O/T...Another snake question....
Submitted by AmyandSophia on May 7, 2012 - 11:43amI know we are Bully lovers, but hopefully one of you is snake knowledgeable!
This morning while bringing in my horses, I walked within a foot or so of a huge snake. It took off around the side of an outbuilding and then stretched out very long (almost 6 feet). He/she began shaking its' tail fast and hard against the metal skirt of the building, trying to scare me off by pretending it was a rattlesnake. The snake was 2-3 inches in diameter, but not brightly colored. It was in tall weeds and I wasn't wearing my specs and was trying to divert my horses and dogs (all were immediately beside or behind me on my left) so I couldn't see it well, but by it's actions I doubt it was venemous or it would have struck at me. It was faking me out by stretching all the way out and rattling its' tail on the metal.
My question then is: what breed/s of snake imitate a rattler in that manner, and does a Copperhead imitate in that manner? We are inundated with Copperheads here and if I had gotten a good look I could easily have identied a Copperhead, but I focused on it's tail for a rattle, then worked on keeping the horses on my left side (which put me only 2-3 feet away from the snake, with a large tree to my left that squeezed the horses closer to me even more!). No rattle, so we got past it and away. But I NEED to know what snake/s imitate a rattler like that.
Thanks in advance.
Amy and Sophia
Possibly a bull snake or gopher snake. The bull snake is
related to the gopher snake. They can grow 6-8 feet and try to mimic a rattler by hitting their tail on something to make noise. Just guessing from what I've read. Bull snakes are found through out texas and gopher snakes mainly in extreme west texas.
Thanks for the info!
I hadn't thought about the Bull Snake. I had it pegged as possibly a Gopher snake but we are somewhat out of territory for them.
I wish I could have gotten a better look at this one, but was more concerned with the tail and getting my animals past it safely.
Amy and Sophia
I know what you mean. I am terrified of snakes. We've had two
rattlers on our patio, and my main concern was the dogs. Be careful...and hopefully your snake adventures will not be so frequent.
SSSSnakes
Last Spring about this time my daughter found the shedded skin of a Bull snake in the kitchen cabinet where we keep pots & pans. The skin was over 6 feet long. Never found the snake. 2 of my next door neighbors horses were bitten by snakes. He noted they were limping and found what looked to be puncture marks on their fetlocks. Thankfully no other complications. The neighbor across the road found a rattle snake under his kids trampline. Recently he had his pasture mowed and later found about 2 chopped up rattlesnakes and about 6 or more Bullsnakes. I miss CA--we had no snakes, scorpions or fire ants.
Miriam
omegabulldogs@aol.com