No step on snake

Long_Hunter

Long_Hunter

Sufficient Speed, Acceptable Drag
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2A Bourbon Hound OG
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Almost stepped on this Saturday while checking some stands in Bladen County, good size timber rattler...diameter was the size of my fist...note the younglings at the lower left of pic.


snake.jpg
 
Only timber I’ve ever seen in the wild was dead on road down by Johnson’s peaches in Candor. Would love to see a live one
 
I think they are also called Canebrake rattlesnakes. The only rattlesnakes I’ve ever seen in the wild were timber rattlers. I saw many when cruising timber in the 70 to 90s, as well as many more cottonmouths!
I personally have never seen an Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake. That’s the one I want to see.
 
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Very common this time of year, I usually come across one or two in my yard every August/September. So far I've been lucky I suppose, none seen so far. I worry about our dogs. At present 4 dead copperheads for August and two hits on our dogs. Both dogs are fine. The Canebrake rattlesnake was once considered a separate species, then became a subspecies of the Timber, and now they are all considered Timber rattlesnakes as they freely interbreed and have viable offspring throughout their range. There is a small population in a few select counties of Diamondbacks in se NC and one isolated population of Coral snakes.
 
catpop said:
I think they are also called Canebrake rattlesnakes. The only rattlesnakes I’ve ever seen in the wild were timber rattlers. I saw many when cruising timber in the 70 to 90s, as well as many more cottonmouths!
I personally have never seen an Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake. That’s the one I want to see.
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I have seen a handful of Eastern Diamondbacks, a couple on the coast (one of which was HUGE), and the rest in the mountains. I have not seen any timber/canebrake.
 
Chuckman said:
I have seen a handful of Eastern Diamondbacks, a couple on the coast (one of which was HUGE), and the rest in the mountains. I have not seen any timber/canebrake.
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Too see a Diamondback in the mountains would make big news. In NC all of the documented records are east of 95. A friend killed one many years ago in Sampson County (early 70's) and had it stuffed. When you walked into his house the first thing you saw was that big Diamondback all curled up and ready to strike. It provided much cheap entertainment. :D
 
Downeast said:
Too see a Diamondback in the mountains would make big news. In NC all of the documented records are east of 95. A friend killed one many years ago in Sampson County (early 70's) and had it stuffed. When you walked into his house the first thing you saw was that big Diamondback all curled up and ready to strike. It provided much cheap entertainment. :D
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The couple I have seen in the mountains were in the southern portion of the Appalachians in Georgia. I have not seen any in NC mountains. They also claim that the Eastern Massasauga isn't in NC, but there have been sightings and a few killed I think.
 
MacEntyre said:
Canebrake Rattlers are the same, but live in very different places
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And typically have a different coloration pattern than the “standard” timber.

I’ve run into canebrakes in eastern NC and a few timbers in the Smokies.
 
I call them canebrakes near the coast when they have a lighter more tan pattern and timber rattlers in the hills where they’re darker

Either way if it was on the way to my deer stands…gonna die. Not trying to step on Jake like that
 
11B CIB said:
I call them canebrakes near the coast when they have a lighter more tan pattern and timber rattlers in the hills where they’re darker

Either way if it was on the way to my deer stands…gonna die. Not trying to step on Jake like that
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Same here.
 
The guy that did some driveway work for me up in the mountains said that they have killed timber rattlers and diamondback rattlers in Alleghany Co. up along the Parkway. He said they are all over the place up in the rocks.
 
Sweet!

Glad you noticed those critters before you stepped on them!

Snakes are awesome! I was fascinated with them when I got bit by one a few decades back. You'd have thought I'd have been scared of them, but noooooo...


Just had a talk with some small kids last Saturday at a Cub Scout "Shoot-A-Ree", where we invited parents to bring their kids out to shoot BB guns, slingshots, and archery like the Cub Scouts do. The subject of snakes came up somehow (because kids that age will seque into every subject eventually) and what to do if you see one:

ME: Just leave the snake alone. You know what a snakes DOESN'T have?

KID: What?

ME: Legs! He can't run after you because he doesn't have any legs! And besides...you're HUGE to a snake and snakes don't want to tangle with huge critters if they don't have too! They don't want to get hurt any more than you do!
 
11B CIB said:
I call them canebrakes near the coast when they have a lighter more tan pattern and timber rattlers in the hills where they’re darker

Either way if it was on the way to my deer stands…gonna die. Not trying to step on Jake like that
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If I had my way, I'd call them "pets".

But my wife is the predator I have to worry about in the house if I pull a stunt like that.

It’s not that she has any kind of phobia over snakes…it’s that she has a bit more common sense than I do on the subject of keeping venomous critters in the house as pets.

Which is why the last copperhead was killed on sight in the street instead of kept in an aquarium in the house….
 
Downeast said:
Very common this time of year, I usually come across one or two in my yard every August/September. So far I've been lucky I suppose, none seen so far. I worry about our dogs. At present 4 dead copperheads for August and two hits on our dogs. Both dogs are fine. The Canebrake rattlesnake was once considered a separate species, then became a subspecies of the Timber, and now they are all considered Timber rattlesnakes as they freely interbreed and have viable offspring throughout their range. There is a small population in a few select counties of Diamondbacks in se NC and one isolated population of Coral snakes.
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Can you tell us where the populations are in SE NC so I can not go there?
 
I remember having to be "forced" to give a talk to a ladies garden club one time and when I ask what would they like me to talk about the standard reply always was "it doesn't matter". All of these societies and clubs usually find some poor schmuck to find someone to "talk" at their regular meetings. As long as the speaker is coherent they could care less. So I decided to do a talk on reptiles so I brought a nice slide show (yes, we still had slides then) and a bunch of preserved specimens in big pickle jars. By the time I had shown about 5 or so slides I had emptied half the room. My coup de grace came when I pulled a big rattler out of a 10 gallon pickle jar. Had to kind of unwind him out of the jar. All I heard was screaming and doors slamming. Never got another invite to the local ladies garden club. :cool:
 
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Downeast said:
Stay out of Brunswick and Onslow. :D
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Well s***. Have acerage in the center of Brunswick. I knew we had copperheads galore, but… Guess that’ll be my excuse for no clearing till November.
 
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was looking at a house a couple years back out here, did the usual inside and started walking the yard when i heard the rattle and froze. scanned and saw it about 10' away, was not expecting that in lowcut grass of someone's yard, but its apparently pretty common out here. in fact a lady was moving her flower pots down the road a couple weeks ago and found two of them.
 
saw one that looked just like that on the road. pretty big, but dead. i was okay with that because it was not far from my house at all
 
Diablos said:
was looking at a house a couple years back out here, did the usual inside and started walking the yard when i heard the rattle and froze. scanned and saw it about 10' away, was not expecting that in lowcut grass of someone's yard, but its apparently pretty common out here. in fact a lady was moving her flower pots down the road a couple weeks ago and found two of them.
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Again please clarify “here” so I don’t go “there”.
 
I came across a timber rattler just shy of 5000’ hiking Hearbreak Ridge (east of Mitchell) years ago. It still is the biggest snake Ive ever seen, 6 feet easy and almost as big around as a 2 liter bottle.

It coiled up on my as I got closer to check it out. I moved it with a stick to see size. That’s when it struck at me. I left abruptly after that.
 
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Okay, sorry to change the topic, but can anyone recommend a reliable pair of snake boots?
 
Mathieu18 said:
Okay, sorry to change the topic, but can anyone recommend a reliable pair of snake boots?
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i heard* if you wrap foil around your ankles, if a snake tries to bite it will get that same zap we get when we chew on foil and then it will leave you alone.

(*no i did not)
 
I had a Burmese and a Ball python when I was in college. Cool animals, but the Burmese did get far too big. Roommate and I ended up calling the college’s herpetology dept to come get them.
 
I used to see a good many timber rattlers when I lived in Virginia. The mountain that our street was on backed up to the Jefferson National Forest, and had the name of Rattlesnake Ridge before they did some cutting and decided to build houses on it. We never had any issues with them, but we always had copperheads right around the house.
 
Tim said:
I had a Burmese and a Ball python when I was in college. Cool animals, but the Burmese did get far too big. Roommate and I ended up calling the college’s herpetology dept to come get them.
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Same here. Burmese got to be a little over 12’ before I decided someone more capable needed to take ownership of it.
 
Good snake boots are a couple hundred dollars.

Snake Chaps will cover all the way up to your groin. A good pair of leather boots with chaps are a solid combination. My anxiety goes down drastically when I wear chaps in snake areas.
 
I’d be more worried about my feet / ankles in thick grass? Not afraid to spend money though. My feet aren’t growing any more and a couple hundred is a lot cheaper than “dead”.
 
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