North Western Hot snake vs Non-venomous snakes?

[MDT]

Originally Posted by SSSSnakes

I think the real point here is, if you don't know enough about the snakes in your area to ID them on site, with out cute rhymes or looking at the eye shape. Then you should leave them alone. Many non venomous snakes do a good job at imitating venomous ones. Unless you are positive it's non venomous, do not touch it.

YES YES YES YES YES....Thank you!!!!!

[ZeldaTheRosy]

Originally Posted by ashleynicole

All of the pitvipers have vertical pupils. Are you sure you didn't mistake a juvenile black racer for a pigmy rattlesnake? I had someone come into the ER with a juvie black racer that they swore up and down was a pigmy rattle snake. They are mistaken a lot because of the pattern. A lot of people mistake hognoses for rattlers as well.

I appreciate the concern but I am absolutely positive. No doubt about it.
My brother is going to search his pics(i think he got acouple hundred to go through)and see if any of the pictures show up with the rounder eyes.
Again, he and I think it was a stress situation making for a wider pupil, before it was safely released the eyes were back to being simply vertical thin pupils.


SSSSS and MDT; totally agree! If you don't know your stuff you shouldn't be doing field work.

As for hands on, I only use the hands on method for Scarlett's and scarlet kings.... I just prefer not being nipped at all, so I usually don't do too much hands on with red/yellow rats or even garter snake(for example;but not limited to) really most of that is I have no reason to "grab" them. Usually I just gently maneuver them off the road with the hook in hopes they don't return and get squashed.

[SSSSnakes]

As I went through some of my pictures, I found a few pictures of my Pygmy Rattlesnake and my Water Moccasin which by the angle and the lighting has caused them to appear to have round pupils.

[ZeldaTheRosy]

Originally Posted by SSSSnakes

As I went through some of my pictures, I found a few pictures of my Pygmy Rattlesnake and my Water Moccasin which by the angle and the lighting has caused them to appear to have round pupils.

I wonder if like you mentioned it IS just lighting an angle, or if they were actually dilated. In the case I'm speaking of I truly believe it couldn't have been angle/lighting. Cool that others have experienced it.


We looked through the pics, none show the eyes well enough to tell either way... Next encounter I'll be paying more attention.

[ErikBush97]

Originally Posted by SSSSnakes

As I went through some of my pictures, I found a few pictures of my Pygmy Rattlesnake and my Water Moccasin which by the angle and the lighting has caused them to appear to have round pupils.

http://bugsinthenews.info/wp-content...xas-061610.jpg

Luckily we don't have Pygmy's or Cottonmouths here.

[ashleynicole]

Originally Posted by ErikBush97

http://bugsinthenews.info/wp-content...xas-061610.jpg

Luckily we don't have Pygmy's or Cottonmouths here.

very pretty picture! I can still tell the pupils are not an actual circle though, they are elliptical in the picture just dilated.

I know it is not the best way to ID a venomous snake, but here In Florida this is one of the ways the physicians are trained to recognize the venomous snakes and to educate the public because 9 times out of 10 the average person will chop the head off a simple rat snake or racer that bit the while gardening and then bring it in to the ER to see if they need anti venom.

This really saddens me because we went to this reptile discovery center/serpentarium in Deland, Fl where they actually do live venom extractions (totally amazing to watch btw, it was freaken awesome). the guy has been on a lot of shows on the discovery channel and things and They are really into educating the public to please NOT kill snakes, just leave the alone or call someone who can safely remove them. They even offer their number because they have shortages on some of the venomous snakes, mostly the coral snakes because everyone kills the as soon as they see them, even though they are a very non aggressive snake. The water moccasins they breed in captivity and they use them to make Crofab which is the antivenom used to treat any of the pitviper bites here in Florida. But the coral snake venom is needed to continue to research a new cancer fighting drug and they are severely short on a supply of the snakes. Other venoms are used to research medications for heart disease and cancer as well, but apparently this one from the coral snake is extremely promising. As a Registered Nurse myself this really hit home and I try to tell as many people as I can that they can even call my husband because he is working on getting his venomous handling license. He carries a snake hook and tongs and pillow cases in his patrol car at all times just in case

And the snakes in captivity are very well cared for. The ones bred in captivity of course thrive but some species like the corals are very fragile so they can only do extractions every 14 days and thats when they feed them and they absolutely do not disturb them the rest of the time. I believe the daimondbacks are a little fragile as well in captivity, some do better than others though because they are quit reclusive and do not like to be bothered.

[RandyRhoads]

Originally Posted by SSSSnakes

As I went through some of my pictures, I found a few pictures of my Pygmy Rattlesnake and my Water Moccasin which by the angle and the lighting has caused them to appear to have round pupils.

Beat me to it.....

If he was hiding under a log in the dark, or poor light conditions a pit vipers pupils can be elliptical.

Every time I turn on the light at night to peek at mine, they look funny with big round eyes. Like they took some MDMA or something..