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Snake season is here

Sam06
I have killed 3 more copperheads on my property in the last 2 days. I guess with all the rain we have had they are moving around.

Then I was listening to the radio yesterday and I heard that North Carolina has the highest rate of snake bite in the USA and that Wake County has the highest rate of snake bite in NC(I live in Wake County).

I did not know this. But I have lived here 10 years and I don't think there has been a year go by that I have not killed a copperhead. So far this year I have killed 9, that is the most I have seen or killed. Both my dogs have been bit, one has been bit twice. They learned their lesson though and when they see one they stay back and bark at it.

For me this has been the Spring of the Varmint, with Foxes, Snakes and Ground hogs showing up in increasing numbers...............maybe its due to Climate Change ;)

This rain has really made my tomatoes grow.

Anyone else encountering lots of snakes?


BTW hedog I really don't like killing them and when I encounter and good snake I either leave them alone or I get them to a safe area, same with turtles.
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Comments

11 comments

Date Votes
  • Grasshopper
    Yes, the weather has been raining all spring and they are out everywhere. Granted, most are not toxic, but when I do run across the copperhead, he is toast, end of story. I have children around here and they are AGGRESSIVE --
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  • babun
    ""
    Anyone else encountering lots of snakes?""

    I posted a thread awhile back about the MANY copperheads I've killed this season.

    Way more than the last 3 years.

    Grasshopper...I never thought of a copperhead as a aggression snake. You usually have to
    step on them before they even strike at you. They know any thing bigger than a rabbit is NOT food, so they don't inject venom most of the time.

    We have a lot more banded watersnakes in our lake this year too.
    They look like a copperhead, so some campers panic when they see them.
    I tell the campers watch how they swim. A copperhead will swim with it's whole body on top of the water. {they have no air/water ballast chambers}. A harmless watersnake will swim with only their head above the water.
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  • He Dog
    Sam, while I have no need to kill any snake, and have the experience and ability to handle any snake otherwise, there is no clear evidence that relocating them is more humane that a quick dispatch. I do move rattlers and other snakes off of roadways, and have relocated some, but the scant evidence we have indicates that relocating them puts them at a serious disadvantage competing with resident snakes where the new one does not know the terrain, sources of water and shelter, and has not located food sources. Within a certain distance, they go home, further out the little evidence available suggests they die. I just hold out hope, and don't kill them, but I may well be fooling myself.
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  • Sam06
    He Dog wrote:
    Sam, while I have no need to kill any snake, and have the experience and ability to handle any snake otherwise, there is no clear evidence that relocating them is more humane that a quick dispatch. I do move rattlers and other snakes off of roadways, and have relocated some, but the scant evidence we have indicates that relocating them puts them at a serious disadvantage competing with resident snakes where the new one does not know the terrain, sources of water and shelter, and has not located food sources. Within a certain distance, they go home, further out the little evidence available suggests they die. I just hold out hope, and don't kill them, but I may well be fooling myself.

    I understand. I really don't like killing a snake, even a poisonous one because they do a good job getting rid of rodents but like I have said before I just cannot have them all over the place biting my dogs or other animals. Believe it or not I have yet to run into a Rattlesnake here in NC. When I lived in LA and GA I saw them all the time.

    I have a Have a heart trap that I use to catch coons and opossums. I relocate them to the lake about a mile from here. One coon that has a bobbed tail has comer back 2 times. He must be dumb to go into the trap that many times but I relocated him farther away and he came back again. He was bad about trying to get at my chickens and getting in the garbage so I had to relocate him to coon heaven ;)
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  • allen griggs
    It has been rainy, rainy up here in the NC mountains, but I haven't seen any snakes this year.

    Now this story about relocating snakes is fascinating to me, I went to a lot of trouble to relocate a copperhead several years ago and posted pics on this forum. I caught him under the lid to the propane tank.
    And HeDog informed me that relocation was no good and that snakes are territorial, and that the relocated snake would die.
    That was astonishing to me.

    Let me run another one by you HeDog. I just don't like to kill any of God's creatures including the 120 millipedes I have caught live and tossed outside in the past week.
    HeDog what about rats? Last fall I caught 8 rats in my HavaHart trap and relocated them, took them about 8 miles away, across two rivers, and turned 'em loose in the woods.
    Will those be happy woods rats over there or will they just die? Or will a damn rat cross two rivers and come back home.
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  • Brookwood
    allen griggs wrote:
    It has been rainy, rainy up here in the NC mountains, but I haven't seen any snakes this year.

    Now this story about relocating snakes is fascinating to me, I went to a lot of trouble to relocate a copperhead several years ago and posted pics on this forum. I caught him under the lid to the propane tank.
    And HeDog informed me that relocation was no good and that snakes are territorial, and that the relocated snake would die.
    That was astonishing to me.

    Let me run another one by you HeDog. I just don't like to kill any of God's creatures including the 120 millipedes I have caught live and tossed outside in the past week.
    HeDog what about rats? Last fall I caught 8 rats in my HavaHart trap and relocated them, took them about 8 miles away, across two rivers, and turned 'em loose in the woods.
    Will those be happy woods rats over there or will they just die? Or will a damn rat cross two rivers and come back home.

    All I can say Allen is that by relocating rats, you have made a few owls, foxes, coyote's, martins, mink, weasel's, hawks, eagle's, happy for the added meals to their domain. I may have missed a few carnivorous predators living in your area but you did good in my opinion as rats have no value, other than protein for needy appetites!
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  • Butchdog2
    Griggs, try putting the trap in the lake for a couple minutes, not over to the lake. Pretty sure they won't come back. Same for rats. Buzzards got to eat to.
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  • Smitty500mag
    I didn't know Buzzards would kill snakes until yesterday when these Buzzards that were here at our place to eat a deer that had been killed in the road. One of them saw a snake crawling in the pine straw and he didn't hesitate to tear it apart and eat it.

    lA6CAwZ.jpg
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  • wpageabc
    Many of these creatures make good crab bait. Crabs like to eat and they taste good too.
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  • Grasshopper
    Buzzards around here have been killing calves, I kid you not-
    Copperheads have bitten two people here in the last 2 weeks, one child one grownup both just walking along trails. Wife works in ER and was involved so yea imo aggressive snakes. Good thing is most are a little farther south of me-
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  • He Dog
    Smitty, those are not buzzards, those are black vultures. Buzzards are the beuteos, hawks like the red tail, red shouldered, rough legged etc. They don't eat carrion by preference, but because that is how they are adapted. They will eat fresh meat over decomposing meat any day.

    Allen, I am not a mammologist, let's get that out front. Add to that I don't know what sort of rats we are talking about. Norway rats? a native wood rat or swamp rat (probably not likely up on your little hill)? If a Norway rat, it is introduced, does not belong here and is injurious. I would dispatch it. Other rats, I know nothing about their behavior and have no access to the literature on any work done on relocation, while I did have all the herpetological journals in my library. They do swim well though... :twisted: :lol: I'da probably done what you did if they were natives, and dispatched them if Norway.
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