

I didn't know that...it explains alot in my case. I know just the bite hurt alot! I was bitten on my right "pinkie" finger while over-reaching into a blackberry bush to get this huge berry. Needless to say, I got more than I bargained for. That thing clamped down and for an instant would NOT let go. It literally felt like I'd grabbed a live-wire! I shook my hand up and down and was finally able to withdraw it. My whole hand within a couple hours swelled and turned greyish-white about 1/4 the way up my forearm.

I didn't get a look at the snake, but the EMT at the hospital said, that judging by the puncture wounds - one on each side of the knuckle...the snake was probably 4.5-5' long.

I believe every species of animal was put on this earth for a reason, and I am TRULY an animal lover, but I'll tell you this...if I ever see another copperhead near me (close to civilization)...it's DEAD. I know they help control the rodent population, but there are plenty of NON-VENOMOUS snakes that can take care of that.

My bite occurred within 50 yards of an elementary school and closer than that to mine and my neighbors' houses. Just think of what might have happened if it would've been a small child reaching for that delicious blackberrry before or after school or at recess....they might not have been as fortunate as I was. The blackberry patch was adjacent to the path used by many of those kids going from our subdivision to the school.

 

Keith, you did the right thing. Proud of you. Although I hate snakes and don't mind seeing them dead. Once in a while to let one live is okay.

I was going to a job site with my former boss one day when we saw two rattle snakes next to the road. My boss had never seen one up close so I thought that I would show him, so I turned around. One of them was already dead and I saw the other one go up the hill in my mirror.

We got stopped and I started to walk over to where they were at and picked up the dead one with a stick. My boss stayed on the other side of the road watching me. I started to look where the other one had gone, at least where I thought it had gone. I started to poke around when I heard it rattle and I looked. It was about 5 feet away and when I turned around to show my boss. He looked Barney Rubble of the Flintsons. He jumped in the air, turned and all I could see was his legs going very fast and him yelling; "Don't you ever do that again to me!"

The rest of the day was fun because of every noise we heard while working in a damp basement, I would yell, "watch out for the snake". He was shaking all day long. It was great.

Tom

 

Ha...I hate snakes too, but I am kind of sad to see this thread go.

 

The living copperhead thread legacy is now over... May this be remembered by all... lol. Good decision though...

 

78explorer,
how far apart were the fang marks? mine where just a smidge under half inch. but I have no idea how big the snake was. would be nice to have some kind of idea.

 

Between 1" and 1 1/8" apart...

Scott

 

There is a method I learned from a south american friend that can be used to grab a snake like that if you absolutely have to so that you can dispose of it, or pitch it from the trail. You have to get it by the tail - they have a hard time turning on their own length (unless they twine around their own body - when they do that, shake them back down!) they don't have strong enough muscles to reach up to their other end when hanging in the air.

I've done it myself, and seen it done. But don't do this if you can just use a stick to start them off on their merry way without getting in striking range.

Pain hurts, and death is final.


~Wolf sends

 

That is how I picked up this snake when I found it Wolf (of course if I knew what species it was, it probably would have looked more like this --> ). By the way, the frog I was talking about is called a Pac Man frog:

http://www.wnyherp.org/care-sheets/...ac-man-frog.php


Hopefully I can get those pics up for ya'll soon , don't forget to check this thread later in the week.

Keith
~Houston, TX

 

Just a little fyi for eveyone...In North America all venomous snake have slotted pupil much like that of a cat and all nonvenomous snakes have round pupils like that of humans. I know that if you are walking down the trail you are not going to get down there and look but if you are foolish enough to pick one up without knowing for sure what it is this will help you tell if it is poisonous. for example distiguishing between a baby hog nose snake and a baby copperhead. I had a garter snake that I caught last year that did very very well in captivity and he did calm down enough that he could be handled. It took me a while to figure what to feed him. All he would eat were goldfish. I would just drop about 6 or 7 in his waterbowl every friday and he was good to go. I had him for about a year and then gave him to a friend of mine who has several different snakes.

 

Good call on the snake Keith. I've had a number of snakes growing up (4 red tail boas, 1 king snake, 1 ball python, and then my prize possession, my reticulated python) and I can't imagine even one of those having venom. I think every one of those snakes had bit me at one time or another (except the ball) during a feeding or just holding them. Anyways, the pac man frogs are super boring, they don't do anything at all but sit in a bowl of water (if it's in the tank). If you want something that'll eat mice, get another snake. A nice 10-20 gallon glass tank is a good starter for a baby one. Believe it or not, as boring as snakes are to watch, pac man frogs are even worse, it's like watching grass grow. Snakes are cool, go back to that pet shop and get a red tail boa!! Or better yet, a ball python is a VERY easy and docile snake to take care of. Good luck!

 

How about a rottweiler, two pillows and some duct tape. Just tape the pillows around your arms, stand with them out, and watch the fun begin!!