I live in NW Ohio. Yesterday (7/6)while refilling my hummingbird feeder. I noticed our dog & cat cornering something near the fence about 3 feet from me. I looked closer and to my suprise, shock, and scared half to death I realized it was a large snake!! About 30 inches long, with black and yellow diamond(?) shaped markings on the back. It's head had flared out like a cobra does, and it's tongue was out and twitching back and forth and was definitely forked at the end. Hissing to beat the band. No rattler. We live in a new(3 years old)residential area -houses all around- with a small woods behind our house. I tried to ID it from various websites and came up with a Northern Copperhead or Eastern Milk snake. I'm concerned that if it is a copperhead and more are around, it might comeback to attack my dog and cat. Any thoughts on what this is? I took pictures but do not have a digital camera and it will be several days before I get the roll developed.
RJ in Holland Ohio
Copperhead or Milk snake??
My guess is milk snake.A 30inch copperhead would be one for the record books, don't kill him as he would be worth big bucks! Also doubt that a copperhead would hiss, and the flared head? Did he "flare" the head, actually skin behind the head, or what? We have a snake called a puffing alder that can "flare " his head to look just like a cobra, and will hiss and raise H***, he will scare ya he looks so bad! Also never heard of a Northern copperhead, but I can always learn new things. But I still maintain it is a non- poisionous snake. I deal with snakes every day as I work in the forests of the SE. ddt
My guess would be a hog nosed snake. One crawled into our yard once and was discovered by our dogs...it coiled up and flared like a cobra. Knew it was not a copperhead or cottonmouth, so my dh took a long stick and tried to encourage it to move on off into the woods. Then it stopped acting like a cobra and played dead. We backed off for a while and watched it...and it crawled off into the woods.
Jean
It also sounds like a copperhead to me. The shape of a snakes head can help you determine if it is poisonous or not. I do not particularly care for snakes, but my better half taught me that just in case, since we have woods surrounding our home.
dht... I wish I would have known that. We found a copperhead 37 inches long laying in our driveway sunning himself at our old place. He did not hiss at all, and when my fiance and neighbor walked up with a big stick they just gave him 2 good whacks on the head and it was all over. If I was not being nosy, I would have never known how long it was and how shocked they were by the size too. They kept the snake long enough to show everyone (mainly kids)how to be able to identify one.
milk snake: what to look for: a "Y' or "V" shaped light mark behind the head, or white and yellow collar around the neck and black bordered red band separted by white or yellow rings that widen on sides;scales smooth, glossy
copperhead:black copper, orange, or pinkish, with bold red-brown crossbands, often narrowing at center of back; plain-colored head; pit in the front of and just below the eyes, vertical pupils..ha! like you want to look that close...lol!
hog snake: upturned nose, wide neck,thick body, hissing noise, underside of tail lighter than belly; yellowish, brown, tan, or rteddish, with dark, sauarish blotches on back and round ones on sides, may be all black too.
but then, who wants to get that close..hee, hee..hope this helps out some!
Here is a link:-
http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=0066C000.
I have never seen a snake in my life and WE HAVE COPPERHEADS - ARGGGHHH!!!!
King snake..., there is one like the one Lisa described, with the black, red & yellow or white and also the black & yellow as you are describing in your post..He's a good one.. They do hiss when threatened.
Larkie
The Kingsnake derives its name from its habit of eating other snakes, and is most
famous for eating rattlesnakes, copperheads and coral snakes. But it also feeds
on other snakes, lizards, birds and their eggs, small mammals, turtles and frogs. It
is usually active in the morning and later afternoon but under very hot conditions
will be active at night.
Although regarded as a gentle snake, when threatened the Kingsnake hisses,
strikes and vibrates its tail. When attacked it will roll into a ball with its head in
the center, smearing its attackers with musk and feces.
The Kingsnake locates and identifies rattlesnakes at night with its sense of smell.
It immediately bites and surrounds its victim with suffocating coils, as a Boa
Constrictor would do. Since it is immune to the poison of venomous snakes, the
Kingsnake is little concerned with being bitten. When the rattlesnake is well
exhausted, the Kingsnake simply swallows it whole, while still alive.
This message was edited Wednesday, Jul 11th 8:22 PM