Is this snake poisonous or not?

[dsmith]

This is the snake that tried to eat Dennis fish for lunch today. These are the snakes that are harrassing us. Here are 4 pics of this. Asking all you experts. Is this snake poisiounus or harmless? We don't know and would like to know

[mastercatter]

Can not really see the head very well but looks like a common water snake...Water moccasin ( Cotton Mouth ) has similar markings but has a triangular shaped head instead of being rounded or blunted as that one seems to be. I'll try to Goolgle and see.

[mastercatter]

Here is what I located about them :

www.pestproducts.com/poisonous_snakes.htm

[daveedka]

After you whack them in the head they usually aren't poisonous anymore or at least not dangerous.Next time catch the snake and get a better picture while it's still alive and in good shape

Then turn it loose for later ;D
dave

[bobberguy]

I killed one this weekend about 15 inches long but it looke like a poison snake with a diamond shapped head and the tungue coming out! it had small black diamond shaped spots all over!

[daveedka]

You may not want to advertise that Bobberguy, there are a couple of types of rattlesnakes which are protected in Pa. you don't want someone investigating even if you are innocent.

Honestly Folks it really is a poor practice to kill snakes for no reason especially unidentified snakes, There are quite a few protected species in the U.S. And although the watersnake shown in the pictures here is not protected, they are also relatively harmless. That's just my 2 cents worth, carry on as you will.

Dave

[daveedka]

I did a search and as near as I can tell you are dealing with Diamondback water Snakes. Here is an image link you might check for confirmation.
images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=diamondback+water+snake&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=tIpBSrjHLJXZlAfI9rH8CA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title
here is an informatinal link on them also

www.pwrc.usgs.gov/Bioeco/dbwsnake.htm

Dave

[bobberguy]

That was close but the spot wereeperated and not in lins. More like small triangles all over! A green yellow color! It was close to the huse and garden with lots of pets near. I have to protect them. I usually just move them down the road unless its a copper head or looks poison! Can't take a chance since the baby snakes especially copper heads are so deady!

[dsmith]

Thanks Daveedka, I really think that is the correct snake. I hadn't heard of that name, but that describes the snakes at this lake. They are aggresive like it says. Good to know they arent' poisinus. We don't always kill snakes. When we find bullsnakes around the house, Dennis insists I let them go because they kill rattlers. But we had a rattler kill our dog. And our grandchildren play around here. So if I see a rattler, I do kill it.

[missionx4]

That snake looks identicle to the pictures...I think we got a match!

[daveedka]

I'm not suggesting you endanger your kids, I have killed snakes when necessary as well, just making a point was all. I hadn't heard of Diamondback water snakes either, but given the size of that snake it ruled out a lot of water snake species. I've never seen a common water snake over 4 foot, and moccasins don't usually get that big Either. As a general rule most water snakes are stupidly aggressive, not sure what causes that, but around here the only agressive snake there is is the common Water snake.

Copperheads are our most common poisonous snake, and honestly a copperhead will seldom do more than moke someone a little sick if they do get bit. We have two types of Rattlers here in Ohio, but they are extremely rare and even folks like me who spend an extreme amount of time in the outdoors never see them in the wild. Pa has white Diamondbacks and a few others that are only found one or two places in the world, I've seen white diamondbacks in Aruba, but not Pa.


Dave

[dsmith]

I do appreciate you finding that info for me. It was good to finally get an idea of what we are dealing with. And yes, they are aggresive, which the article says. That is actually the first one we killed. He just would not let go of the fish not matter what we did. So we took care of it. Which I'm glad, because we have it identified now. Like I say, we watch them swimming around sevral at a time at this lake. They love love love the cattails. We try to avoid them. They hang out (lol) in the trees. I am always trying to take pics of them to show people how huge they are. I wonder why they are so abundent in this lake. When we go there, we know that they will be all around us, many at a time. Swim up to the boat. We see them in the trees all the time, but we will still fish in that area. We always say, "Hey bud, we'll leave you alone if you leave us alone" lol and keep on fishing. Last year we did that. Then Dennis caught a small channel. When he threw it back in the water, the snake hit the water and grabbed it, and swam towards the shore. We actually followed it to watch it. Yeah crazy,. Curiousity killed the cat, right/

[ray21465]

glad we don't have them here that bad won't be a good thing in the float tubes

[daveedka]

I'm wondring how they taste? Could be worth checking into if there are that many big ones around.

Dave

[olhillbilly]

Like chicken I bet.