Big Fat Snakes?

hmmmm......can't remember

May 26, '08 · 4:59 PM11,5731

Last night I was driving through Watercolor, and there was a LARGE (long AND fat!) serpent on the white line. It was after dark, but in the headlights the thing looked to be 4' long. Light-colored. It wasn't tapered like a non-venomous snake, so I attempted to squish it but missed. (Sorry, snake-huggers, but there were pedestrians only a few feet away on the other side of whatever they have growing between the road and the sidewalk.) That sonofabiscuit was mad...Before you even ask--NO, I don't have pictures.

Then as we left town today, there was a big ol' black snake trying to cross 283. He could have been harmless--very long and skinny.

I haven't seen a snake all spring, and suddenly I'm surrounded by them. This camera-shy guy was waiting on my steps Friday:

He is now living under my house. Because of that and his incredibly black, hard-to-photograph color, I think I'm calling him Smudge...

Replies

Moderator

May 26, '08 · 6:57 PM#2

Black snakes are your friend!

Beach Fanatic

May 26, '08 · 7:02 PM#3

Hey NoHall, we saw that light colored snake on Friday evening. I thought that Cap'nCrazy hit him (he thought it was a stick) but apparently he did not. Sorry the snake is still terrorizing the neighborhood!!! Either that or the snake has siblings!

hmmmm......can't rememberAuthor

May 26, '08 · 7:08 PM#4

Black snakes are your friend!

Ummm...do you think he would be living under my house if I didn't know that?

I rully, rully hate snakes of all sorts, but when I called Dad over to see the black snake on Friday and we watched (to my supreme horror) as he slithered under my house like he owned the place, Dad reminded me, "Well, at least you know there are no copperheads, rattlesnakes, or rats under there!" :blink:

hmmmm......can't rememberAuthor

May 26, '08 · 7:10 PM#5

Hey NoHall, we saw that light colored snake on Friday evening. I thought that Cap'nCrazy hit him (he thought it was a stick) but apparently he did not. Sorry the snake is still terrorizing the neighborhood!!! Either that or the snake has siblings!

I haven't seen a thread titled "BIT BY A SNAKE!", so hopefully his reign of terror is nothing more than angry slithering. Watercolor has all that nice, tall grass (that I walked through on Saturday.) :leaving:

Beach Fanatic

May 29, '08 · 1:52 PM#6

It clearly does not look like a venomous snake. Its body is rather skinny it seems to me. Probably some version of a rat, pine or swamp snake and probably on the prowl for rats. :clap:

margarita brocolia

May 29, '08 · 2:36 PM#7

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Black racers are skinny. Not venomous but can be aggressive. I'll see if I can find a pic.

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margarita brocolia

May 29, '08 · 2:45 PM#8

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Here's a Florida black racer.

hmmmm......can't rememberAuthor

May 29, '08 · 2:47 PM#9

It clearly does not look like a venomous snake. Its body is rather skinny it seems to me. Probably some version of a rat, pine or swamp snake and probably on the prowl for rats.

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Black racers are skinny. Not venomous but can be aggressive. I'll see if I can find a pic.

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Dudes--I looked him in the eye. He's harmless. I told him to move in and eat everything he wants.

Beach Fanatic

May 29, '08 · 2:47 PM#10

Light colored...hanging out in the long grass and palmettos. Sounds like it could have been a Rattler.
Me and the Mrs were walking on 30-A the other afternoon and saw a snake swimming in the pond right near Gulf Place. It was a dark color with light bands going around it. Kinda like a Water Mocassin, but I don't know for sure.

Beach Fanatic

May 29, '08 · 2:49 PM#11

If he's a swimmer, it could have been one of these in the pond. Smaller. The one I saw was only maybe 15" long.

hmmmm......can't rememberAuthor

May 29, '08 · 2:49 PM#12

Light colored...hanging out in the long grass and palmettos. Sounds like it could have been a Rattler.
Me and the Mrs were walking on 30-A the other afternoon and saw a snake swimming in the pond right near Gulf Place. It was a dark color with light bands going around it. Kinda like a Water Mocassin, but I don't know for sure.

Like I said, this was in headlights, so it was hard to tell, but he was mostly strawberry-blonde. His shape was what made me think he was venomous. Short and VERY fat.

Beach Fanatic

May 29, '08 · 2:54 PM#13

Like this guy. Called a Dusky Pygmy Rattler. Bites lotsa people.

Beach Fanatic

May 29, '08 · 8:39 PM#14

Like I said, this was in headlights, so it was hard to tell, but he was mostly strawberry-blonde. His shape was what made me think he was venomous. Short and VERY fat.

This sounds like one of those copperheads that some people dont think are around here.

Edited May 29, '08 · 8:41 PM

Beach Fanatic

May 29, '08 · 8:49 PM#15

This sounds like one of those copperheads that some people dont think are around here.

I'm inclined to agree. Juvenile cottonmouths are also lighter in color. Tho' if it is the size reported, doubt it would be juvenile.

Another option: some idiot brought their pet python on vacation with them and it wandered off.

hmmmm......can't rememberAuthor

May 29, '08 · 8:53 PM#16

This sounds like one of those copperheads that some people dont think are around here.

That's exactly the color, but it was probably 4' long--that's about the max for a copperhead. However, the black snake I saw at my house was so bright and shiny that I'm inclined to believe that snakes are shedding their skin about now...

hmmmm......can't rememberAuthor

May 29, '08 · 8:54 PM#17

I'm inclined to agree. Juvenile cottonmouths are also lighter in color. Tho' if it is the size reported, doubt it would be juvenile.

Another option: some idiot brought their pet python on vacation with them and it wandered off.

That occurred to me, too, but it would have been some sort of albino. It was blonde. But the albino pythons I've seen are more yellow... :idontno:

Beach Fanatic

May 30, '08 · 1:46 PM#18

Link below is to a Florida snake page. Very informative.

Hey, did anyone see the footage of Steve Irwin at Eglin several years ago? He was chasing a bear and came across a ten foor Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. He called finding the snake the highlight of his career.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/FL-GUIDE/Venomsnk.htm

Beach Fanatic

May 30, '08 · 2:54 PM#19

I remember him catching an alligator that was getting a little too friendly with the troops who were feeding the gator. They moved it somewhere further North away from people.

Beach Fanatic

May 30, '08 · 3:47 PM#20

Link below is to a Florida snake page. Very informative.

Hey, did anyone see the footage of Steve Irwin at Eglin several years ago? He was chasing a bear and came across a ten foor Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. He called finding the snake the highlight of his career.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/FL-GUIDE/Venomsnk.htm

I remember seeing the part where he squatted down and looked down to find one squarely between his legs. :yikes:

He didnt look to thrilled at that point of the show.;-)

hmmmm......can't rememberAuthor

May 30, '08 · 9:21 PM#21

I remember seeing the part where he squatted down and looked down to find one squarely between his legs. He didnt look to thrilled at that point of the show.;-)

I loved that part...I also liked the one where he went to get a black mamba out of someone's home and realized that if the snake were an inch longer or he was an inch shorter, that bad boy was gonna bite him. (Thank goodness he didn't have OMBs, or he'd-a been a goner!)

My boss (sadly, my ex-boss as of this afternoon!) told me that his wife found a snake in the hedge in front of their porch. It was a black snake, and he regretted that he killed it later when he realized it was more beneficial than harmful.

But he said he cut the head off while the snake was still in the hedge, and then pulled the snake out by the tail. In his words, "I started pulling the tail, and I pulled...and pulled...and pulled...and when I finally got the whole snake out it was so big and heavy that it actually landed with a 'thud' on the ground." It was probably a 6' king snake. :blink:

Beach Fanatic

May 30, '08 · 9:39 PM#22

We had an Eastern Ribbon Snake right outside the window, right where the kids usually play, today. Mr. OM freaked out. I looked it up in our book & showed him what it was. He calmed down & said he wished Riv could have seen it but she was at school. He & Little Guy saw a Racer last week just off the path near Topsail.

Beach Fanatic

May 31, '08 · 11:09 AM#23

Check out the lounge

hmmmm......can't rememberAuthor

May 31, '08 · 10:26 PM#24

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Here's a Florida black racer.

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I missed this before, Rita. This looks just like my new little friend, and we've had black racers here before. My dad once had one in his wallet in the back pocket of his coveralls, but that's another story...