Death of a copperhead

[EightLeggedFrea]

Tonight my night was effectively ruined. Here I am trying to watch an uploaded movie on Youtube when my lil bro comes in and says there's a snake in the backyard. I spring up and hotfoot it outside. My dog was barking like mad at it, and there it was. Plenty of other snakes (black rats, I believe) have come up to the house before, as we live near the woods, but not one of these! I had never actually seen one in person before, but I could tell it was a copperhead.

Being the naturalist I am (and no doubt many on here are) I immediately campainged to simply figure out a way to safely contain the snake and move it as far away form the house as possible. My mom's a terrible ophiodiophobe who loses her color at the mere mention of as much as a ball python and my brother doesn't trust anything venomous (something he no doubt got from my vast collection of Ts and scorps). I was struck down (by a vote) in favor of murdering the poor reptile with a garden hoe. What was worse was I had to hold an LED light on the animal just so my bro could get a clear wack at it, effectively forcing me to actually watch this. And then I found my mom praising him like he had slain Satan himself. I said nothing to all of this, except try to explain that copperheads are venomous but mild compared to other North American vipers so in the case of a bite there would be little risk assuming a doctor was immediately sought. No good.

After all of this was done, all I could do was toss the snake over the fence with the same hoe that took its life and wash off the blood and guts on the sidewalk leftover from the murder with a hose. It smelled like dead fish! And it wasn't even until I finished cleaning up the mess and went into the bathroom and remembered we have a hamper, with a very large burlap sack in it. If only I had a snake hook, or a sturdy stick, to go with that I probably could've saved this reptile from certain doom:wall:. I have been able to rescue snakes form my property before (most of them being juvenile rats), but this time I wasn't able to do that. Indeed, it's times like these that make me consider obtaining a snake hook just for these kinds of things.

Suffice to say my sympathies lie with the slain copperhead and I'm really bummed about this. It never meant to be a nuisance, after all. Had my dog not been outside at the time it would've passed right through the yard with no risks of hurting anyone. And it never did hurt anyone either. It only lost its life just because it was there. Most people I know would probably think me of unsound mind to feel sorry for a decidedly "poisonous" animal, but to me this snake (like all the rest) is/was so much more than that.

BTW the copperhead must've been rather young, measuring about 2 feet or so. If this snake even died a virgin I'll be even more pissed.

 

[endoflove]

im sorry but fear is waht leads to ignorance in peopel, respect and understanding is the key not blind fear

 

[Malhavoc's]

Fear motivates them to Acting without ration thought, or respect of the creature.

It has taken thousands of years for us to invent the airplane. the car. and modern Science, yet we can not conqure our base instincts. I am sorry that the animal has lost its life and more so that you were exposed to its slaughter. I hope it was quick and painless for the animal.

I would of course suggest investing in a snake hook if this is a common occurance. It is psycologicly determental for this to happen to you. and deadly for the next snake to wander so close.

fortunetly however. several laws in the last 20-30 years (bilaws mostly -.-) are coming into play about the killing of animals (however its mostly restricted to those threated/endangered etc)

None the less. heres to tommorow. Living in today. and yesterday long past!

 

[EightLeggedFrea]

I hope it was quick and painless for the animal.

That's the worse part. It wish I could say it were.

 

[flamesbane]

In Tennessee it is actually illegal to kill a wild snake, which is pretty nice but it is not really enforced.

 

[EightLeggedFrea]

In Tennessee it is actually illegal to kill a wild snake, which is pretty nice but it is not really enforced.

Oh! I wish I had known that last night:8o. It probably could've saved the little snakey...

 

[flamesbane]

So I take it that you are in Tennessee? Here is an article about it

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/may/11/just-sssstep-back/

(A lot of the info in the article is no good, but the bit about the laws is)
I know it isn't the actual laws, but I don't have time to dig them up right now, but I am sure some googling would point you in the right direction.

 

[ThomasH]

In Tennessee it is actually illegal to kill a wild snake, which is pretty nice but it is not really enforced.

Arkansas, New Jersey, and other states made it a law too but it is never inforced and practically uninforcable. 99% of the time they can't prove that you killed the snake and police officers don't ideally know every law or care in some circumstances. So you either have to deal with the fact that helpless animals are slain out of blatant ignorance or try to educate starting with the problem on your front step and moving on to a selected piece of the general public.

BTW the copperhead must've been rather young, measuring about 2 feet or so. If this snake even died a virgin I'll be even more pissed.

2 foot is rather average for an adult, if it was indeed a Copperhead. It doesn't really matter whether or not it was a virgin, all that matters is that a viable [I would assume.] animal was robbed from the ecosystem.

TBH

 

[flamesbane]

Arkansas, New Jersey, and other states made it a law too but it is never inforced and practically uninforcable. 99% of the time they can't prove that you killed the snake and police officers don't ideally know every law or care in some circumstances. So you either have to deal with the fact that helpless animals are slain out of blatant ignorance or try to educate starting with the problem on your front step and moving on to a selected piece of the general public.
TBH

While the law is often not enforced (The TWRA normally handle it in TN) that doesn't mean that the information cannot be used to encourage a logical person not to kill the snake.

Most people who kill snakes won't listen to logic though, and no amount of persuasion will change that kind of person's mind.

 

[ThomasH]

Indeed, it's times like these that make me consider obtaining a snake hook just for these kinds of things.

If you are considering getting a snake hook for "times like these" and aren't a hot snake handler I would reccomend pillstrom reptile tongs. 40" are the ideal size for Agkistrodon sp. and just about any other hot snakes that are native to the U.S.

TBH

 

[ThomasH]

While the law is often not enforced (The TWRA normally handle it in TN) that doesn't mean that the information cannot be used to encourage a logical person not to kill the snake.

Most people who kill snakes won't listen to logic though, and no amount of persuasion will change that kind of person's mind.

You can only *reason* so far. Most people with that knowledge instilled upon them would just be careful killing it so the police don't know about it.
TBH

 

[EightLeggedFrea]

I dug around the Net and discovered how to make a snake hook. I rounded up a broomstick and a paint roller, combined them, and voila. I also searched the pillstrom tongs. They look neat but I'm not sure I want to spend $70 for a pair of those at this time.

 

[Endagr8]

I was struck down (by a vote) in favor of murdering the poor reptile with a garden hoe. What was worse was I had to hold an LED light on the animal just so my bro could get a clear wack at it, effectively forcing me to actually watch this.
After all of this was done, all I could do was toss the snake over the fence with the same hoe that took its life and wash off the blood and guts on the sidewalk leftover from the murder with a hose.

I think you could have done more than just play the "victim" in this situation.

Why would you let your younger, and likely weaker brother kill the snake when you are older and stronger (I'm assuming you're a male)?

A garden hoe is a decent impromptu snake hook. Why didn't you move the snake with that or a rake, etc.?

Even if you lost the vote, why wouldn't you commandeer the hoe and move the snake? lol

 

[flamesbane]

You can only *reason* so far. Most people with that knowledge instilled upon them would just be careful killing it so the police don't know about it.
TBH

Exactly, that is pretty much what I was saying. In those cases though there isn't really anything you can do.

 

[Sarcastro]

I live in Ohio, were killing a snake is as common as put milk on cereal.killing snakes isn't illegal, except for rattlesnakes were the killing, sale, purchase, possession of skins(especially the timber rattler) is considered a felony and is enforced all the time.we also have a law that all captive bred native species must be registered and radio chipped.

 

[ThomasH]

I dug around the Net and discovered how to make a snake hook. I rounded up a broomstick and a paint roller, combined them, and voila. I also searched the pillstrom tongs. They look neat but I'm not sure I want to spend $70 for a pair of those at this time.

Why the heck would you use a paint roller? There are so many better options that are common around most homes.
TBH

 

[moose35]

Why the heck would you use a paint roller? There are so many better options that are common around most homes.
TBH

there is nothing wrong with using a roller frame in my opinion the same design as a hook.


moose

edit....here are some pics so nobody argues.

 

[reverendsterlin]

too bad, I even have a pet copperhead

. The hoe probably would have worked fine to move the animal. Once it was killed it should have been skined so that it wasn't a total waste of the animal.

 

[ThomasH]

there is nothing wrong with using a roller frame in my opinion the same design as a hook.


moose

I tried once, it wasn't very reliable when I stuck it to wood. I had to use so much duct tape that it lost it's purpose.
There probably are better ways than I chose to build it but it's still not as easy to construct as other house hold items, like a hoe per se.
TBH

 

[skippy]

I think you could have done more than just play the "victim" in this situation.

Why would you let your younger, and likely weaker brother kill the snake when you are older and stronger (I'm assuming you're a male)?

A garden hoe is a decent impromptu snake hook. Why didn't you move the snake with that or a rake, etc.?

Even if you lost the vote, why wouldn't you commandeer the hoe and move the snake? lol

what, you think he's gonna thump his little brother for doing what their ophidiophobic mom told them to do while she probably watched? yeah, that always works out.