I recently saw a snake in my tool shed (Southern US) that I was unfamiliar with. Having searched snake books, enlisted the help of Forestry Service employees, googled the web, looked at hundreds of snake pictures, and written herpetologists (without reply), I’m hoping the TM can offer some insight.
For openers, I’m convinced the snake is not a native North American species. I had ample time to look it over carefully, so my remembered description should be reasonably accurate.
The most noticeable feature was the head, which was the triangular shape of our pit vipers, and was much wider than the long (5.5 to 6 feet), slender body. I wasn’t alarmed with our fairly up-close-and-personal encounter because it obviously wasn’t one of our native poisonous snakes.
The basic coloration was a sort of dirty green. There was a full-length yellowish stripe down both sides, and there were hash marks angling forward between the lateral stripes and the center of the back.
The snake was neither shy nor aggressive. After I had studied him for several minutes, during which he just watched me, I tried to pick him up with a nearby garden rake. He tolerated this bothersome interference for a couple minutes before returning to his previous environs. I haven’t seen him since.
The fact that it wasn’t one of the native North American poisonous snakes might not mean too much, depending on where you are. I can’t find a cite at the moment, but it hasn’t been that long ago that one of the local newspapers had a story and picture of a fourteen-foot cobra that some local guy found in his garage—he and a buddy killed it with a rifle, IIRC. I will try to find a cite for this and if I can’t, well, maybe I dreamed it. Anyway, there are a lot of non-native critters roaming around Florida and maybe in your area, too.
I have to admit that this snake doesn’t sound like a North American one, though. I have a really great reference book at home, which doesn’t help me now as I’m in UNIX class (doing much work, as you can see). I’ll check it out once I get ome.
Thanks be unto all. The hashmarks were the same yellowish color as the lateral stripes. Louisiana.
After studyng the snakes coloration, I figured it would be an easy job to identify it in one of my books about things that slither and hiss. Bad, bad assumption. As potentially bad as the assumption that it wasn’t poisonous since it wasn’t a North American pit viper, any of which I would have been able to identify immediately.
I didn’t check it’s pupils, nor did I see anything unusual about its scales.
A self-propelled garden hose? I like the concept, but it’s not applicable in this instance.
I’ve checked out most of the pictures on the websites suggested with no hits. I plan to follow more of your suggestions as time permits.
One thing I have learned, though – just because you’ve never seen a cobra or fer-de-lance in your yard before, it doesn’t mean one can’t be there.
Thanks be unto all. The hashmarks were the same yellowish color as the lateral stripes. Louisiana.
After studyng the snakes coloration, I figured it would be an easy job to identify it in one of my books about things that slither and hiss. Bad, bad assumption. As potentially bad as the assumption that it wasn’t poisonous since it wasn’t a North American pit viper, any of which I would have been able to identify immediately.
I didn’t check it’s pupils, nor did I see anything unusual about its scales.
A self-propelled garden hose? I like the concept, but it’s not applicable in this instance.
I’ve checked out most of the pictures on the websites suggested with no hits. I plan to follow more of your suggestions as time permits.
One thing I have learned, though – just because you’ve never seen a cobra or fer-de-lance in your yard before, it doesn’t mean one can’t be there.
The greenish color and the lateral yellow stripe of the queen snake is about right. But the length (24" vs. 60"+) is all wrong, and the queen snake doesn’t have the yellow hash marks. The most noticeable difference, however, is the head. The snake I saw had a huge (relative to body size) triangular head (a la fer-de-lance) and the queen snake’s head is about the same size as the body, and not triangular.
Thanks for the suggestion, though. No hits, but still looking.
It was my understanding that any snake with a triangular head wider than the body was venomous (although there are many venomous snakes that do not have wide, triangular heads).
I’m not suggesting you kill it if you see it again, only that you take care when studying it.
After browsing through the Mini-Atlas of Snakes of the World (an excellent book), I find myself wondering about the range of * Xenodon merremi *, also known as either a Sapera (if you believe the book’s index) or Merrem’s False Viper (if you believe the websites, as Sapera does not appear to be the name of a snake). Unfortunately, I’m still working on the picture aspect.
That said, I KNOW that you’ve said you know your venomous snakes, but keep in mind that cottonmouths have a wide variety of color variations.
Not even close. Too short, too fat, wrong color, . Thanks for the try, though. What is that in your picture? Looks sort of like a stumptail (cottonmouth). I am totally in agreement, after the fact, of steering a little wider around triangular-headed snakes. When I saw it, I knew it wasn’t a dangerous native species, and didn’t think beyond the obvious. I hope it’s long gone by now, but am still curious about what it was.
Thanks, Booklover, but that won’t get it, either. I browsed the entire, interesting album without even seeing anything very close. However, the ugly, four-legged critter toward the end looks a lot like some of the occasional visitors I have in my yard. (They’re more ugly than vicious if you don’t mess with them.)
