Help me identify this snake
 

She was hanging around yesterday during the kids egg hunt.

What was it? Water moc, FL rattler, ?

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Banded water snake

Very similar to cottonmouth markings, but as the cottonmouths mature they turn near black. The banded water snake retains the brown coloring and obvious pattern.

All the venomous snakes here in the US *except* the coral snake have cat's eye pupils, not round ones. Of course, getting close enough to determine that could be problematic, but your pic shows round eye clearly.

Thanks mate. I saw it and grabbed the telephoto and asked the kids to stay away. Not knowing what it was ....

Thanks for the tip on the pupils, did not know that.

A friend of mine would call that a Copper-Headed-Rattle-Moccasin with a Coral tip!

The good news is he stays away from all snakes, so he does not kill them.

It would have most likely been a dead one here if there were kiddos running around....

I'll guess it's a milk snake. We had one hanging around here last summer. He looked just like that in the spring. Kind to two-tone brown with large, regular, almost vertical splotches. He turned the usual rust, black and and cream colors as the summer progressed.
Eastern Milk Snake - Meet Your Neighbors - Fall 2002

I agree - Water Snake

FLMNH - Brown Water Snake (Nerodia taxispilota)

Sidney, those were my thoughts and then I thought about explaining the whole killing the snake, .... Plus, I don't know if there are any protection acts in place for these critters.

Hope she relocates....... or she might find the wrong side of barrel.

Kill it, don't post pictures online, and say nothing to anyone about it.... ;)

Don't kill it leave it alone. Take the pictures and enjoy.

Sorry, but if it is near where kids are frequently, its dead.... plain and simple.
It may not be venomous, but the bite will still hurt like a MOFO and is a risk of infection. I have 0 tolerance policy when it comes to bitey creatures...

the only time i've been bitten by a snake was when i was handling a wild one that i caught. yeah, it happened to me a lot. anyway, leave it alone, it will just eat the other critters you really don't want, like rats and such.

The cat cornered a garter snake about a week ago. We caught it and got a 20 gallon tank with a light and have been immensely entertained. My seven y/o daughter is really fired up, this will add to our collection of 3 lizards.
We feed him minnows that we drop into his water dish. It is becoming more comfortable with us and we were able to watch it feed this morning. Usually it is kinda shy about eating in front of us. I don't kill them unless they are poisonous, they are helpful in many ways.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1303758955.jpg

I fished a 1 foot baby Black Rat Snake out of the pool about 3 weeks ago...

I don't understand killing non-venomous snakes. I've been bitten plenty and every time it was when I was handling the snake. Leave them alone and they leave you alone. That usually goes for venomous ones too, though I understand killing them on your property is a lot less risky than relocating them.

Most snakes eat rats, mice, and other snakes.
Then they get eaten by birds.

Unless it's confirmed deadly to humans and agressive, it's better to leave them alone.

Feral cats, raccoons, etc. spread the diseases which have killed far more humans, statistically speaking.

The only thing that freaks me about a snake is where you will find it the next time. Damn things like to crawl up in some places I'd rather they didn't.

So, even though I live in the city and never see the things, I'd be in favor of removal by one means or another.

I'm reminded of a story out at the Colorado River on Lake Havasu. We were water skiing in a cove and had a day camp there. I'm coming in off a run and drop the line coasting towards the shore. I have a tendency to drop off out aways having seen a few ski right up on the beach (or rocks) and do a nice tumble for all to see.

So I finally sink into the water about 10 yards off the shore and start to swim in. Here's this damn king snake swimming too, right in front of me. There I am bobbing around in a flotation vest hanging on to a ski, just me and ol' 6 foot snakey.

I'm sure I surprised him just as much as I was surprised flying in on some stick of fiberglass. Not his best situation to coil up, but still, man, that was something else. He moved on and I think I walked on water to land.

True, a I have a few big Black snakes in the back yard, had a big one that lived in the palm near my front door, and even have a few guard snakes in the rafters in the barn at the farm. Living in FL close to 46 years, stomping through creeks & woods and have never been bitten, but have seen lots of snakes. Snakes do a great service eating rodents, which a kid would have a better chance of being bitten by than most snakes.... Had that guy been a Moccasin, he may have chased you, they are very aggressive & mean, and the only snake that I know of that will come after you (and have come after me:eek:)

I'll never understand why people always want to kill any snakes they see, must be a religious thing from the Bible. Snakes always run from humans (other than Moccasins)
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Love 'em...in Oregon, they are great slug disposal machines!

I've never had a snake crawl under my hood and chew up any wires. Rats would be hip deep here in Florida without them. I do agree that I will off any cottonmouth I see.

same reason chimps do

Yep, pure stupidity & ignorance. A chimp has an excuse.

All pit vipers (rattlers, cotton mouth, copper heads) will have a triangular shaped head. Coral snake is not a pit viper....they are multi striped...red, yellow, black. If red is next to yellow then it's a coral...red next to black it's non poisonous. "Red and yellow...kill a fellow, red and black, friend of Jack"..

The snake in the pic is not a pit viper. Could be a released or escaped Python as there are all too many in Fla. thriving in the swamps and wetlands.

In some parts it would considered lunch...

What do you do with bitey children?

The bites really don't hurt from run of the mill, non-venomous snakes. As was already said here, you're better off letting them kill the rodents that are more likely to cause you more harm than snakes ever will. It's very rare for someone to get tagged by a venomous snake they weren't messing with. Leave them alone and they leave you alone. It's really that simple.

I don't like snakes. I have a deep phobia about them that I know is irrational, but they still creep me out.
I built a garage with a south-facing, aluminum overhead door that collected snakes on sunny spring days. They would lie on the ledge next to the ground at the bottom of the last panel. I found out they like to do this one day when I whipped the door open, walked in, and several (I wasn't counting) garter snakes fell off. One or more landed on me and one got caught briefly in the neck hole of my shirt (which was also occupied by my neck). I got in the habit of flinging the door open, jumping back, and watching the snakes fall. Creeped me out every time. I found some granular stuff that smells of moth balls and I keep the door and the area around it well coated with it. It helps.

My worst concern is kids, as adults we know better, young ones are curious. My 4 y/o found the snake and came to me to let me know about the cool find she had made.

I understand about them helping control rodents and others now, if they only controlled the muscovy ducks.....

Just so you know, even non poisonous snakes can inflict a nasty bite and infection is always a concern. Reptiles can have some nasty bugs in their system. Always take care of a bite to prevent infection.

We had copperheads in our yard when I was a kid in TX. I knew how to ID them by the age of 7 and to leave them alone. Once in a while we'd get them with our bb guns, but we knew not to handle anything.

there is very likely a genetic propensity for primates to hate snakes - Some people don't like snakes; recognize that they have a deep phobia about them that they know is irrational, but they still get creeped out by them.

This can happen even after education about them, depending on how strong it is, and what happened to them as a child for example.

If you find a snake you need to get a certain ID on the snake - best would be from the state Fish & Wildlife Dept. office -- likely one nearby.

1. if dangerous - then kill or release far, far away
2. if a non-native invasive, then kill it or give to a zoo
3. if a native snake, then re-release nearby - as per above, snakes kill undesirable wildlife like rats, slugs, etc. -- some even kill poisonous pit vipers

We seem to all posses the same fears of snakes, it is how we use that info that separates us from our hairier cousins.

Evolution Of Aversion: Why Even Children Are Fearful Of Snakes

Had an encounter with a Black Racer in AL when I lived there briefly. If I ran towards it, it would slither away. If I moved back, it would come towards ME!

Back and forth until I got tired of the game. Kept my eye out, though.

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Really too fast to kill.

that is a cool snake, milt.

They are actully pretty friendly, just leave them alone, they leave you alone.. Here is the smaller of the 2 that live by my front door.. He guard my Fed-Ex packages;)
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And this is one of the guys who guards my stuff at the farm.. No if I could train him not to crap in the barn when he is in the rafters or my headers,,,
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No this isn't my mine, but I would like to see some of the guys that are scared of snakes ride in this 930... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1303871571.jpg

I rode a horse in Arizona that was afraid of snakes. If a 1500 lb horse can bolt at the sound of a rattler I don't feel so bad that my 200lb carcass was on his back and glad we were leaving the area.

That one in the rafters is pretty impressive Byron. You probably don't see many mice with him around.

A family friend of mine bought an old farm in TX. The farm house had been kept habitable by the former family even though no one lived there for years. He was using the house as a weekend cabin and base camp for hunting and getting the farm going again. One weekend he got up with his morning cup of coffee to sit on the front porch. He saw a rattler right by the house so he grabbed his shotgun and killed it. The next morning there was another rattler near the same spot. He killed that one as well.

When he went into the local town he mentioned it to the guy at the feed store. The guy said all the local kids called that place rattlesnake farm because there were so many snakes. Last I heard he was looking to find a supply of King snakes to bring into the area.

some of you might enjoy reading a book "Vertebrate Life" by Harvey Pough, et al.

it's a textbook and can be had cheaply

will change the way you think about "lower" vertebrates

Snakes are very cool. I grew up in MD and we had all sorts of local snakes in the local woods which we lived up against. My dad let me "keep" a few as pets when I was growing up. Black snakes, indigo snakes, king snakes, ring neck snakes, etc. Bitten a few times of course. Never a big deal then. He would stop by NIH (National Institute of Health) and get mice to feed them. Fl has its share here as well as their cousins the alligators.