Another one for the snake experts! Glossy snake?

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dennishoddy

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Like with real estate, it's all about location, location, location.
Non-venomous snakes are reasonably welcome around the house (outside) and garden.
Venomous snakes close to the house or anywhere myself, my wife my grandkids or my dogs frequent are gonna get deadified PDQ.
Out in the wild away from hearth and home, if they don't bother me I won't bother them.
Same here. We have had 3 dogs bitten by copperheads. They don’t live long in the yard.
 

BrandonM

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This is called a Dekays Brown snake. It just wants to eat slugs and such. Non venomous. A triangle shaped head and pupil shape are only a partial indicator at best. Many Snakes will flatten their head and bodies to look tough. This makes head shape unreliable. Also, I’ve seen photos of copperheads with round pupils. Pupils are not a clear indication either. Your best bet is to learn all the attributes of each snake.
 

JEVapa

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This is called a Dekays Brown snake. It just wants to eat slugs and such. Non venomous. A triangle shaped head and pupil shape are only a partial indicator at best. Many Snakes will flatten their head and bodies to look tough. This makes head shape unreliable. Also, I’ve seen photos of copperheads with round pupils. Pupils are not a clear indication either. Your best bet is to learn all the attributes of each snake.
Ahh, I see now. They're all over here...I'm always catching them on and around the driveway and chunking them in the garden beds. they like getting in the garage too. I thought they were young garter snakes 'cause they look just like them (what we had in AZ). I guess they're full grown at 12" or less; garter snakes where I grew up were about 2ft+.

I keep catching these little ribbon snakes too...they're like a garter snake but black/green with 3 white or yellow stripes down their spine.

https://birdwatchinghq.com/garter-snakes-in-arizona/
 

dabigboy

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On a related note...how's the Simply Watermelon juice? I've been meaning to try it.

Well, it's now officially snake-approved, so I guess that counts for something.

On a related-related note....a few years ago when I was hot and thirsty at the OK state fair, I bought one of those overpriced lemonades from a concession, with a lemon in it. That was the best lemonade I'd ever had up to that point. I thought maybe it was just because I was so thirsty. But some time later, I bought the Simply Lemonade at the grocery store...tastes like what they had at the fair, and just as awesome. Best lemonade I've found. It's my "cheat" drink since it contains sugar. I almost exclusively drink water, almond milk, and orange juice.

I wasn't crazy about the watermelon juice, but my kids liked it. But I LOVED the watermelon juice I got at a resort in Cancun years ago, guessing it was more natural (the Simply stuff tastes a little too much like your typical sugary Koolaide'ish mix drink).

This is called a Dekays Brown snake. It just wants to eat slugs and such. Non venomous. A triangle shaped head and pupil shape are only a partial indicator at best. Many Snakes will flatten their head and bodies to look tough. This makes head shape unreliable. Also, I’ve seen photos of copperheads with round pupils. Pupils are not a clear indication either. Your best bet is to learn all the attributes of each snake.


Dekays brown snake...yup that's it, looks exactly like our little friend here. Winner! Thanks!

Matt
 

Garrett

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Seems to be a popular topic lately! This little guy turned up in our flower bed. While I was busy keeping my distance and begging my wife and kids to stay away (I HATE SNAKES), my wife decided to coax it into a plastic jar, while my 9 year old son watched with great interest and my 10 year old girl kept admiring it because it was "cute".
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I didn't grow up in OK and I don't know the local snakes very well. We looked at some pics online and are thinking glossy snake, perhaps? Obviously my biggest concern is that it might be venomous. I'm leaning towards not-venomous, but it's kinda hard to tell on such a small snake. Pattern looks like glossy snake, it also has a dark marking on the back of its head. Looks to be maybe 10" long or so.

I gotta say, the snakes seem very active this year. This past weekend, I heard a copperhead turned up at the local Airsoft field, and I've seen two or three non-venomous snakes at the mountain bike trails in the past couple weeks (which is as many as I've seen there in the past 4 years). This is the first time in 10+ years of living here that I've seen a snake of any sort around our house (we live in an older house near downtown Moore, not rural at all).

Matt

DeKay`s Brownsnake / harmless
 

birdhunter1980

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My wife almost stepped on this guy the other night. I took care of him and right after another one came out from under the chicken coup and I got him too. That's all I need is one of us getting bit. I'm thinking about getting some guineas, I read where they'll run snakes off. Can anyone confirm this?
Oh and I forgot I had my turkey choke still in or you could still see its head!
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dennishoddy

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My wife almost stepped on this guy the other night. I took care of him and right after another one came out from under the chicken coup and I got him too. That's all I need is one of us getting bit. I'm thinking about getting some guineas, I read where they'll run snakes off. Can anyone confirm this?
Oh and I forgot I had my turkey choke still in or you could still see its head!
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It's true. Guinee's fowl will kill snakes. We had a friend move into a river bottom home. After a short period she determined snakes were a major issue and was about to move before someone suggested the chickens.
They were moving into here home basically by gathering at the back door when it was cool to get the warmth coming from the home.
Interesting bit of trivia. Back in the day before homes were built on slabs, the home builders built them with snake steps that prevented snakes coming on to the porches. Similar to the area under the kitchen cabinets where the snake could crawl but couldn't get past the toe clearance to get up on the porch or door.
 

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