¡Snek!

[PRONG HORN 3,131]

On 4/9/2022 at 10:23 PM, Patricio Swayze said:

Started the day taking my daughters to the Houston Zoo.  Of course the reptile list is a priority for every visit.  But trying to wrangle my kids and take pictures, I forgot to get the names of the species.  Pretty obvious which is a rattler though.  All iphone photos and obviously through glass.

 

 

 

The arboreal pit vipers are some of my favorite snakes. 

 

Palm Vipers

 

[crash_davis 23,096]

cue the he died doing what he loved. idiot

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/maryland-man-124-snakes-house-died-snake-bite-autopsy-finds-rcna24250

Maryland man with 124 snakes in his house died of snake bite, autopsy finds

The 49-year-old Pomfret man's death was caused by accidental snake envenomation. 

[Jerry Callo 8,695]

16 hours ago, crash_davis said:

The 49-year-old Pomfret man's death was caused by accidental snake envenomation.

Not from the snake's point of view.

[thunderlounge 7,813]

Play stupid games…

[Walte464 450]

Snek in the front yard off parmer and mopac. Snek ID

[Patricio Swayze 17,058]

Ratsnake. Don’t kill it.

[SquishMitten 10,403]

cue the he died doing what he loved.  

He loves writhing around in horrible pain while his organs failed?

[Jerry Callo 8,695]

Saw a western ribbon snake and a couple plain-bellied water snakes chasing minnows this evening.

[NorthLoop 14,180]

10 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

Saw a western ribbon snake and a couple plain-bellied water snakes chasing minnows this evening.

That's a fantastic picture 

[NorthLoop 14,180]

6 hours ago, Walte464 said:

Snek in the front yard off parmer and mopac. Snek ID

 

6 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Ratsnake. Don’t kill it.

Could that be what we used to call blue racers? Don't remember if that was an actual snake or not.

[TwiceHorn 31,435]

37 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

 

Could that be what we used to call blue racers? Don't remember if that was an actual snake or not.

There's an entire species of snakes called "eastern racers," with a number of sub-species, including the blue racer.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_racer

But blue racers are actually bluish, Northern, and pretty rare.

Most of the rest of them are everywhere.  They haul ass.  I have seen a number of yellow-bellied racers in Texas, hauling ass.

[PantsTent 2,002]

I scooped some kind of ribbon snake out of the pool the other night and then found him dead in the yard the next day.  Did he wear himself out before I got him or is pool water bad for snek?  He was swimming frantically around trying to find an exit.

 

[Homesickhorn 2,202]

Bought little homesick a little Savage .17. I’ve had more fun sighting that little rifle in out here at the barn property on the Guadalupe in Comfort. Yesterday afternoon the sky opened up and it hailed like crazy for about fifteen minutes. Last night we went down to the river to see if we could hook into something, and realized quickly that the storm had really turned the river upside down. Right away, we started seeing white heads hauling ass in the water along both sides of the river. Cottonmouths, at least five of them just in our little section of water. One of them started to veer towards our side of river, apparently attempting to get under a small wooden flotilla that had broken loose a little further up. Little homesick wasn’t having it, and said, “do you think you can hit it with my rifle dad”?
Obviously answer when your son asks that question is, “fucking duh”. So then the pressure was on. I handed him the spotlight, picked up the rifle, and chambered a round. By the time I got it in the scope it had changed course again and I got a good look at its profile, and it was a little over 3ft long, easily one of the biggest I’d seen in quite a while. Maybe it was the audibly concerned “fuuuuck me” that came out of my mouth, because my son immediately noticed my concern. He was a trooper, kept the spot light on him, and when I squeezed the trigger he was still probably 15-20 yards away, and hauling ass, still at an angle towards us.

After I fired, I had to contain my relief and excitement, but my son’s was not to be contained at all. He yelled, “Dad!! Did you see the pink mist!?!?!”

TLDR; There’s a cottonmouth, who’s membership to our little swimming/fishing hole has been revoked. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get pics.

[Shoxthemonkey 1,976]

Aerifying greens at our course and scooped this little guy off of a green. About 6” but trying to act mean and bitey. Set him in the rough to get big. 

Edited April 22, 2022 by Shoxthemonkey

[South Austin 52,441]

Looks poisonous and capricious. 

[High Plains Drifter 11,024]

 

On 4/17/2022 at 10:07 PM, NorthLoop said:

 

Could that be what we used to call blue racers? Don't remember if that was an actual snake or not.

 

rat snakes are often confused with (or mistakenly called) "racers". Lots of snakes are mistakenly or commonly called "racers" that aren't true racers.

 

 

On 4/17/2022 at 10:48 PM, TwiceHorn said:

There's an entire species of snakes called "eastern racers," with a number of sub-species, including the blue racer.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_racer

But blue racers are actually bluish, Northern, and pretty rare.

Most of the rest of them are everywhere.  They haul ass.  I have seen a number of yellow-bellied racers in Texas, hauling ass.

 

 

I see a fair number of these guys where I am. I've always called them "red racers" even though their actual species name is western coachwhip, not sure what subspecies they are:

 

 

They are fast. So fast that when they crawl off into the grass, they appear to vanish into thin air. Due to their long, tapered bodies, it looks like they just shrink down to nothing, instead of actually moving forward. They can also haul ass up into a tree. One wiped out the young in a nest of obnoxious jays that were tormenting and constantly dive-bombing my dogs a handful of springs back.

They are my second favorite (local) snake, behind bull snakes, which I like just due to their general surliness.

 

[Shoxthemonkey 1,976]

17 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

 

rat snakes are often confused with (or mistakenly called) "racers". Lots of snakes are mistakenly or commonly called "racers" that aren't true racers.

 

 

 

 

I see a fair number of these guys where I am. I've always called them "red racers" even though their actual species name is western coachwhip, not sure what subspecies they are:

 

 

They are fast. So fast that when they crawl off into the grass, they appear to vanish into thin air. Due to their long, tapered bodies, it looks like they just shrink down to nothing, instead of actually moving forward. They can also haul ass up into a tree. One wiped out the young in a nest of obnoxious jays that were tormenting and constantly dive-bombing my dogs a handful of springs back.

They are my second favorite (local) snake, behind bull snakes, which I like just due to their general surliness.

 

That’s a cool snake. I’ll have to add that to my must see list. 

[HOOKEM4 5,036]

38 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Looks poisonous and capricious. 

Definitely looks like it could sting you.

[UT_OB1 2,213]

Was doing work at a house in the middle of nowhere that we are trying to fix up and rent. Surrounded on 2 sides by woods, and the grass has gotten a bit high as we’ve been more focused on the house. Was packing up and heard something flipping around behind me. I was standing about 2 fee from this.  I think we were both pretty startled. 
 

copperhead, right?

 

 

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

16 minutes ago, UT_OB1 said:

Was doing work at a house in the middle of nowhere that we are trying to fix up and rent. Surrounded on 2 sides by woods, and the grass has gotten a bit high as we’ve been more focused on the house. Was packing up and heard something flipping around behind me. I was standing about 2 fee from this.  I think we were both pretty startled. 
 

copperhead, right?

 

 

Oh hell no, that's a black cottonmouth mamba.  Looks way too dark to be a copperhead (unless they run that way in Texas), and that head doesn't look very copperheady.

[SquishMitten 10,403]

Doesn’t look like a copperhead to me, but it’s not something I’ve seen before. Interesting coloring and pattern

Where is this property?

[UT_OB1 2,213]

1 hour ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Oh hell no, that's a black cottonmouth mamba.  Looks way too dark to be a copperhead (unless they run that way in Texas), and that head doesn't look very copperheady.

 

39 minutes ago, SquishMitten said:

Doesn’t look like a copperhead to me, but it’s not something I’ve seen before. Interesting coloring and pattern

Where is this property?

Upon further inspection, agree it’s probably a cottonmouth. 
 

Property is in Brazoria. The town. Yes, there is a town in addition to the county. 

[WBT 20,561]

The Cradle of Texas!  Home of not 1 but 2 Bucee's!

[Patricio Swayze 17,058]

Upon further inspection, agree it’s probably a cottonmouth. 
 
Property is in Brazoria. The town. Yes, there is a town in addition to the county. 

It is a cottonmouth. Has the typical black streak behind its eyes. Definitely interesting pattern. Almost broadbanded watersnake like.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

56 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

It is a cottonmouth. Has the typical black streak behind its eyes. Definitely interesting pattern. Almost broadbanded watersnake like.

Not a pretty snek.

[PRONG HORN 3,131]

This is a water snake.  It screams watersnake.  The band behind the eyes aligns with all the pics of watersnake.  Compared to cottonmouth, the band is not as smooth, and has a bit of a downturn to it.  Compare it to the dark band behind the eye of a cottonmouth. 

 

water snake

 

cottonmouth

[UT_OB1 2,213]

2 hours ago, WBT said:

The Cradle of Texas!  Home of not 1 but 2 Bucee's!

Lol. I’d never been that I can remember. Did a double take when I drove by the second Buccees for the first time. 

[Zepol87 9,185]

The coloring looks pretty badass 

[TwiceHorn 31,435]

1 hour ago, PRONG HORN said:

This is a water snake.  It screams watersnake.  The band behind the eyes aligns with all the pics of watersnake.  Compared to cottonmouth, the band is not as smooth, and has a bit of a downturn to it.  Compare it to the dark band behind the eye of a cottonmouth. 

 

water snake

 

cottonmouth

Yeah, water snake was my first guess, too.

It's uncanny how similar they can appear.  Seems like there's only two snek that come in that sort of "murdered out" camo pattern (not that one in particular), nerodia and piscivorus.

[Homesickhorn 2,202]

It is a cottonmouth. Has the typical black streak behind its eyes. Definitely interesting pattern. Almost broadbanded watersnake like.

It IS a broad banded water snake. I had one as a pet for almost three years that was identical to the snake in that pic. I don’t know what the filter on the phone that took the pic was set to, but that snake is black, yellow, and orange.

[Pescado_Rojo 19,413]

Bumped into this little fella out mountain biking Saturday afternoon. Poked him with a long stick and moved him along into the brush. 

[UT_OB1 2,213]

12 hours ago, Homesickhorn said:

It IS a broad banded water snake. I had one as a pet for almost three years that was identical to the snake in that pic. I don’t know what the filter on the phone that took the pic was set to, but that snake is black, yellow, and orange.

 

13 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yeah, water snake was my first guess, too.

It's uncanny how similar they can appear.  Seems like there's only two snek that come in that sort of "murdered out" camo pattern (not that one in particular), nerodia and piscivorus.

 

14 hours ago, PRONG HORN said:

This is a water snake.  It screams watersnake.  The band behind the eyes aligns with all the pics of watersnake.  Compared to cottonmouth, the band is not as smooth, and has a bit of a downturn to it.  Compare it to the dark band behind the eye of a cottonmouth. 

 

water snake

 

cottonmouth

Here is another pic that isn’t quite as good a video of me starting to move it with a rake. The pic is while I was in the ladder. I think I bent or broke a few laws of physics getting up there so fast. 
 

 

[gsoda3 3,245]

13 hours ago, Homesickhorn said:

It IS a broad banded water snake. I had one as a pet for almost three years that was identical to the snake in that pic. I don’t know what the filter on the phone that took the pic was set to, but that snake is black, yellow, and orange.

agree, that's textbook broadbanded water snake coloring and pattern. i've never seen a water moccasin with all the shades of that coloring.  their heads can look like a water moccasin-  those bars behind the eyes can be as distinctive as a moccasin but if you get a good look at the head you'll see some differences.  

[South Austin 52,441]

I'll take everyone's word for it, but that snek looks cottonmouthy, and if I saw it I'd likely shart my pants.  I have an Indiana Jones primal fear of sneks.

[UT_OB1 2,213]

I don’t have a big fear of snakes except when I turn around and see one less than 2’ away that I was not expecting. My first thought was copperhead as I was flying to the top of the ladder. Wife and I thought cottonmouth after looking at the pictures. 

[miguelito 11,252]

I didn't know that face raking was a real thing.

[RollLeft 5,040]

You should try and pick it up to make sure.  Never by the tail.  Head first. 

[texasdago 7,563]

All this talk of coachwhips... I was a western coachwhip go flying across the trail at the Circle C Park... hauled ass right in front of me while I was on my MTB.  Speed was impressive.

[Shoxthemonkey 1,976]

1 hour ago, UT_OB1 said:

 

 

Here is another pic that isn’t quite as good a video of me starting to move it with a rake. The pic is while I was in the ladder. I think I bent or broke a few laws of physics getting up there so fast. 
 

 

Thanks for not deep tining that snake whatever it is.

[TwiceHorn 31,435]

1 hour ago, South Austin said:

I'll take everyone's word for it, but that snek looks cottonmouthy, and if I saw it I'd likely shart my pants.  I have an Indiana Jones primal fear of sneks.

Water snek are aggro like cottonmouth, too.  Probably moreso.

[dcbc 14,465]

1 hour ago, South Austin said:

I'll take everyone's word for it, but that snek looks cottonmouthy, and if I saw it I'd likely shart my pants.  I have an Indiana Jones primal fear of sneks.

Oh, that's just my pet snake, Reggie!

[TwiceHorn 31,435]

3 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Bumped into this little fella out mountain biking Saturday afternoon. Poked him with a long stick and moved him along into the brush. 

I am constantly amazed at how snek just lay out across trails.  It can be hard to get them to move too.  I really, REALLY don't like running them over.  I just missed a small green the other day.  I guess rough green, didn't have time to look real close.  Too smol to go across the trail, but was tryin.

[Pescado_Rojo 19,413]

1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

I am constantly amazed at how snek just lay out across trails.  It can be hard to get them to move too.  I really, REALLY don't like running them over.  I just missed a small green the other day.  I guess rough green, didn't have time to look real close.  Too smol to go across the trail, but was tryin.

I think this one was sleeping when I rolled up. I threw a couple small rocks pretty close to it, and it didn't budge. I thought it might be run over and dying, but I found a long, broken off cedar branch and poked it's tail and it coiled up and rattled at me. Poked it again, and it retreated into the brush. 

[High Plains Drifter 11,024]

 

Unless you really really know your shit, it can be difficult ID'ing a lot of snakes based on color pattern alone.

The one UT-OB1 posted is a good example.

To me, the girthy-ness makes me think cotton mouth, but I don't really really know my shit in regard to snakes.

[rage-a-holic 4,371]

1 hour ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

I think this one was sleeping when I rolled up. I threw a couple small rocks pretty close to it, and it didn't budge. I thought it might be run over and dying, but I found a long, broken off cedar branch and poked it's tail and it coiled up and rattled at me. Poked it again, and it retreated into the brush. 

This in Austin? Looks just like the trail behind my house and we have lots of rattlers.

[Pescado_Rojo 19,413]

5 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

This in Austin? Looks just like the trail behind my house and we have lots of rattlers.

Williamson County. 

[TwiceHorn 31,435]

13 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Unless you really really know your shit, it can be difficult ID'ing a lot of snakes based on color pattern alone.

The one UT-OB1 posted is a good example.

To me, the girthy-ness makes me think cotton mouth, but I don't really really know my shit in regard to snakes.

Water snek some fat sumbitches, too.

 

[SimonBolivar 10,957]

5 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Bumped into this little fella out mountain biking Saturday afternoon. Poked him with a long stick and moved him along into the brush. 

You can tell by the bands near the snake's rattle that it's a Nerodia.  

Edited April 25, 2022 by SimonBolivar

[gsoda3 3,245]

4 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

You can tell by the bands near the snake's rattle that it's a Nerodia.  

along with the labial bars you can tell this is a water snake b/c you can see the eyes from the top view.

[Jerry Callo 8,695]

If you flip it over, gently, and count that subcaudal scales, we can probably determine the sex.