I didn't even see it at first even after enlarging photo ... and I really don't like snakes which started when I was a young one (probably 6 yrs old) growing up on a farm - a big black snake probably more than twice my height at the time in length came out of the leaves one day - raised its head and gave me one big open mouth "hiss" - that sent me scurrying so fast I think there was nothing but dust coming off my heels all the way to the house ...
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Lee
[quote="RobesonsRme.com"]I think the snake hiding in the tree bark is a Copperhead. It definitely has the head of a pit viper/venomous snake
........I agree, Charlie, definitely looks like a copperhead!!........ ................
I'm with Lee - poisonous or not, I won't get near snakes. I also had a scarring event in my childhood. I was out in my Dad's big shop/tractor barn riding my tricycle when I was probably 6 or 7 years old. I had a little race track that went out one door onto the dirt, then back in another door onto the concrete shop floor. I had gone round & round dozens of times, when I suddenly noticed a huge (to my young self) snake headed across the concrete near the edge of my track. I ran screaming for my Dad who came back with a shovel to dispatch the snake. Of course, now I have no doubt it was a harmless gopher snake - but back then, I was absolutely POSITIVE it was the boa constrictor "Khan" from the Disney movie "Jungle Book", and he was coming to eat me!!
"The Luggage had a straightforward way of dealing with things between it and its intended destination: it ignored them." -Terry Pratchett
jerryd6818 wrote:Here's some comparisons to chew on. I'm voting for Rat Snake.
As someone here recently posted . . . it's a rattle-headed coppertail !
Seriously though, I believe the "tree snake" is a juvenile copperhead.
Blow up jerryd's crop shot and you can see just a hint of the yellow tail.
Chris i woke last night to the sound of thunder
how far off i sat and wondered
started humming a song from nineteen sixty two
aint it funny how the night moves
Actually, that is an edited version of the full sized picture. There are multiple juvenile copperheads in this picture. I forget exactly where in Texas this was supposed to be, but the tree is a very large White Oak (Quercus alba).
How many can YOU find? Most find 4 but there are few folks who swear they see 5.
zzyzzogeton wrote:Actually, that is an edited version of the full sized picture. There are multiple juvenile copperheads in this picture. I forget exactly where in Texas this was supposed to be, but the tree is a very large White Oak (Quercus alba).
What you see is not uncommon, especially in the South. Copperheads are known to congregate around the base of trees during summer months, drawn there to feed nightly on cicadas newly emerged from the ground under the trees. The cicadas emerge and find a tree to climb, where they sing and mate. The copperheads gather to feast on as many cicadas as they can catch. It's best not to be walking barefoot, or otherwise, from dusk until daylight. https://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2016/ju ... opperhead/.
But I've never seen a copperhead climb a tree before. Guess I'm too busy watching my step.
Ken
Member AKTI, TSRA, NRA.
If your religion requires that you hate someone, you need a new religion.
When the people fear their government, that is tyranny. When government fears the people, that is freedom.
I've seen moccasins, rattlers, copperheads, ratsnakes, bullsnakes and kingsnakes in trees. I have also found whipsnakes and gartersnakes occasionally in rose bushes. Never seen any other NATIVE Texas snakes in trees.
I fully expect someday to run across one of those damned Burmese pythons or rock pythons that some fools have let loose after they got too big for their apartment aquariums.