Large Black Snake In My Driveway !

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

On Saturday, a large, 4', dull black, red bellied, triangular headed snake appeared sunning itself on my driveway. I live in New England (across from a pond) and this is not a common sight. I've seen the occasional Garter or Ribbon snake, but this looked ominous.

I called my local P.D. to see if they had a resource for me to call and they did. I called these nice guys, sanctioned by the Mass Wildlife & Something Or Orther Dept. and they came in about 20 mins charging $195 to come out and capture. Best money I've ever spent.

While waiting for them to arrive, the snake tried to crawl back under the porch. My friend put a shovel between the snake and the lattice work under the porch. The snake hissed and tried to strike at the shovel blade. Then it coiled, but did nothing more.

The guys came and it took some time to get him hooked and bagged. Then, the snake jumped out of the bag a nano second before twisting it shut. They recaptured it.

All of this was caught on video and I took a few snaps with the old 35mm.

They do not kill these, but relocate them when possible.

Now, today I called to see if it was identified and two opinions make it a red water moccasin - extremely rare in these parts.
From what I can tell, I think that it was a black water snake.

Very unsettling to say the least.

I'm all for biodiversity, but this is a bit much !

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

No lawyer jokes, please !

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

We see large black snakes fairly often, and by large I mean that a 4-foot one would be somewhat small. I also have video of one, probably 6-7'.

They are welcome here as they are good-doers.

Copper-colored ones of any size are not welcome.

We were on the dock one everning last week when a fairly snake grabbed a fairly large fish in it's mouth and hauled it over to the bank. That was a little too much Animal Channel for us, so I used the gun on it.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

No lawyer jokes, please !

Most likely it was a timeshare salesperson. It's nice that you disposed of it humanely; no one would have complained had you cut off the head.

[Chap7 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Chap7]

Can you post a picture?

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

Can you post a picture?

By tomorrow. I'm such a dinosaur that I still use "real" film. Will have it developed and transferred to disc.

Stay tuned !

[Chap7 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Chap7]

I hate snakes. That would have really freaked me out.

[falmouth3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close falmouth3]

We just had our brush with wildlife. Apparently a swarm of bees thought the crack between our chimney and clapboards looked homey. I have a friend who started bee keeping a couple of years ago so he came over and checked it out. The following week he had borrowed all the equipment to suck them out of our wall, from inside the house. We now have a hole in our drywall that DH can easily fix but the bees, honey and honey comb are out of the wall and it's all been caulked. Thank heavens!

They got the queen and almost all of the rest of the bees and they've set up housekeeping in a new hive.

Sue

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

I hate snakes. That would have really freaked me out.

I remain, unsettled. I'd say rattled, but that would be too punny.

I'm going to see if I can get a copy of the video take-down. I'm in the background saying "Holy Sh^T !".

[Transit Member Find all posts View Profile Close Transit]

I'm not a big fan of snakes but living in south Florida I've seen more snakes than I care to the short time I'm here. One day my wife was sitting outside and one came rolling down from the roof and landed a few feet from her. A bird must have picked it up and was going to eat it on the roof and it escaped. I hope.The local news here is unusual enough many times you see someone who's been bitten by some kind of poisonous snake and now officials are worried about Burmese pythons some over 10' long becoming the top predator in the everglades.

[basham Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close basham]

I'm kind of unresolved about snakes.

Growing up, the only good snake was a dead snake, there were so many that could kill you, nearly all in fact.

In the U.S. I was a happy gardener and taught the dog to kill them. Soon we were over run by moles and ground hogs. Seems there was some value in having them here.

While I still have the impulse to wack them with a shovel, our new generation of dogs leave them alone as do I .

Anything that is dangerous around the house not a thought.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Too bad not all vipers can be gotten rid of that easily.

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

Too bad not all vipers can be gotten rid of that easily.

Must've been looking for his brother who has moved out.

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

I'm kind of unresolved about snakes.

Growing up, the only good snake was a dead snake, there were so many that could kill you, nearly all in fact.

In the U.S. I was a happy gardener and taught the dog to kill them. Soon we were over run by moles and ground hogs. Seems there was some value in having them here.

While I still have the impulse to wack them with a shovel, our new generation of dogs leave them alone as do I .

Anything that is dangerous around the house not a thought.

I try to "live and let live", except for ticks, mosquitoes and anything that will suck my blood, transmit disease or will attack unprovoked, then all bets are off.
Otherwise, if they go their way, I'll go mine.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Transit is so right. I live in Miami and we've got tons of snakes in our city. For some reason since we are so close to the Everglades they wander into the city via canals and then you find them in your palm trees.

My Mom opened the door to go get the mail and a black snake got in the house. Well you can imagine how hysterical she was. It went in a closet in my Aunt's bedroom. She called 911 and they told her that they don't come out on snake calls and she was livid. Anyway my brother showed up with a gun to kill it except that he would have put a huge hole in the tile so Mom called again to 911 and since a gun was involved they finally sent out the animal control people. The lady came in and bagged it and took it away in her truck.

I guess snakes are par for the course of living near water. No lakefront living for me thanks.