Copperhead's

[copperhead]

Hey where is the best place to look for copperheads. They are my favorite snake. I havn't had a lot of experience with poisonous snakes before but we all have to start some where. i'm wanting to know best ways of catching and finding them.

[garterguy]

around tall grass next to water is where i come across them but i dont go near them becuase i dont have enough experience.to catch them you would probably need one of those big sticks with the hook on the end

[SCReptiles]

Where you find the snakes will depend greatly on the temperature and weather. Assuming the coppers in your locale seek to be 78 degrees, if the air temp is 79 you will find snakes looking for cool spots, such as caves or in the shade of trees. If the air temp is 77, you will see snakes looking for warm spots such as rocks and roads. It is very common to see copperheads on roads at dusk. The road holds warmth longer then the surrounding ground. Find some roads in your area that run along mountains and waterways. Cruise them in the evenings just as it starts getting dark. You will find copperheads. Be careful in collecting them is you have no experience in venomous snakes. A safe and easy way for beginners on road ways is to simply carry a 5 gallon bucket. Find one, turn the bucket on its side and sweep the snake into the bucket with a long stick, hook, broom, shovel or whatever. Then use the tool to stand up the bucket and lock the lid on. Make certain the container is well locked, you may want to even place it inside another container for the trip home. It would be a worse case scenario should the snake escape while in route home. Once at home double cage your new pet. Escaped snakes are the main reason for new and unwanted legislation.

[shaggybill]

I spent all day yesterday in the woods of NC looking for coppers and I didnt even find a snake at all. They are supposed to be common around here. And everybody I have talked to tells more stories of how they killed one just the other day. As if I want to hear that...

[SCReptiles]

Sorry you are not having good luck. Judging from your profile, looks like you have come a long way to herp. What part of NC are you in?

[yankeefoxtrot]

Why do you feel you need a hot snake at 18 years old???? I always recomend people to stay away from them! And i know a lot of people that would strongly agree with me! It takes years and years of expierence and i just dont see you having that at only 18.

Hope you make the right decision.

Lucas

[KrokadilyanGuy3]

.Eh, age has nothing to do with readiness. He could have been reading and studing hots for 5 or so years from the safty of books and such. I really disaprove the fact of saying someone's not ready for something just because of an age. But, I agree that he's not particularly ready because of his choice of words; Calling hots poisonous.. And for the record I can't find coppers either.. heh

[JD@reptiles]

[i] I havn't had a lot of experience with poisonous snakes before but we all have to start some where. [/B]

i'de like to point out you should know the difference between Venom and poison, poison is ingested, venom is injected. work with a rear fang first or if you feel ready for a viper, work with them in the wild. anyway just be very careful what ever you do and happy herping :) .

Jordan

[unBOAlievable]

Sorry,

[SCReptiles]

Escaped snakes or irresponsible keepers is a matter of semantics. The TN law changed in 1991 after a big public outcry over some cobras that escaped in Ooltewah, TN. The AL law changed in 2001, again after a huge public outcry about escaped snakes. The general public rarely cares if a keeper is bitten. But they care greatly when there is an escape. Double cage venomous if possible.

[unBOAlievable]

Sorry,

[SCReptiles]

As a community, brotherhood, or whatever term you wish to use, we need to help each other. I have noticed this more times then I can count. Old head keepers constantly preach that young keepers need to ask questions and learn. Then when an inexperienced keeper asks a question, they are degraded, made fun of, and told they should not have a hot. Put yourself in that spot. Would you continue asking? Of course not! “Copperhead” asked a legitimate question and instead of helpful advise, he got the usual “you shouldn’t keep hot snakes” answer. The kid is already in the field hunting them. He is not going to stop herping, but he will stop asking advise if all he hears is negative and unhelpful feedback.

[unBOAlievable]

I want to appologize to screptiles,
my actions were uncalled for and he is right, we are few and far between to let differences come between us, when it comes down to it we are venomous keepers one and the same even though we have differences in opinions on what we each call responsible. And I do remember what it felt like trying to learn the proper venomous care and that is why I always try to help the ones that seem sincere in there interest.

Sorry,
Anthony Gay

[shaggybill]

looks like that is settled! :)

SCReptiles, right now I am in Salisbury. Its about 40 miles north of Charlotte.

I am going to go down to Myrtle Beach, SC in a couple of days. Do you know of any good places to herp around there?

My family is worried about me. Seriously. I have been here in NC for three days and I have done nothing but look for snakes all day long. Oh well, thats the only reason I came down here and we dont have many snakes where I live in Indiana so I am going to take advantage of it.

Toodles

[SCReptiles]

Tony, very glad to hear that. I do not want any strife with any other herpers. That is what happened in AL after the law changed. It all went to hell. Old friends were reporting each other to DNR and the end result was a lot of hard feelings and impounded snakes. Everyone wants to see you succeed with exotic venomous; it’s good for us all if you do. And it’s true that most of the SHHS advise young keepers to work fast non-ven before moving into hots. The truth is, I agree with that wholeheartedly. The point I am making is, people will not do it. If they want a hot, they will get a hot. If they ask advice, then we should give it. At least he is starting with a very forgiving species.

Shaggy Bill, I have never herped NC before. But if I were in Salisbury, I think I would hit Long Ferry Road. You pick it up at i85 north, exit 81. Follow it east and you will hit a lake. There are a ton of local roads around there. 2168 looks like it would be a good one. What you are looking for are back roads that are not well traveled and do not have many homes on them. The closer to a good water source, the better. Get on the roads about dusk and run them till about midnight. See the road will hold heat longer then the ground. The snake will come out when the air temp falls lower then they like. The amount of time varies, but usually about 4 hours after sunset the road will measure the same as the ground. At that point you will only catch them in transition or the occasional unlucky snake that decided to sleep on the road. When you get down to SC, look up Jason Allen. His email is SnakesAlive77@aol.com . He live in SC near the NC line. He has gave me some great info for my 4th of July trip. I am sure he can hook you up in that area. Good luck, let us know how you do. If you will give me your email addy, I will send you a map.

[BWSmith]

Dang, I missed most of the conversation before it got edited.

Perhaps this needs to be addressed in more detail in the venomous forum. Copperhead, if you are thinking of getting into hots, please visit the venomous forum and read as much as you can, there is some great info there.

[XxRachxX]

copperhead didnt actually say he was going to keep the snakes! he might have only wanted to catch them and look at them?

[SCReptiles]

BW Smith, didn’t miss much. Anthony and I are pretty much neighbors. We squabbled a little bit this morning, but ended up seeing eye to eye. (I think) =) All is well now. Good advice to copperhead, so long as people will actually give him advice rather then simply tell him not to keep them.

[SCReptiles]

XxRachxX, good observation. I didn’t notice that. Usually it’s implied if you intend to catch them, you intend to keep them, but you may have a point.

[shaggybill]

Thanks for the advice, ScReptiles.

When I go out to "catch" snakes, I have no intention to keep them. I just like to look at them.

I just went out for another 3 hours and didnt see anything other than a few turtles. I swear, the locals must have killed every snake around here. Stupid locals...

[copperhead]

Hey, thanx a lot you guys for all your help. I have already caught my first copperhead a couple of days ago. We were cleaning out a pool and he flopped out of the skimmers. i quick ran back to the shop and made a hook out of a nail and a stick... i played with him for a little bit in the 8 inches of water before i got him into the bucket. The lid is a extremely secured lit that screwes on. it was fun looking at him. I let him go that evening. He was only about a year old judging by the size of him. he was about as big as my finger and about a foot long. real pretty thing though.


Thanx again for all your help.

[copperhead]

yeah. i'll go check out the venemous forum.. thanx

[TardGirl]

I live close to salisbury N.C. i have found about 7 black rat snakes 2 worm snakes and 1 baby copperhead before, I am still looking for a kingsnake though. But it's hard to find them during the day down here cause it's gets so hot out. I have found that the best time is like an hour or two after the sun goes down. I hope that you find some snakes, Happy hunting :)

[TardGirl]

I know what you mean shaggybill, About all of the locals killing the snakes. Well most of them do just kill them everyone i talk to is like yeah the other day there was this big black snake in my front yard so i took his head off with a shovel, or like they will say that they kill all the copperheads that they ever see. someone even burnt the head off of this scarlet snake with a lighter before, When i found the little guy he was not even moving much, he died like 5 min later. Most of the people here just kill the snakes if they see them. If i find them i just look at them for a while and them take them up the road were nobody ever goes so that they will not find them. Sorry that you have not found anything yet, I would just like to yell at all of the people that go and kill a snake before even finding out like what kind it is or anything, Half of the time the snake is harmless.

[shaggybill]

hi tardgirl. I just got back from my NC trip. What you said about people just killing any snake is right. one of my best freinds down there was telling me about how he let his german shepherds tear apart a "black snake." I was like, "yeah, please tell me more. That just what I want to hear." Some of the people though will let any snake go but a copperhead. My grandma will kill any snake she finds and this week I showed her some cool stuff about snakes and she seemed a little impressed, so hopefully that will help out a little.

[TardGirl]

I'm glad that you got to tell someone some good stuff about snakes. Every time i try to tell someone they just walk away or cover there ears, Most of them just need to grow up.It seems that some people don't want to hear anything they just want to believe what they want to. Today right on the road that i live on there was a dead corn snake. looks like someone went out of there way to hit him :( I like it when people will just listen for a change and learn stuff so that maybe next time they go to kill that little snake in there yard they will think twice. I'm glad to hear though that you found yourself some snakes, Sorry you found no copperheads.I found one the other day a baby one, Yeah by the way someone was trying to kill him also, stupid people :( But i saved his life, even though the people thought that i was nuts. I hope that if you ever come back to NC you will be able to find a copperhead. Best of luck shaggybill :)

[Smilts]

IM OLDER THAN HIM AND NEVER WANT A HOT SNAKE BUT WY CALL THEM HOT I KNOW VENOM AND POISON AND SUCH ISNT THE SAME JUST WONDERING

[BWSmith]

A little hard to follow, but I'll give it a shot.

Venom and Poison are different. Venom must go intot he bloodstream to be effective, poison is ingested or absorbed through the skin. So snakes and spiders are venomous and plants and frogs can be poisonous.