People probably heard cicadas and, [nq:1]IF I can somehow pick, Ma'am: now

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Rubystars:

People probably heard cicadas and thought rattlesnakes were in the trees. *L*
-Rubystars

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Anonymous:

The snake was long & thin, maybe about as big around as my little finger or ring finger.
Those irregular-shaped spots on its back, narrowed at the edges, then spread out into the lines along its sides.
The head was ornate, decorated oddly in this scattered spot & patterned-type stuff. ???
It was a beautiful snake.
The open mouth, when it was trying to strike me, looked V-shaped (not rounded) in the lower jaw area.
I'll probably never be able to measure the snake. I keep freaking out & blanking out, whenever I try to go near its body, or to observe its markings. It's probably two feet or less. It's still wrapped around & in some plastic bags. And the mousetrap is still attached. (The trap is the new plastic kind, which I bought at Brookshire Bros. The snake crawled through it, & it snapped shut.)
IF I can somehow pick the snake up & put it in a jar, will rubbing alcohol preserve it, until I can afford a camera, learn how to use it, & post its picture? (If rubbing alcohol won't work, then I've no idea where to get formalahyde.)
Since you've helped me, I do want to share a picture of that snake, at some point in the future.
Susan, Su Texas my opinions
PS I can't remember what people called the snake they thought bit me, in late 1998. "Ground rattler" or something.
They said it was smaller than other rattlers, & was thin, that it liked the bottom-land/wet areas (where the wild blackberry vines grow), that it wasn't as poisonous, ...
The names of things here (berries, snakes, etc.) probably aren't the same, as they are called elsewhere, ... such as, some people call blackberries, dewberries.

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Anonymous:

OK, it's in a jar.
The head is beige/gray, with dark brown/black markings.

The brown stripe down its back, is split/forked in the neck/head area, with beige/gray down the middle. Then, there's a small dark spot between the lines, where they end on the head.
Then, there's a narrow beige area on the head, ... just before the dark line running around the head & across the eyes, as described next.

A dark line runs from above the edge of the mouth area (sorta at the temple), down the side of the head, across the eye, then it widens & runs across the front of the head to the other eye, & then across that eye & down the side of its head to the other temple.

The snake looks very thin. Maybe 18 inches long? It looks a lot smaller, than when it was inside the house, rearing up & trying to bite me. (The mouse trap did crush the middle area of its body.)

On the underside, it's light-colored towards the front, then is sorta checkerboard-looking(?) (light-colored & brown) for the rest of its length.
Susan, Su Texas my opinions

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Dendroaspis polylepis:

[nq:1]IF I can somehow pick the snake up & put it in a jar, will rubbing alcohol preserve it[/nq]
Yes
Kurt Kunze
IPMS/USA Patriot - President
New England Herpetological Society - member
http://www.neherp.com
Remove "clothes" to e-mail me

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GD:

Ma'am: now that you have the snake in a jar, perhaps you can look closely at the head. If it is a pit viper (rattler or related), you will see what appears to be four nostrils (two on each side of the snout, both in front of the eyes). If this is the case, those two highest on the snout are the nostrils...the two lower are pits. If you see only two nostrils, the snake is unlikely a viper, and most likely not venomous.
Your description over the last few posts has been very good. I do have one question, however: does the underside of the tail (perhaps the last 3 or 4 inches of the snake) exhibit the same checkerboard pattern you described overall, or does it shift to something more like stripes?
In an earlier post, another speculated that it may be a Texas rat snake, based upon your description and its aggressive behavior. Throw into that speculation that the snake was caught in a mouse trap, presumably set in an area frequented by mice. Juvenile Texas rat snake chow, I'd wager. Harmless before, even more harmless now.

There is a herpetological society in your general area, and a member nearby may be willing to identify the snake for you. The url is:

http://www.eths.org/index.html
Good luck.

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fr0glet:

[nq:1]It's not uncommon for some people and animals to have an adverse reactionto even harmless snakes' bites. It's been documented with hognose and garter snakes.[/nq]
What is the fine definative line between toxic saliva and venomous?

fr0glet

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Anonymous:

I showed the snake to a farmer, who said it was a "ground rattler", "rattler pilot". And that they are considered mildly poisonous or non-poisonous.
I can't see any holes on its nose. It's curled up inside the jar in such a way, that I can't get a good look at the nose. And it's sorta stiff (rigor mortis?). I probably didn't put it in alcohol soon enough.

The checkered-type pattern is only on its underside.

The rest (top & sides) is vertical & horizontal stripes & bands, & some lines & irregular-shaped spots.
Susan, Su Texas my opinions
PS The dog seems OK.

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Rubystars:

[nq:1]I showed the snake to a farmer, who said it was a "ground rattler", "rattler pilot". And that they are considered mildly poisonous or non-poisonous.[/nq]
That's the problem with common names. All rattlesnakes are venomous. If it doesn't have a rattle, it's not a rattlesnake. As has already been mentioned a lot of non-venomous snakes do shake their tails and create rattling noises in dead leaves, etc.
[nq:1]I can't see any holes on its nose. It's curled up inside the jar in such a way, that I can't get a good look at the nose. And it's sorta stiff (rigor mortis?). I probably didn't put it in alcohol soon enough.[/nq]
lol
[nq:1]The checkered-type pattern is only on its underside. The rest (top & sides) is vertical & horizontal stripes & bands, & some lines & irregular-shaped spots. Susan, Su Texas my opinions PS The dog seems OK.[/nq]
If you can take a picture and post it on a web site and then link the site here that would help.
I'm relieved to know your dog is ok. Emotion: smile

-Rubystars

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re:

[nq:2]It's not uncommon for some people and animals to have an adversereaction[/nq]
[nq:1]to[/nq]
[nq:2]even harmless snakes' bites. It's been documented with hognose andgarter snakes.[/nq]
[nq:1]What is the fine definative line between toxic saliva and venomous? fr0glet[/nq]I saw that demonstrated in some slides from a friends trip to south america. I forget what snake bit him, but its considered "warm". Not truely dangerous, but slightly venomous. They have an extractor, sort of an electric suction device with a glass bell that you put over the bite area. When you turn it on, it sucks blood and venom from the bite area. Well, after the bite, he put it on and it sucked out a few cc's into the bell, you could already see that the blood was breaking down from the mild venom.

Instead of coagulating together, the blood was a really thin runny film around the inside of the bell. But he said he didn't actually feel any side-effects from the bite, just a warm burning sensation in the bite area. I guess though, if you were a mouse, a few cc's of anti-coagulating blood would be a lot more serious.
-Ryan

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RE: Please Help ID Snake page 2

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