Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Snake ID

Found this guy sunning himself on a brush pile in my pond. Can anyone ID him? The pictures aren't great. You can click on the magnifying glass to enlarge.

http://imgur.com/a/SSutb#0

Looks like a common water snake to me.. Hard to tell from that distance..

Thanks. Any idea how much of a dent these guys will put into my newly stocked fingerling bluegill?

My philosophy on snakes is to leave them alone if they're not venomous, but if they're around my pond and eat too many fish I'll have to change my philosophy a bit!

I can't imagine snakes can be prolific enough and fast enough to eat enough fingerling bluegills to make a dent.

I welcome nonvenomous snakes around my ponds as I have a problem with boring five star moles and mice. Five star moles and mice actually do more damage than muskrats for me although I no longer have muskrats due to eliminating their food source -- cattails.

Well I commented again earlier but for some reason it didn't show up.. Anyways I figure if a fish gets eaten by anything other than a predator fish it deserved to die, only the strong should survive..

It is definetley not a "good" snake cause it is still alive.... I would agree with everyone about leaving the non venomous snakes alone but just last week I witnessed my daughter reacting very violently to a non venomous snake that happened to slither up on her floaty as she was napping. I thought she was going to drown. So under direct escort from her I have been walking the banks every night with shotgun in hand ridding the pond of the harmless snakes. And now to make matters worse her mother wont go near the water and she is threatening to blow the dam while im sleeping. So I ask....is there really such a thing as a harmless snake? But at least we got some rain today:)

Tell her mom that if she blows the dam, the dry pond bottom will make excellent habitat for snakes to live in. That should fix that problem!

I will bring my german short hair over, shes always killing the snakes on the pond. Good Dog!!! LOL

Three weeks ago, I visited Enchanted Rock (TX) with my son's Scout troop. I was walking "shotgun" during one early morning hike and saw this guy immediately AS I stepped over him. I nearly killed myself trying to withdraw my trailing foot out of his range. He was poised for business, but never made a sound.

I was very fortunate, especially since I just saw on the news where a foreigner was charged over $140k for treating a rattlesnake bite that occured while he was visiting the US.
Either here or somewhere else, I've heard that many TX rattlesnakes rarely use their rattles as a warning anymore, since those members of the specie that carried this typical hereditary trait have mostly been killed and eaten by feral hogs.

Got this guy last night hada huge BF stuck in it's mouth..

???

That makes no sense Kelly. What news was this on?

Kelly, I would have found some way to walk on air if I was in your situation. Yikes!!!

Kelly is correct. That occurred here in San Diego.

$143K Hospital Bill Shocks Snake Bite Victim

Wow - sheer insanity!! I had a horse bitten by a rattlesnake a few years back. The vet initially said that horses were naturally resilient and the venom wold not impact him greatly. After 45 minutes, though,the horse was down and his leg was the size of a basketball (even with icing and cold water baths). The vet came out and, in the course of several hours, pumped eight bags of anti-venom into Moose. Total cost was just south of $1000.

I certainly hope the snake is non venemous or dead!

Crocodile hunter in training.. Lol it is both of what you mentioned

JHAP: Thanks for the backup. I knew what I had seen, but couldn't remember any details besides the crazy $-figure.

Yikes! My dog was bitten by a copperhead a few years back. Total vet bill was $600. Her leg swelled up the size of a grapefruit. I know a couple guys who lost dogs to rattlesnakes. I have no desire to find out how much a bite from either snake feels...

Me neither. I can state with absolute certainty that the bite from a non-venomous Northern Watersnake will draw blood, as well as sting a mite. They don't always let go right away, either.

Puncture-wound explosure to the bacteria found in a non-venomous snake's mouth is almost as hazardous as a poisonous snake's venom.

I've always heard that also. I didn't end up in the doctor's office, but I scrubbed the wound and applied liberal doses of hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol.

My son and I must have good immunity since we have both been bitten many times by wild non-venomous snakes. Maybe the snakes that were studied just had dirty mouths?

Could be RAH. Then again, I'd be willing to bet that the unfortunate folks who contracted the Aeromonas Hydrophila bacteria, then had to endure it's progression into necrotizing fasciitis, probably had been swimming many, many times before without incident.

It just takes one time for everything to come together in a bad way to take the shine off of all the times you got away with it.

True, but I prefer to focus on the bigger risks like driving, especially with all the texting going on.