Northern copperhead
By Lauram
- 13 Jun, 2010
- 5 likes
As I was about to pull out of my driveway this morning, I saw this little copperhead in the road in front of my house. It was a good excuse to be late for work. I used my snake hook (always in my car!) to safely move him across the road in the direction in which he was heading. Onto the neighbor's property, which they probably wouldn't have been too happy about, but he was going to try to cross anyway, so it was safest for the snake.
Comments on this photo
It's just a large hook - you can buy them in many sizes to suit your snake-handling needs - used to safely pick up snakes. In a nutshell, you slide the hook under the snake's body about a third of the way down, and lift the hook straight up. Generally, the snake will try to stay on the hook & not attempt to crawl off on to the ground or up the hook onto your arm. You can tell when the snake isn't balanced quite right, and if so, you just try again. Most snakes can be easily hooked, although some just won't have it and you have to tong them (yes, big tongs!).
I always carry one, and also I normally drive around with a trash can in the back of my Subaru so I can easily transport a snake if I have to. I'll never forget the day we got a phone call at work about a rattlesnake in a resident's garage. I assumed it probably wasn't a rattlesnake, probably just a hognose snake, and brought a cat kennel with me. It turned out to be a copperhead that was small enough to fit through the bars of the kennel's door. It was a fun drive down the interstate with this snake in the front seat trying to escape his crate.
13 Jun, 2010
Nothing so exciting here :-))))
14 Jun, 2010
Are there any eastern diamondbacks down there? The only venomous snake around here is the massassauga rattlesnake and I only see them once or twice a year tops. You must be pretty brave to pick them up even with a hook! I wear gloves even to pick up ribbon snakes but mostly because they smell so bad.
25 Mar, 2012
We have timber rattlesnakes, pygmy rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths.
I used to work in the reptile house at Zoo Atlanta so they don't bother me! I'm much more afraid of large constrictors like reticulated pythons. Most bites are dry bites and every hospital has antivenin.....you have time if you are bitten but if a big python gets you you might as well just give up!
25 Mar, 2012
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4 Jul, 2008
Wow !! Whats a snake hook???
13 Jun, 2010