Found this snakeskin by my front door ... any ideas what kind?

[Guest Jamie]

WTF kinda snake skin did OP find? Only looking for one answer here...the correct one.

We'll be needing the rest of the snake to determine that for sure.

J.

[towerclimber37]

The snake (hereafter known as the party of the first part), declined to be interviewed but DID leave it's skin behind as a testament that it was there.

the OP (hereafter known as the party of the second part), sadly, couldn't induce the party of the first part to stick around long enough to give it's bonafides.

[Guest BEARMAN]

The snake (hereafter known as the party of the first part), declined to be interviewed but DID leave it's skin behind as a testament that it was there.

the OP (hereafter known as the party of the second part), sadly, couldn't induce the party of the first part to stick around long enough to give it's bonafides.

Good one, tower!

[Guest db99wj]

Speaking of snakes. This skin was found in a backyard, it had a body attached.

Name this snake.

This picture was taken in Collierville TN, at one of my wife's coworkers backyard.

[Guest jackdm3]

Corn? Need to see the head better first. Being slightly colorblind does NOT help. Kinda too fat for corn.

Edited July 7, 2010 by jackdm3

[Garufa]

Copperhead

[Capbyrd]

Copperhead

Certainly looks like one. Good sized too.

What did yall do with it?

[Guest Jamie]

Speaking of snakes. This skin was found in a backyard, it had a body attached.

Name this snake.

This picture was taken in Collierville TN, at one of my wife's coworkers backyard.

Oh that is most definitely, 100% certifiably a Copperhead.

And yes, it is a rather good sized one too. I'm guestimating 42 to 45 inches, using the fence for a scale.

I have to say, it's a pretty one... would make a nice belt or several hat bands.

J.

Edited July 7, 2010 by Jamie

[Guest db99wj]

They actually shewed him off with a broom. He went under the fence or something back into the woods behind there house. I didn't see it personally. Not sure what I would have done if I found it in my backyard. With 4 kids and a dog...their safety is my first priority.

[Guest Jamie]

I like snakes, but with kids and pets around I'm afraid I'd have shooed that one clear out of this particular plane of existence. It's not worth risking it coming back at a time when there isn't someone around that knows how to deal with it safely.

J.

[Guest db99wj]

Unfortunately that's probably what I would have to do. We live in a Nhood and I couldn't' just throw it over the fence, to many neighbor hood kids. We have 11 on my street alone, my street is a short street. We do live close, half mile from woods, but I wouldn't want to carry him that far with a shovel.

[Guest Jamie]

Unfortunately that's probably what I would have to do. We live in a Nhood and I couldn't' just throw it over the fence, to many neighbor hood kids. We have 11 on my street alone, my street is a short street. We do live close, half mile from woods, but I wouldn't want to carry him that far with a shovel.

The other side of that problem is that if the woods are close enough for you to get to, it's close enough for the kids to get to as well. And you know as well as I do that sooner or later... they will. Especially if they ever hear Db99wj took a big honkin' copperhead in there.

J.

[Guest db99wj]

The other side of that problem is that if the woods are close enough for you to get to, it's close enough for the kids to get to as well. And you know as well as I do that sooner or later... they will. Especially if they ever hear Db99wj took a big honkin' copperhead in there.

J.

No kidding, they are actually building a bike/walk/running trail on the old CSX rail line through these woods and over the Wolf River. We have already been back there this past April, riding bikes and walking around throwing rocks into the river and whatnot, my 8yr old runs ahead and starts screaming, he jumped over a 5' chicken snake or rat snake. I'm sure there are other more dangerous snakes back there, very snakey!

[Capbyrd]

I like snakes, but with kids and pets around I'm afraid I'd have shooed that one clear out of this particular plane of existence. It's not worth risking it coming back at a time when there isn't someone around that knows how to deal with it safely.

J.

Here here!

[Guest Keinengel]

I see Eastern Diamond Backs every summer when i go on hikes up on a trail just past Sewanee. Its mildly unused except for the occasional sewanee student or two. Of course I've heard that there are mountain lions up there as well but i don't know that for a fact.

[Oh Shoot]

I see Eastern Diamond Backs every summer when i go on hikes up on a trail just past Sewanee....

Bzzzt.

Nope, but thanks for playing.

- OS

[Guest BEARMAN]

I see Eastern Diamond Backs every summer when i go on hikes up on a trail just past Sewanee. QUOTE]

Do tell....are you quite certain they were Eastern Diamond Backs? I didn't think they were that plentiful in Tennessee.

I have never seen anything other than Timber Rattlers around Mid TN. and they are fairly plentiful

...as far as poisionous snake's go.

My BIL swears he's seen a Cougar around Hickman County...probably somebody's ex pet, IMO.

He probably got to be too much for the owner to handle and care for, so they turned him loose to fend for himself.

[Oh Shoot]

I see Eastern Diamond Backs every summer when i go on hikes up on a trail just past Sewanee. QUOTE]

Do tell....are you quite certain they were Eastern Diamond Backs? I didn't think they were that plentiful in Tennessee.

...

Just as plentiful as hoop snakes and cougars.

- OS

[Guest Jamie]

Just as plentiful as hoop snakes and cougars.

- OS

The Eastern Mud Snake:

Also known as... the Hoop Snake.

J.

[Oh Shoot]

The Eastern Mud Snake:

Also known as... the Hoop Snake.

Now be fair.

It's not "known as" a hoop snake, but is one of the species that may have led to the hoop snake myth in the first place.

- OS

[Guest Jamie]

Now be fair.

It's not "known as" a hoop snake, but is one of the species that may have led to the hoop snake myth in the first place.

- OS

I am being fair.

A guide to snakes I happened to have about 40 years ago listed the mud snake as also being the Hoop Snake... along with explaining the business about it also reportedly having a stinger. ( It doesn't, but does in fact have a pointed scale at the end of it's tail that it will press and prod into the hide of anything that grabs it. It's not venomous on either end, however. )

It's also known by that name by quite a few of the old farts that I grew up around, who lived and worked in southern Tn and northern Al.

So, just as the Hog nosed snake is also known as the Spreading Adder and the Puff Adder, Ol' Muddy there is where the name Hoop Snake also lands.

Oh, and concerning that business of taking it's tail in its mouth and rolling after you like a hula hoop from hell, I suspect the recipe for that tale involves liberal amounts of corn liquor, a person that's afraid of snakes, a person with a mean sense of humor, a mud snake, and a convenient barrel band... like the ones you can usually find near a still.

I'll leave it to your imagination to stir those ingredients together in the appropriate amounts.

J.

[Guest Jamie]

Speaking of snake names... I'm still trying to track down one that my grandfather killed while he and my grandmother were out on a mountain somewhere in the area of Monteagle Mountain, or possibly even Chattanooga. This would have been about 60 years ago or a little more, btw.

The story is that they ran across it while on a trail, and that my grandfather killed it by throwing a rock at it. He didn't know what it was, but knew from it's looks that it was venomous. When he described it to one of the locals, they called it a Thunderhead, and said it was indeed venomous.

The description sounded like large timber rattler without a rattle, to me, but I've never been able to find anything else concerning the name. ( And I don't remember the exact place it was found either, which doesn't help. )

I have heard reports of aberrant rattle snakes that don't have a rattle - and I mean just never grew one, not simply have lost the one they had. So I'm wondering if there is or was an area that might have been or even still be home to an odd line of timber rattlers.

Oh, and the other odd part of the tale; apparently when the snake was killed, it just went limp and died. No wiggling or thrashing like one would normally expect. The explanation for that one - again, according to the local - was that the flung rock must have smashed or ruptured the snake's heart, and that's why it didn't move once it was hit.

I can't think of any biological reason for that to be the case, but it is peculiar.

So, if any of you reading this have any info regarding a Thunderhead, I'll be more than interested in hearing it.

J.

Edited July 8, 2010 by Jamie
Oops... wrong mountain.