need identification help.

[catsapp]

one of my former roommates caught this in their yard, I told them I thought it was a Texas rat snake but they did not agree and now I'm not sure either. someone told them it is a water moccasin (sp?) and that they need to kill it. I did a little online searching and came up with eastern yellow belly racer based on a few pictures I saw. :shrugs:

any ideas?

http://i17.tinypic.com/2rh8myr.jpg

http://i19.tinypic.com/2yts6cp.jpg

http://i18.tinypic.com/4hk3bsw.jpg

[SkyChimp]

I think you nailed it - Eastern Yellow-Bellied Racer.

[Nanci]

There's no need to kill Water Moccassins, BTW. Their reputation for aggressiveness is totally undeserved _and_ undocumented...

Nanci

[ccmu86]

I agree with Nanci. . . Just because a snake is venemous doesn't mean it should be killed.

[Pruddock]

Great find! I agree with everyone -- Eastern Yellowbelly Racer. And nice job on helping to save a snake from being killed, because I'm pretty sure our fellow Texans believe that the only good snake is a dead snake. Everyone down here is taught snakes are poisonous....so kill them all. It makes me sad :sobstory:

[catsapp]

thanks for verifying. :cheers:
That little thing is super aggressive, it kept launching itself at my face while I was trying to snap pictures. there's just something cute about something so small trying to take your face off. :rolleyes:

[Nanci]

Yeah, the only juvie racers I'm familiar with are Black Racers and they _are_ fearless and aggressive once you start messing with them. If cornsnake hatchlings were like that, hardly anyone would keep them!

Nanci

[SkyChimp]

There's no need to kill Water Moccassins, BTW. Their reputation for aggressiveness is totally undeserved _and_ undocumented...

Nanci

AGREED! I was going to say something about that, but I'd be preaching to the choir.

My first encounter with a cottonmouth was when I was around 10 years old fishing at a neighborhood pond. One of the 'big boys" pointed out the snake (2 of them actually) lying in the grass just a couple of feet from where I was standing. Since then I must have seen more than a hundred Cottonmouths, and even caught some (and even kept a couple short term). The only thing that seems consistent among them is their propensity to bite when actually captured. Other than that, MOST have been very unassuming snakes. I've walked up to them, nearly stepped on them, and even squatted over one without knowing (picture of the baby I post a few months ago), and never had one strike. The only ones that struck were ones that knew they had been discovered and I was messing with them. In my experience, Cottonmouths are less aggressive that non-venomous Racers, which are really little bastards from hell. :rolleyes:

[SkyChimp]

Great find! I agree with everyone -- Eastern Yellowbelly Racer. And nice job on helping to save a snake from being killed, because I'm pretty sure our fellow Texans believe that the only good snake is a dead snake. Everyone down here is taught snakes are poisonous....so kill them all. It makes me sad :sobstory:

It's like that here, too. Seems everyone thinks every snake is either a copperhead or a "water moccassin." Just call 'em copperwaterrattleheads.