Don't flip over a rock in a creek...

[aplomado]

Don't flip over a rock in a creek to try to ID the snake that swam under it... cause if you do 4-5 babies might swim out and one may end up inside your sandal!  

 

Looked it up later, and I think it was a banded water snake.  Was pretty funny after the fact!  Not so much when I was flailing around trying to get my sandal off. 

 

Please don't tell my wife!

 

(not my image, but it looked a lot like this)

[Walt]

7 minutes ago, aplomado said:

Not so much when I was flailing around trying to get my sandal off. 

 

Please don't tell my wife!

My wife would know from the condition of my underwear....

[izak_]

Nice find!

And thanks for not trying to kill it  

[Bobby Rico]

That is spectacular.

To quote one of my all time favourite TV shows of the 80s 

“Hey, let's be careful out there.”

[Herb]

round pupils in eyes = harmless snake.  Yes, just for North American Snakes ( the coral snake is the exception, but they are small and seldom bite people)

[Tidgy's Dad]

I would be delighted. 

[Miocene_Mason]

Haha been there multiple times. Never a good feeling when you look up and realize you are within striking distance of a coiled up snake!

[aplomado]

Yesterday we found a copperhead in our yard.  I caught it with a snake hook made out of coat hanger duct taped to a stick and hauled it off.  Kids thought it was the best thing ever.

 

I am a softy I guess.

[RyanNREMTP]

There's a snake in my boot!

[goatinformationist]

Hah! You were lucky, all water snakes are mean.

[izak_]

On 15/08/2018 at 10:31 AM, Herb said:

round pupils in eyes = harmless snake.

Really depends what the snake is  

[ynot]

On 8/14/2018 at 5:31 PM, Herb said:

round pupils in eyes = harmless snake.

I do not like getting close enough to see the pupil., especially with poisonous snakes.

Prefer to use head shape and scale patterns. But nothing beats knowing what snakes are in the area.

[izak_]

1 hour ago, ynot said:

But nothing beats knowing what snakes are in the area.

Yeah... the most venomous snake in the world has round pupils   I know Herb was probably referring to North American snakes but just so people know. 

[Walt]

9 minutes ago, Foozil said:

Yeah... the most venomous snake in the world has round pupils   I know Herb was probably referring to North American snakes but just so people know. 

And the poisonous ones have a real attitude by the looks of that drawing

[Miocene_Mason]

Natures too good, black ray snake juveniles look like copper heads and give us quite the scare in MD.

[Bobby Rico]

Treat all snakes and wild animals with the utmost of  respect . Bobby’s rule number one .

[Plax]

11 hours ago, Foozil said:

Really depends what the snake is  

Herb was using the rule taught in boy scouts for North American snakes. Our poisonous coral snakes have round pupils but all the other poisonous ones are eliptical. We do have a mildly poisonous rear fanged snake in the southwest with eliptical pupils (Lyre Snake?). It's tough in Australia for sure and the rule doesn't apply. Glad that ya'll clarified this.

[Bullsnake]

10 minutes ago, Plax said:

We do have a mildly poisonous rear fanged snake in the southwest with eliptical pupils (Lyre Snake?).

And the Night Snake, or is that a different common name for the same snake?

[Walt]

Interesting correlation between eye shape and poisonous...ness

Worth noting that while the coral snake is the exception to the poisonous/elliptical eye rule, he is the only poisonous snake in N.A. with fangs not connected straight to venom ducts.  The fangs are so small that the snake has to chew on the victim rather than strike.  

I was told that in the 60's or 70's, a boy in my hometown of Monroe, LA was the first person known to survive a coral snake bite...and that was only because he had been teasing it with a stick and the snake did not have much venom left when he finally managed to latch onto the little darling.   

[Bone guy]

 

But in all seriousness, watch out for snakes! little guys are everywhere....

[Bullsnake]

And just to be a stickler, since this is a scientific community, the proper term would be venomous, not poisonous.

[Plax]

1 hour ago, Bullsnake said:

And the Night Snake, or is that a different common name for the same snake?

both are rear fanged as is the little tantilla but am thinking the lyre snake has the eliptical pupils. You can google this as I'm going by memory.

  When you're talking to common folks in the field you'll find they say "poisonous" instead of the more scientifically accurate "venomous". This is sort of like the more accurate reply of "well" to the inquiry "how are you?". In recent years "good" has been supplanted by "well". I'm good by the way

[Herb]

Since the majority of people get bit handling them, leave them alone and you should have no problems most of the time. Unless you step on one.

[Wolf89]

 

23 hours ago, Foozil said:

Yeah... the most venomous snake in the world has round pupils   I know Herb was probably referring to North American snakes but just so people know. 

One of my pet peeves is when people mix up poisonous and venomous.( I know you didn't make the picture) venomous is when your injected with it into your bloodstream. Poison is when you ingest it.

[David in Japan]

Yeah, the best way to get beaten is to bother this little chap.

 

Lok at this handsome guy, we have around in Kyushu Japan. Isn't it nice with its nice round pupil and its bright color?

 

 

 

Name is Rabhdophis tigrinus. You can be sure you will find it where frogs and toads gather. He is venomous and has its fang in the throat. Unless you put your finger inside his mouth, this snake is not as dangerous as a pit viper. He is also very docile because he has a secret. He is the only venomous and poisonous snake in the world.

By eating poisonous toads, it stocks, all the poison in some gland and secrets poison all over its body.

 

That is a very fascinating creature.