View Full Version : Snake identification
Hi, all. Completed a 3.5 day, 38 mile section with my son and one of his friends yesterday. We hiked north from Mooney Gap, into Nantahala Gap. Great trip. Surprisingly, met two groups of thru-hikers, both recent college grads. One group, from Mass, is trying to do big miles every day and go straight through. The other, from MD, I believe is planning to flip-flop. We also met a couple of other individuals (Papa G was one) also planning to flip-flop.
One section hiker, Pacemaker, a 64? year old gent from Michigan(?) is hiking from Springer north - I believe to Fontana. He spent the night at Standing Indian Shelter the night before we met him. He was by himself, and awakened at 3:00 a.m. by a bear who wanted to join him in the shelter, and evidently circled the shelter for several hours in spite of shouts, thrown sticks and rocks.
As we were hiking down from Wesser Bald, I was hiking a pretty quick pace, with Phoebe trotting ahead of me. My son's friend was behind me, with my son a little behind him. I hear a "Dad! Snake!" He saw a small (1.5 foot or so) snake in the middle of the trail, coming straight at him, with its head raised up "like a Cobra!" Either the three of us stepped over the snake without seeing it, scaring it into running the other way down the trail (and making my son think it was coming for him!), or we flushed him out of the underbrush on the slope by the trail. Either way, it got my son's attention!
Can anyone identify this for me? Evidently the snake is young - I can't decide whether the head has the angular pit viper shape or not....
Nearly Normal
06-09-2009, 20:18
Garder snake.
Not dangerous but usually likes to be left alone.
Not a good pet.
Loves to theive and sleep in my wood duck boxes and chicken house.
Good choice to play pop the whip with.
definately a Garter Snake
and way more scared of you than you are of it
i catch them all the time, once you have ahold of them, (keep your hands away from their anus, they leak this NASTY smelling liquid) they might try to bite once or twice, but their teeth are so small, it feels like sandpaper
might be a good idea to find out all the snakes that live in your area and how to identify them
good idea to check the shape of the head too, but a "pit viper" has a ginormous head, twice the width of the neck (thats where the venom glands are)
http://www.arkieprince.com/snake/snakehead1.jpg
also, tell your son to rest easy, there are no cobra's in north america, the closest thing we have is the coral snake, which is from the same family as cobras (elapidae)
but they are bright red/yellow/black, very neat looking, and their heads are the exact same size as their bodies...
found this after i posted.....excellent reference for you, complete with pictures of each kind of snake that could potentially live in your area.......see how the size of the coral snakes head is the same as its body....creepy lookin if you ask me
pay close attn to the pattern of the scarlet king snake, and the coral....."red and yellow kill a fellow"
snakes are fascinating arent they?
guess i should post the link.....duh
http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/index.htm
Thanks, M6mamba. Yeah, we're familiar with the difference between the coral and king snakes - we actually used to have a sinaloan milk snake. Unfortunate promise my wife (who hates the thought of snakes) made in order to encourage my oldest (then 12) to make all "A's." After it pooped on him once he would have nothing to do with it! Kept it around for four or five years, then sold it to a friend...
....oh - he knows there are no cobras in Georgia - it just shocked him that a snake would run at him like that!
Thanks for the confirmation on the garter snake - and the link!
Steve
I agree. Garter. They are fine to handle but testy when getting ready to shed. Your pic shows a snake getting ready to shed...the opaque eyes. these snakes are totally harmless.
oh....not that it matters, since we already cleared up what kind of snake it was, but sortof on topic....( i thought of it when i saw how you spelled my name)
quite a few years ago, when i was in my huge "snake phase" i studied everything a teenage boy could study about snakes, and came to the conclusion the the Black Mamba was the coolest snake in the world. right about then we got the internet, so i had to get instant messenger/email and everything else, well what to use for an online name?
i decided to use mamba, because of the snake, BUT it was taken, so i threw my favorite number 6 into it, hence m6amba
i have been using it every since, and as a matter of fact, im on at least 5 hiking/backpacking forums, and 10 car forums, and i have the exact same name on every single one of them, and now that facebook allows usernames its my facebook name as well.......lol. not really important to the thread, but i thought id share anyway
WILLIAM HAYES
06-11-2009, 00:26
it is a garter snake seen plenty of them
Hillbilly
I've found that any snake that is black in color will chase you. I can't assume that it's just because the snakes are black but I have had many occurances with snakes and all the black ones either came at me or showed me that he wasn't afraid of me.
I was under the impression the only poisonous snake in the East was the Timber Rattlesnake....
I was under the impression the only poisonous snake in the East was the Timber Rattlesnake....
Nope, there is the Copperhead, Cottonmouth, Pygmy rattlesnake, Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake, Eastern Coral snake, Timber Rattlesnake in the southeast alone. There is also the Massasauga rattlesnake in the midwest and northeast. There are also a couple of venemous snakes that most people are not aware of which are the Crown snake (rare and very tiny, too small to bite) and the Hognose which is a rear fang snake with venom only harmful to frogs, toads, and lizards.
I've found that any snake that is black in color will chase you. I can't assume that it's just because the snakes are black but I have had many occurances with snakes and all the black ones either came at me or showed me that he wasn't afraid of me.
Not true of the Indigo, which is a very timid snake.
MoBill122
06-16-2009, 23:05
I have a four foot black rat snake that thinks she owns my basement. Everytime I throw her out, she beats me back to the house ! lol Guess I should give her a name.
warraghiyagey
06-16-2009, 23:09
I have a four foot black rat snake that thinks she owns my basement. Everytime I throw her out, she beats me back to the house ! lol Guess I should give her a name.
How about Fluffy??
Snakes I have seen along the trail:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/554521059xVbbje
Buster Martin
06-17-2009, 14:16
Snakes I have seen along the trail:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/554521059xVbbje
Nice pics! By the way, I'd say photo number six (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2349281190045831896jdkKha) is a juvenile black rat snake. I did a quick google image search for a pic of one so you could compare...
http://www.discoveringalabama.org/discovery/images/image-1147874748.jpg
gunner76
10-05-2009, 22:16
From the internet.....http://www.enature.com/expert/expert_show_question.asp?questionID=23583
Technically, yes, the Southeastern Crowned Snake is venomous. Venomous snakes can be divided into two broad categories, front-fanged and rear-fanged. The crowned snakes are in the latter group. Most familiar venomous snakes - the pit vipers and coral snakes, for example - are front-fanged. Their venom is potent and their fang position enables venom delivery during a strike or quick bite. They use their venom for self defense and to kill prey. Rear-fanged snakes' fangs are at the rear of the upper jaw and are different from the hollow fangs of front-fanged snakes; the venom runs down a groove at the back of the tooth. Their venom is usually weaker and is used to begin the digestion process as the prey is being swallowed. Most North American rear-fanged snakes are small, secretive, and unfamiliar to most people, but surprisingly, even garter snakes are rear-fanged and some people react quite strongly to their bites. The venom of rear-fanged snakes has not been studied well, but recent research has shown it to be much more potent in some cases than was believed. Still, you'd have to work pretty hard to be affected seriously by the bite of any North American rear-fanged snake.
Hikerhead
10-05-2009, 22:36
From the internet.....http://www.enature.com/expert/expert_show_question.asp?questionID=23583
Technically, yes, the Southeastern Crowned Snake is venomous. Venomous snakes can be divided into two broad categories, front-fanged and rear-fanged. The crowned snakes are in the latter group. Most familiar venomous snakes - the pit vipers and coral snakes, for example - are front-fanged. Their venom is potent and their fang position enables venom delivery during a strike or quick bite. They use their venom for self defense and to kill prey. Rear-fanged snakes' fangs are at the rear of the upper jaw and are different from the hollow fangs of front-fanged snakes; the venom runs down a groove at the back of the tooth. Their venom is usually weaker and is used to begin the digestion process as the prey is being swallowed. Most North American rear-fanged snakes are small, secretive, and unfamiliar to most people, but surprisingly, even garter snakes are rear-fanged and some people react quite strongly to their bites. The venom of rear-fanged snakes has not been studied well, but recent research has shown it to be much more potent in some cases than was believed. Still, you'd have to work pretty hard to be affected seriously by the bite of any North American rear-fanged snake.
Now that was some interesting information. Thanks
Informative thread with excellent supporting links. Seems we have some citizen-scientists among us.
How about Fluffy??
how about satan
Trail Bug
10-06-2009, 09:33
Took this picture last week on the AT a few miles south of Damascus. I think it is either a rat snake or black racer. Any experts who can ID?
Patches09
10-06-2009, 10:26
the first snake is a guarder snake and the other is a black rat.