As folks have informed you by now, this is a copperhead. When I lived
in southern Wake County, near Fuquay-Varina, in the deep woods, we
used to get crops of baby copperheads all over the yard and driveway.
They never caused us any problems but knowing that Momma was somewhere
nearby did.

On Sun, 13 Oct 2002 04:43:16 GMT, "Beth Peace"
wrote:

Some kids were trying to decide what to do with this skinny little 8" long
snake in the road. I picked him up by his tail, tossed him on the lawn,
and snapped his photo. I looked on the web, and one that looks quite similar
is a copperhead. Oops?

Here's a link I found on the web - http://tinyurl.com/1y6y
Here's a close up of the one in the yard:
http://home.nc.rr.com/hannclan/snake.html. I doubt
he'll survive the night since he wasn't active at all, but I don't know much
about snakes either.

Beth



---
Merle Finch SAS Institute, Inc. Cary NC USA
Opinions expressed probably never reflect those of SAS Institute.

we used to get crops of baby copperheads all over the yard and driveway.
They never caused us any problems but knowing that Momma was somewhere
nearby did.

Perhaps there is a herpetologist here who can verify this, but I've
heard that juvenile snakes can be MORE dangerous than adults because
they do not know how to regulate the amount of venom they inject, and
will empty out their venom sacs in one bite--while adults will parcel
it out. Whether true or not, I would not be complacent about baby
venomous snakes!

Cheers,
Sue

Yup- they were all over the brick walls of the basement. The teeth aren't
long enough to be more than sandpaper. They were nice little visitors.

--

Tom Gauldin, Las Vegas NV
NEW EMAIL
NEW PHONE (702) 263-8804 voice/fax

"Dave Schulman" wrote in message
...
"Tom Gauldin" wrote in message
. ..
Along the same line of picking things up. . . Like everyone in NC, our
property had many blue tailed skinks.

I think the lizard you're referring to is what's known as the
"Five-lined skink" (Eumeces fasciatus). There's a photo of one at
http://coolsprings.org/skink.jpg; does that look like what you remember?
It's also been my experience that the little things can bite surprisingly
hard when they feel the need to.

Lance wrote:

Ahhhhhhhh! I swear reading that gave me severe chills all over my body. I
can't help it...I'm afraid of snakes.

Isn't it funny different peoples' aversions? Snakes don't bother
me, yet my dad was deathly afraid of any and all. He wouldn't wait
to see if it was poisonous or not. It drove him crazy just watching me
watch them with fascination. A friend and I agree that both of us could
do the "Fear Factor" thing about getting into a tub filled with snakes (of
the non-poisonous variety, of course) with no angst.

But if someone were to torture me a la "1984," just put me in a
room with those 3" black cockroaches crawling on the floors and walls, and
I'd be insane in a matter of moments--and confess to anything! shudder

cl

Xref: 127.0.0.1 triangle.gardens:15876

Kira Dirlik !! wrote:

Why don't you then, just live and let live? You go your way and let
them go theirs. I never understood this compulsion to murder snakes,
just for the accident of their birth. Man is truely a scourge upon
this beautiful earth. Maybe it stems from the Christian Adam and Eve
myth.
Kira

I always say, God's only mistake was creating humans.
Every year there is less and less natural things that come visit.

"Kira Dirlik" !! wrote in message
...

Ahhhhhhhh! I swear reading that gave me severe chills all over my body.
I
can't help it...I'm afraid of snakes.

Lance

Why don't you then, just live and let live? You go your way and let
them go theirs. I never understood this compulsion to murder snakes,
just for the accident of their birth. Man is truely a scourge upon
this beautiful earth. Maybe it stems from the Christian Adam and Eve
myth.
Kira

Besides the fact that I would like to be able to move about my yard as I
please - I would also like to protect my dogs from being biten, or from
killing the snake and getting blood all over themselves, ugh.

Lance

wrote in message
...
Kira Dirlik !! wrote:

Why don't you then, just live and let live? You go your way and let
them go theirs. I never understood this compulsion to murder snakes,
just for the accident of their birth. Man is truely a scourge upon
this beautiful earth. Maybe it stems from the Christian Adam and Eve
myth.
Kira

I always say, God's only mistake was creating humans.
Every year there is less and less natural things that come visit.

Hmm....if my dog could catch a squirrel, or snake, or rabbit, etc...she
would kill it. Not to eat it....just to protect her territory. Does that
make my dog one of Gods "mistakes" as well? No. If I find a black widow
spider in my house and I kill it, does that make me bad? Get real. I
seriously doubt that I have harmed the ringtail snake species. Besides,
don't know you that snakes are evil and a snake made Eve eat the apple?
Duh!

Lance

Well...I'll try. But if they're on my patio again, they're dead!

Lance

"Gwen" wrote in message
...
Snakes are great to have around the house...not inside of cours but they
are fantastic for controlling pests. Leave them alone and 99.999% they
will leave you alone. Very few are aggressive enough to get in your face
for fun and the ones that are ain't in Cary.

"Lance" wrote in
:

"Siouxzi" wrote in message
...
How sad. Ringneck snakes are harmless, and beautiful. Lance, perhaps
you need some therapy. I'd suggest you try gently handling one if the
tiny, pretty little earth snakes that I have living under timbers
everywhere in my yard. They're no bigger than an earthworm, with
iridescent brown bodies and salmon-pink bellies, and a head smaller
than the pinky toe on a newborn baby. They couldn't bite even if they
wanted to, which they don't, and they feel velvety-smooth and
pleasant.

Ahhhhhhhh! I swear reading that gave me severe chills all over my
body. I can't help it...I'm afraid of snakes.

Lance

Siouxzi wrote:

[snipped part about snakes, fear of, dealing with same, etc.]

I'd suggest you try gently handling one if the
tiny, pretty little earth snakes that I have living under timbers
everywhere in my yard. They're no bigger than an earthworm, with
iridescent brown bodies and salmon-pink bellies, and a head smaller
than the pinky toe on a newborn baby.

Aha! Sue, those must be what I've seen in my compost pile! They really
look like overgrown "nightcrawlers" (worms, bait for fish), but they
moved WAY too fast to be a worm. I've only seen a couple, but dealing
with them was clearly not a problem, as they were not at all happy to
see me, and all they wanted was to get away from me ASAP. They weren't
all that "tiny" though, as I guessed they were maybe 6-8" long.

Alas, I can't say that I was all that happy about seeing the snake who
was hiding (or trying to) under the rim of my tiny "water garden" --
OTOH, I now have a sorta-valid excuse for not handweeding there!

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh

It's nearly time for dinner, so I did not look up an exact reference,
but I *think* that the blue-tailed skink is the juvenile of the
five-lined skink -- or vice versa.

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh

[Hey, I just quoted the thread below -- it's up to y'all to figure out
who said what!]

Dave Schulman wrote:

"Tom Gauldin" wrote in message
. ..
Along the same line of picking things up. . . Like everyone in NC, our
property had many blue tailed skinks.

I think the lizard you're referring to is what's known as the
"Five-lined skink" (Eumeces fasciatus). There's a photo of one at
http://coolsprings.org/skink.jpg; does that look like what you remember?
It's also been my experience that the little things can bite surprisingly
hard when they feel the need to.

According to:
http://eclipse.dtl.pcs.k12.va.us/vtrail/Blue-skink.htm

the blue-tailed skink is actually the immature five-lined skink.

And then, of course, there's the Blue-Tailed Mole Skink found only in
Florida -- not to be confused with the blue-haired little old ladies
in other parts of Florida

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh

"Anne Lurie" wrote in message
...
Aha! Sue, those must be what I've seen in my compost pile! They really

I knew there was some reason why I shouldn't start a compost pile...that
sounds like a great one!

Lance

My error, Sue, in my earlier post (thread below), I should have
clarified that the snake I saw under the rim of my water garden (head
was black, about 2" long) was *not* the same as the little earth snakes
in my compost pile. Although it was obvious to *me* when I wrote the
post that I was discussing different snakes, I see that I did not make
that clear.

And it was quite a surprise to me when I was not expecting anything to
come out from under the water garden rim!

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh
______________________-

Siouxzi wrote:

Anne wrote

Aha! Sue, those must be what I've seen in my compost pile! They really
look like overgrown "nightcrawlers" (worms, bait for fish), but they
moved WAY too fast to be a worm. I've only seen a couple, but dealing
with them was clearly not a problem, as they were not at all happy to
see me, and all they wanted was to get away from me ASAP. They weren't
all that "tiny" though, as I guessed they were maybe 6-8" long.

Alas, I can't say that I was all that happy about seeing the snake who
was hiding (or trying to) under the rim of my tiny "water garden" --
OTOH, I now have a sorta-valid excuse for not handweeding there!


Now Anne, just remember, these are very shy and delicate little
harmless critters. 6-8 inches is pretty tiny for a snake--they're no
bigger than a pencil and the head is tiny. The web shows some with
cream bellies, all of "mine" are uniformly salmon pink underneath and
a pretty brown color on top.
http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/products/...rth_snake.html

If you are scared, just use gloves to pick one up--but they will not
bite anyway. They won't even poop foul-smelling stuff all over you
like a garter snake will when you pick them up. What I have noticed is
that they have a hard point at the end of their tail, and they might
poke you a little with that as they wrap around your hand. No, it
doesn't hurt. Interesting defense mechanism, might work on a
nearsighted robin but pretty ineffective otherwise, unlike teeth or
stinky poop.

Hah hah... now I am really making Lance's skin crawl.
But seriously, earth snakes in NC are beautiful things, brown and pink
and gentle. They birth live babies... no eggs. Cool, but I've yet to
find a baby.

It's said that they're "highly secretive" but when I have kids over to
visit, I turn over a few landscape timbers and can usually find one to
show them. When my husband ran over one with a seeder last week and
injured it, I was truly heartbroken. He jumped 6 feet straight up in
the air when he saw it--another snake-phobe and not interested in
"getting over it." :^)

Cheers,
Sue

This looks exactly like the snakes that my cats bring inside from the
woods,but it says they max out at 12". I've had them 3-4feet long in
my living room...or is that a different NC snake?

On Fri, 18 Oct 2002 10:08:52 -0400, Siouxzi
wrote:

Now Anne, just remember, these are very shy and delicate little
harmless critters. 6-8 inches is pretty tiny for a snake--they're no
bigger than a pencil and the head is tiny. The web shows some with
cream bellies, all of "mine" are uniformly salmon pink underneath and
a pretty brown color on top.
http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/products/...rth_snake.html

---
Merle Finch SAS Institute, Inc. Cary NC USA
Opinions expressed probably never reflect those of SAS Institute.