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Thread: Snake ID...

  1. #1
    Registered User lyagooshka's Avatar
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    Default Snake ID...

    I was on the trail near the Lehigh Gorge (PA) last weekend and came across a snake.
    I walked from the parking lot to the Outerbridge shelter.
    On my way down, I was busy looking at the ground when I heard a hiss about as loud as a DC10 taking off (yes, I'm being dramatic).
    Needless to say, I stopped quickly.
    I looked up and saw a black snake (about 4 foot) slithering across the trail.
    Most striking feature on it (other than its hiss) was that it looked like it could puff it's neck out almost like a cobra (though not that flat).
    Did some research when I got home.
    From what I can tell, it was an Eastern Hognose Snake.
    Anyone have any other possibilities?
    Other than the diamond-ish shaped head (when it flattened out), nothing else remarkable (no rattle, stripes, etc.).

    Tango Yankee

    Alex

  2. #2
    Registered User lonehiker's Avatar
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    Fits the description as they can be black. I saw one in Arkansas when hiking the Ouachita trail years ago. Like you I had to come home to identify it.
    Lonehiker (MRT '22)

  3. #3

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    eastern indigo snake

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    Indigo's don't flatten their head. Sounds like a hognose snake. Esp. with the hissing. Non-venomous although their saliva can be mildly "toxic" for some individuals making some people feel sick from bites. They have fangs in the rear of their mouths to help them deflate toads.

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    Registered User Mamabear17's Avatar
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    Hognose snake sounds right they can act very mean and they will bit quick
    but other then a painful bite they'er harmless

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    We ran into the same thing on the PMT about a month ago. It was stretched across the trail and pretty stubborn about leaving. We gently encouraged with a LONG stick but it only moved right off the trail, but UP on the side of the trail that put it about waist high if chose to walk by it. We did not. We encouraged it to go back across the trail and off the other side but it took quite a while and it did rare up and bow its neck out like a cobra. We went home and researched it too. We deduced it was a hognose. It was a tad intimidating with the fanned out neck. I'm good to not run across another one, poisonous or not.
    " Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt. "

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    Registered User lyagooshka's Avatar
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    Lnj,

    Mine did the same.
    Crawled across the trail and balled up on the side of the trail (about a foot off the trail) and just sat there hissing at me.
    I tried nudging it with a stick, but it didn't move.
    I just left alone and took a WIDE path around that spot on the other side of the trail.

    Alex

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    We were on a ledge. We didn't have the option to go around. Cliff on one side and steep bank on the other. We had to play with it for a while. Exciting but not fun.
    " Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt. "

  9. #9
    Registered User gbolt's Avatar
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    I have seen a regular Black snack that slapped its' tail repeatedly on leaves to make a rattling sound. Once I returned because it wasn't a rattle snake and it knew it had been "found out", it left the trail. It was fast long and over 6ft in length. Amazing experience of mimicry. I am sure if I came across a Hognose that flattened it's head, I would also be hesitant to spend to much time messing with it. Timber Rattlers can be very dark colored at their tail end. As mentioned, if you give them some space most snakes don't want to waste time with a hiker.
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  10. #10

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    Its definitely not an Eastern Indigo. There range does not reach that far north.

    Ive seen Eastern Hognoses be pretty much all black but they usually come in some kind of pattern. And if it was 4 ft thats pretty much the max length for the Easter Hognose. But they are known to puff out there necks and hiss if threatened.

    The Eastern Rat Snake is pretty common in the mountains and also will kind of puff out its neck to appear larger than it is.

    Could you tell if the snake had an upturned nose? Or keeled scales (a ridge going down the middle of the individual scale)?

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    Its definitely not an Eastern Indigo. There range does not reach that far north.

    I dunno... I came across the snake pictured below in Harriman State Park, NY a couple of weekends ago, at Russian Bear Mtn. It was a good 7 feet long. I was pretty sure it was an indigo, but I couldn't quite see that indigo sheen. Didn't have the hognose type head, and didn't hiss or feign aggression. Don't worry, I didn't hassle him (or her), just took his pic and let him slither off into the rocks.

    black_snake_01_small.jpgblack_snake_01_small_head.jpg
    Last edited by cmoulder; 07-01-2016 at 08:12.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cmoulder View Post
    I dunno... I came across the snake pictured below in Harriman State Park, NY a couple of weekends ago, at Russian Bear Mtn. It was a good 7 feet long. I was pretty sure it was an indigo, but I couldn't quite see that indigo sheen. Didn't have the hognose type head, and didn't hiss or feign aggression. Don't worry, I didn't hassle him (or her), just took his pic and let him slither off into the rocks.

    black_snake_01_small.jpgblack_snake_01_small_head.jpg
    Looks like a black rat snake to me.

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    Well, good, 'cause it appears he's eaten lots of rats.

    Usually the hawks eat a lot of these snakes before they get this big.

  14. #14

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    We had a hognose when I was a kid.....that's exactly what they did. When they are threatened, they hiss. If that doesn't work, they pretend to be a Cobra. They also play dead (quite funny). They are quite the characters.
    "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver

  15. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by cmoulder View Post
    I dunno... I came across the snake pictured below in Harriman State Park, NY a couple of weekends ago, at Russian Bear Mtn. It was a good 7 feet long. I was pretty sure it was an indigo, but I couldn't quite see that indigo sheen. Didn't have the hognose type head, and didn't hiss or feign aggression. Don't worry, I didn't hassle him (or her), just took his pic and let him slither off into the rocks.

    black_snake_01_small.jpgblack_snake_01_small_head.jpg
    Definitely a black ratsnake. My female was 6+ feet and would eat 6 or 7 mice in a sitting; daily if I'd let her!

    Hoggies are great snakes. Very impressively dramatic (youtube a video of one playing dead. So funny!), but mostly harmless. They usually won't even bite; they may lunge, but often just headbutt instead of biting. They don't want to risk damaging their teeth on something they can't eat!

  16. #16

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    Also, Indigos don't come any further north than the extreme southern part of AL/GA/SC. They barely range out of Florida. Seeing an indigo is like seeing a unicorn!

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