Natural History

Posted in wildlife | Tagged copperhead snake, moccasin, Northern copperhead, Southern copperhead | 10 Comments

10 Responses

1. on February 25, 2010 at 4:46 am Rinalia

   I think it is silly to suggest putting a live animal in the trap, but hey that’s me. But I like this idea of live traps. They would never be empty at the sanctuary.

   I’ve handled rattlesnakes. We capture a lot at the sanctuary – last year, about 30. Mainly Northern Pacific. They are very docile. The closest I came was walking directly over one who had snuck into the laundry room. He rattled as an afterthought – I was already about 10′ away. Scary moment, though.

   By handle, I mean we capture them with snake tongs. The longest tong is 6′, the shortest 4′. That is the closest I’ll come to a rattlesnake on purpose. The gopher snakes I’ve physically handled and that is, I think, mostly stupid of me. :)

   We, of course, never kill them. The sanctuary is one of the last vestiges of safe land for the rattlesnakes – habitat encroachment is pushing them further away from their normal environs and out into the hills.

   
   
   • on February 25, 2010 at 4:58 am retrieverman

     We have a rattlesnake, but it’s found only in really remote areas. It’s called the timber rattler, and it often comes in a black phase.

     Northern copperheads are about the only venomous snake that is common around here.

     And they have a natural predator– the black rat snake.

     The more of these you have around, the fewer copperheads you’ll find.

     
     
     • on February 25, 2010 at 5:09 am Rinalia

       Copperheads are a lot more dangerous and tricky than Northern Pacific rattlers, I think.

       We do have king snakes. We cheer when we see them. Unfortunately, their prevalence pales in comparison to that of the rattlers.

       I actually like the rattlesnakes, the livestock are smart enough to steer clear, and those of us who work at the sanctuary are safety conscious during the snake season (starting soon!). In the 21 years of the sanctuary’s existence, only one person has been bitten (a cofounder) after he stuck his hand where he shouldn’t have and the snake didn’t take kindly to the rude invasion.

       The one death we had from a rattlesnake occurred a couple years ago. A hen had hidden a clutch of eggs and hatched two chicks. We kept her in a special enclosure that we thought was snake proof. It was not. The snake was looking for a place to cool off and encountered an angry hen. The snake was not looking for a meal, but the bite was fatal. Neither of the chicks were harmed, and the snake didn’t eat the hen. It was still sad. The snake was safely relocated and the chicks grew up to be healthy hens themselves.

       
       
       • on February 25, 2010 at 5:39 am retrieverman

         The Australian copperheads, which are an elapids, are pretty venomous (at least compared to the snakes in this country).

         These copperheads that are found in the US are vipers. Their venom isn’t that bad, but it can cause lots of problems with necrosis.

         If I had to be bitten by a venomous snake, I’d take one of our copperheads over a timber rattlesnake any day.

         They have bitten our dogs. The vet refused to give our golden boxer an antivenin shot. And she survived well.

         One of the JRT’s got bitten on the lower lip, and her jaw began to swell up so much that she looked like a pelican.

         She had to have an antivenin shot.

         One of the goldens was bitten, and she was put on antibiotics after her antivenin shot. She had a white place where the bite was, and it healed entirely. She was bitten on the upper lip because she dropped a tennis ball on top of a copperhead.

         
         
2. on February 25, 2010 at 5:44 am Bill

   Venomous snakes are a big problem for bird dogs here in Florida. The local news in Tampa did a story on a guy that spent $5k on antivenin for his finished German Shorthair after a bite.

   I chose to have my dog vaccinated with the vaccine that has been proven effective on western diamondbacks, but not eastern diamondbacks. A lot of country vets think that it probably works on our snakes as well. It was $60 and required two visits.

   Of course for reasons i don’t understand, there is a small chance that the vaccine has actually made my dog less likely to survive a snakebite.

   
   
   • on February 25, 2010 at 6:26 am retrieverman

     Have you tried snake proofing with an e-collar?

     It’s a good use of the collar.

     
     
3. on February 25, 2010 at 6:18 am Jess

   We have Western Diamondbacks. They are aggressive and don’t always rattle before they strike. If they come in the yard or close to the fence line, they are dead meat. I catch them up with snake tongs and chop off their heads with a branch cutter. I think we killed twelve or thirteen of them last year. I have had dogs bitten. The vast majority of large dogs will survive a bite and I haven’t lost any big dogs (three of my big dogs have been bitten, and I know several more large dogs that have), but two of my IGs died after a bite. (The IGs are damned stupid about the snakes and will readily run up and try to bite one.) I have never used anti-venin; most of the vets here don’t carry it because it’s very expensive and a large dog can use up many vials, so the clients don’t want it. It also has a very short shelf life. I looked into the so-called rattlesnake vaccine. It’s NEVER been tested in the laboratory. No tests with various amounts of venom injected into the dog. Since most large dogs will live after a bite anyways, you cannot actually tell if the vaccine worked or not. Since we only get snakes at night, I simply started locking up my dogs at night in a yard as snake proof as I can make it.

   
   
   • on February 25, 2010 at 6:34 am retrieverman

     I won’t tell you what we do to copperheads.

     But I learned at an early age that copperheads give birth to live young.

     My dad chopped one open for me to see the babies inside.

     
     
4. on February 25, 2010 at 6:24 am Peggy Richter

   The common venomous snake in my area is the “mojave green” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotalus_scutulatus — both very venomous and very aggressive. There are regular “snake avoidance clinics” for dogs in my area. Unfortunately the current “snake venom vaccine” (http://www.redrockbiologics.com/FAQ.html#2) doesn’t cover the mojave green. Dogs do survive bites because often enough the snake gives a “dry bite” — a bite with no venom in it. But it can and does kill dogs and occasionally, people. King snakes and roadrunners are their primary enemies, although a hawk (or the fairly rare golden eagle) may occasionally take one.
   Vr, Peggy Richter

   
   
5. on March 1, 2010 at 5:53 pm cyborgsuzy

   Dear Guy In the Video,

   Maybe if you cut back the plants around the child’s play area and add some sand or bark dust or a barrier like a snake fence http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/reptiles/snakefnc.html

   … you wouldn’t need to live trap the snake to begin with.

   Seriously. Too many times people set up perfect snake habitats in their yards and then act shocked when the snakes show up.

   
   

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