Why I never wear tennis shoes out here.

[dennishoddy]

Yes sir, I will study up. I don’t have FB but my wife does so I’ll ask her to check out that page for me

You don’t need fakebook to identify snakes.
There are dozens of different internet resources available that don’t require giving up your life history and privacy to access that information.
Here is a start if you want to get close enough to them.
Poisonous snakes with the one exception of a coral snake in Oklahoma have eye pupils that are elliptical running up and down. The rest have round pupils and are non venomous. Actually a great addition to folks living in the country. The non venomous eat rodents and in the case of black snakes, eat rattlesnakes and copperheads as part of their diet.

 

[caliberbob]

You don’t need fakebook to identify snakes.
There are dozens of different internet resources available that don’t require giving up your life history and privacy to access that information.
Here is a start if you want to get close enough to them.
Poisonous snakes with the one exception of a coral snake in Oklahoma have eye pupils that are elliptical running up and down. The rest have round pupils and are non venomous. Actually a great addition to folks living in the country. The non venomous eat rodents and in the case of black snakes, eat rattlesnakes and copperheads as part of their diet.

Oh that’s awesome. Here’s a genuine question. What is the difference between poisonous and venomous? A native friend of mine was saying cotton mouths aren’t venomous but are poisonous. Something to do with bacteria on there teeth???

 

[retrieverman]

I‘ve never taken the time to ask a snake his ethnicity before swing the shovel or pulling the trigger.

 

[caliberbob]

I‘ve never taken the time to ask a snake his ethnicity before swing the shovel or pulling the trigger.

Snakist!

Edit: Sssssssssnakisssssssst.

 

[Ready_fire_aim]

My son got tagged by a copperhead while we were camping in SE OK. He was about 7yrs old. He was just walking in the mowed grass around our cabin shortly before sunset. I was getting a fire ready for hotdog roasting… he screamed at the top of his lungs “owww! Something bit me” and i happened to have my little camp/mini shovel in my hand I was moving logs in the fire with so I ran straight over there and killed the snake that was slithering away.. was a copperhead

Thankfully not a cottonmouth or rattle snake… he still spent a couple days in the hospital though and received antivenom

Ever since that trip I take snake country very seriously

 

[Ready_fire_aim]

Oh that’s awesome. Here’s a genuine question. What is the difference between poisonous and venomous? A native friend of mine was saying cotton mouths aren’t venomous but are poisonous. Something to do with bacteria on there teeth???

Not sure there is sound logic in that.. but he’s probably referring to the different venom types such as neurotoxins vs hemotoxins etc

 

[OkieJoe72]

Yes sir, I will study up. I don’t have FB but my wife does so I’ll ask her to check out that page for me

If a snake has a triangular shaped head, it’s a venomous snake. There are some non-venomous snakes with triangular shaped heads, but they are mostly water snakes. The triangular shaped head is a good starting point for identifying dangerous snakes for folks that aren’t familiar with the different kinds of snakes around their area.

 

[caliberbob]

If a snake has a triangular shaped head, it’s a venomous snake. There are some non-venomous snakes with triangular shaped heads, but they are mostly water snakes. The triangular shaped head is a good starting point for identifying dangerous snakes for folks that aren’t familiar with the different kinds of snakes around their area.

Thank you sir. Appreciate the help rather than shaming lol. Where I come from there were rattlers in the high desert but other than that we really just had rat snakes and gardeners

 

[SoonerP226]

Luckily my neighbor who has been next door for like 28yrs said he’s never seen a poisonous or venomous snake around us. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stay vigilant

Your neighbor doesn't go outside, isn't observant, or has just been really, really lucky. If you're in central or eastern Oklahoma, there are copperheads (and, most likely, some rattler variant) somewhere around you. Back when I was in high school, my biology teacher told us that 76 out of 77 counties in Oklahoma had confirmed cottonmouth sightings, and the one county that hadn't was Cleveland county, so it was highly probable that all 77 counties actually had them.

For the most part, I do the whole "live and let live" thing with snakes, but not with copperheads or anything that looks like it might identify as a copperhead. Those SOBs are aggressive towards humans, so they get dispatched with extreme prejudice.

As for cottonmouths not being venomous, your friend must be mistaking them with another variety of snake. Cottonmouths are pit vipers, just like rattlesnakes (they're in the same family, viperidae), and are definitely venomous.

 

[SoonerP226]

The rest have round pupils and are non venomous.

That has to be the most useless ID characteristic I've ever heard. I mean, it's true, but if my blind eyes are close enough to see that, I'm completely screwed, LOL.