Wow a copperhead call that was actually copperheads

[JuliusSqueezer]

As anyone knows, "Copperhead" calls are usually dekayi, garters, ratsnakes, watersnakes...anything BUT copperheads. But at 11 am this morning BWSmith called and sent me on a copperhead call relayed to him from the Chattahoochee Nature Center. It was more in my area (13 miles from my house) So I called the lady and got an address. One was still basking in her driveway when I got there. She showed me where the other one crawled into the shrubs. I poked around a bit and finally found the other one curled up on the other side of her hedge row. Nice lady! She said she could never kill anything and was glad that I was taking them away and happy they weren't going to die and she would call if she finds any more.



Dang it...I just gave away 2 copperheads. They seem to have a way of replentishing themselves here. There was no safe release site anywhere near the area so I am stuck with them. If anyone experienced in hots wants them...come get em!

[toker]

Congrats.. I think

They are some lookers!

[John_White]

Nice!
Did you tell the lady that a few additional bird feeders and old car hoods in the yard would help deter the snakes from entering the house?

[JuliusSqueezer]

lol. She didn't have bird feeders. What she had was high ground with a creek in her back yard. We have had a month or so of constant rain and it was a nice day to crawl out and bask this morning. Her driveway was a likely spot....lined with shrubs and rotten railroad ties with a well shrubbed fenceline all the way down the back yard to the creek. If I were a copperhead, I would have chose that driveway to bask on too. Couple of older ladies that don't go out much so the driveway there is not heavily used and fairly quiet. She wasn't overly upset about them being there except she has a couple of dogs she was certain would sniff a bit too close.

[Stormyva]

Coppers have got to be some of the most beautiful snakes.... glad you got there in time to save those guys.

[Wrasse]

I guess we are semi lucky, all wild caught in this situation have to be released. At least with that rule, we don't get overrun. According to our regs, they have to be released into the nearest open space though. That particular reg clearly didn't get a lot of thought in the making.

Do you not have bushland nearby (semi nearby) that they can be released into?

[JuliusSqueezer]

the problem with releasing them is that most snakes simply don't survive in the wild. This is why the high birth rate of most species. The few that do survive do so because they happened into a routine that works. they can safely get from shelter to water and food without being runover or eaten. When you move one even remote areas, you upset this routine they have. They have to wander almost aimlessly in search of water and food and a place to den up for winter. They rarely last long when subjected to this. Even if you take great care in placing them in an area with plenty of food and water, they will likely wander off the wrong way and end up on a road or crawling past a hawks hunting ground. Studies show that relocated snakes have less than a 10% chance of survival. I would guess vens are even less as they are welcome virtually nowhere. You also have bacteria and parasites to consider. Introducing new things to new populations or exposing them to new things they have no resistance to. You would be surprised how different the pathogens can be in wildlife populations a fairly short distance away. But...since little thought has generally gone into relocating wildlife, it happens and people tend to feel good that they "saved" an animal...out of sight out of mind I guess. The reality though is that translocating any animal is almost surely going to cause it's death. If there had been a wooded area with a creek near by with no houses or busy streets within a mile in any direction, I would have released them. But this was a very thickly populated residential area so they came home with me.

[muzixman]

Way to go BW & JS, They sure are a nice looking snake.

[natedoggSXE]

Awesome man. Ya saved their lives, if they only knew.