this evening i was wheeling our large trash can between the house and the studio... just as i passed between the the studio and the area where our electric kiln is, Jeff said, "SNAKE". i looked down and sure enough there was a snake curled up on the ground. Jeff didn't like the looks of it, grabbed a nearby shovel and in no time the snake was in two pieces. we suspected it was a young copperhead so i googled it and sure enough that is what it was.
i took a few pictures but was still shaking so much that they are all out of focus!
from what i read online the telltale sign that it was a young copperhead is that the end of the tail was a light green. this one was about a foot long.
i talked to my sister in NH on the phone tonight and relayed the snake story... she is more afraid of snakes than me. i probably should have not said a word about the incident, she won't want to visit us now!
Copperheads are't too aggressive unless cornered, it's the cottonmouths and rattlesnakes which are more so, but still it is poisonous. When we lived in Arkansas we saw our dog jump straight up in the air when he encountered a copperhead, I guess animals have a sixth sense when faced with certain possible dangers. Here's my post about a baby rattle snake in California (no rattles yet) so you can see what they look like, and he was very aggressive
ReplyDeletehttp://bluestarrgallery.blogspot.com/2008/10/arent-babies-cute-some-anyway.html
Hi Linda,
ReplyDeletei read the same thing about copperheads, leave them alone and they won't bother you... yet it is the most common poisonous snake bite, with the highest incidence in NC. they don't give a warning before striking like other snakes. like you mentioned in your snake post, we have been keeping the grass cut short and trim all areas that we have to walk through.
Yikes!! Glad no one got hurt...except the snake ;)
ReplyDeleteWe chopped a couple of those in half last month. There were two of them crawling side by side, never seen that before, and the same day saw two black snakes which we left alone. I really do NOT like seeing snakes crawling around. When Wes was little she loved snakes and I took her to the petting zoo in Greensboro a lot so she could hold them. Gave me a better appreciation of them but I still don't like them in my yard!!
ReplyDeleteCopperheads are plentiful here. If it makes you feel any better, the snake lady at the zoo told us that they're the least poisonous of all the poisonous snakes in NC. King snakes eat them, so be kind to the kings if you see them. I'm a big fan of the natural order of things.
ReplyDeleteRhonda- i saw a king snake in the same area this afternoon, if there were more copperheads i hope he is eating them up!!
ReplyDeleteI am relieved that the Kingsnake is on the job...I must have chummed the yard with copperhead entrails
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