^ha ha^ Thing One stole some little boy's fish yesterday. He was collecting them in a bucket after he cauht them with a net, and she tried catching them with her hands for awhile - then she just dumped the bucket into the pond that we had built around our sand castle so she could catch/play with them there. Yes, half of them died. His gramma was not pleased. I knew she was playing with them in the bucket, but I did not see her dump the bucket since I was packing up. Woopsie!
So you would shoo him away from this brightly colored snake? But you wouldn't be so concerned about this one?
Can't tell really good from the picture without being able to see the head better, could you tell if it had an orangish colored underside??
Tassy - I wouldn't want him to go near any kind of snake. Period! I'm terrified of them all, that's my point! I was just saying, I don't know anything about them...but that's all I remember about Animal Planet. Guess I just didn't make my point well... Maybe a hermit crab would be a better pet for him then, although they aren't cute, but he doesn't care about that, that's for sure. He'll pick up any critter, cute or ugly...
It looked like it could start turning orange, are you thinking it's a red-belly? That's what I was hoping for.
Your daughter is a lot younger than my son, but does sound a lot like him! That's just like something he would have done at that age! For his bday this year we gave him money and just took him shopping, told him he could buy whatever he wanted, and that net was something he picked. We didn't really think he'd ever use it, but that's all he wanted to do at the beach last week, he definitely got his use out of it! Within 5 minutes at the beach, he was catching fish right off the shore! I've never seen anything like it! On our way to the playgroup the other day we had our windows down, and he said "I smell frogs"! It was too cute!
It kind of looks like that could be a red-bellied water snake. But, like I said, hard to tell without being able to see the head better too.
I have this pic, but it is further away unzoomed - actually the markings are a little clearer in this pic.
I'm just saying thats not a good philosophy to follow and could be very misleading, for your own familys safety. The first snake is a perfectly harmless cornsnake (ofcourse it can bite, but they all can). The second is a copperhead, which is venemous and which is much more likely to be found in your yard in this part of the country. We've had numerous ones in our yard, and even in my dogs pen. The following website can show you more pictures of Copperheads, and what can happen from a bite since they are venemous. Normally you can tell a venemous snake by the shape of its head. Its more triangular in shape, rat snakes, red-bellied water snakes, king snakes, cornsnakes, they all have a more rounded/oval shaped head. Please take a minute to check out the website on Copperheads if you don't know what they look like. http://www.copperhead-snake.com/
Maybe Craig will find his way over to this thread...he is our resident snake hunter/herder/relocater. And.. wow.. in the zoomed out picture with some perspective to size, that really is a baby-baby... that picture is much better of his pattern, could be a baby king snake. If it was a baby copperhead, it would be very yellow towards the tail.
Whew, glad to hear it is not a copperhead! I have alot of them in my yard every year. We are pretty wooded with wetlands behind us. Would the king-snake or red-belly bite?
Tassy - I think you totally missed my point about animal planet. I don't know much about snakes except king cobras, because my son did a big project on them last year, and they were not bright orange! I don't want to turn this into a snake thread either, I really don't think I said what I meant to. All I meant was: My son loves all animals, and I'm glad there haven't been any snakes seen in my yard, because he would want to pick one up, and I don't know which ones are poisonous, and even if I did, I wouldn't want him touching any of them. At all. Ever.
If you leave them alone to go on their merry little way they shouldn't bother you. But if Thing 1 or Thing 2 (your own words for them ) were out there and trying to poke at it, or pick it up... it might. But at that size, it wouldn't be more than a little pop probably. If you've got larger snakes, like adult rat and king snakes, they can be a little more testy and more than likely would attempt to strike and possibly bite if they are antagonized. They love heat though, and thats why alot of times you see them just laid out in the driveway or on concrete.
Based on the second picture (really small bugger) and without actually getting my hands on the snake itself I'd venture to guess it would most likely be a red-bellied water snake, based soley on coloration and pattern. As to wheither or not they will bite.....they all bite, but at his size it would be vary hard for the mouth to open enough to bite anything of any size, and at his size I doubt it would break the skin, although anything is possible, especially if it's tender skin such as a bare child's toe. Craig
I get that you don't know anything about snakes, and thats why I've pointed out to you, that the only thing you thought you knew, wasn't exactly true. I would hate for your son to get bit by a Copperhead, and you not to think it was serious because it was a bland/dark or dull colored snake. I was truly just trying to educate you, if you son likes scooping up yard critters as much as you say he does. It really would be in your own interest to atleast be able to recognize the most frequent and/or potential critters he could come walking in the house with. Someday, it might be a snake.
It took me FOREVER to get Thing One & Thing Two away from it. Thing One was trying to rescue a toad that she thought that little snake might like for lunch.
This one looks a tad larger than the one you found. The one you found wasn't mus larger than a decent sized fishing worm. Craig
