A Huge Garter Snake

[Canaculus]

Copperheads prefer to eat locust. I’m sorry her dog was bitten, although snakes tend to strike when they feel threatened, and dogs are pretty nosy. So just tell your daughter that she may want to contact the local herpetology group- If she sees the snakes, most groups have somebody who will come out and re-locate snakes for free

They prefer to eat locust's? Do you mean cicada's?

 

[Ed Madden Jr]

That definitely is a big one. I caught one about that size (probably about 30” long) and it definitely was feisty. It actually bit me, which was the only time one ever it me. We used get them under garden shed which sat on a concrete slab. After I caught them, I would carry them out and put them in the street sewer.

 

[Letsfish]

Last year my daughter`s next door neighbor got bit a was pretty sick for about a week. A week before the dog got bit my daughter had one in the lawn equipment shed she was lucky to have spotted it.My SIL dispatched with a shovel.

 

[Canaculus]

Speaking of snakes, one time I found a young copperhead. I smacked it with a stick and I guess paralyzed it. I was like "Great, what do I do with this?" So I walk over to our chicken coop and drop it in. I said to my self, "What's the worst that could happen?" One chicken walks over, picks up the snake, smacks it on the ground, AND EATS IT LIKE A SPAGHETTI NOODLE! I was very surprised, to say the least.

 

[SaraCooper]

They prefer to eat locust's? Do you mean cicada's?

Why yes, yes I did, lol. Locust would be a dream though!

 

[Elkwatcher]

Yes I have a picture of a snake ball somewhere I took years ago, it was incredible all these tiny garters wrapped around each other in a perfect ball. Warmth I guess...

 

[SaraCooper]

https://www.reed.edu/biology/courses/BIO342/2012_syllabus/2012_WEBSITES/DDPS_Snake_Sociality/mating_ball.html

Yes I have a picture of a snake ball somewhere I took years ago, it was incredible all these tiny garters wrapped around each other in a perfect ball. Warmth I guess...

Nope, that was a breeding ball.

 

[Elkwatcher]

Well I'll be! Thank you for that great info Sarah!

 

[Fishcat]

Yes! I saw a breeding ball once and sat and watched for ages. If disturbed, they all went off through the leaves - just an unreasonable quantity of snake, sort of a Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark feel. Then at some point they all reverse direction and reconverge to form giant snake ball. Just the most astonishing thing.
I have lived here for over twenty years and just this spring happened to see the toads breeding for the first time, which is also hilarious because they’re very bad at telling who is a boy toad and who is a girl, and the boys jump on each other and have fights.

 

[Kwig]

Last year my daughter`s next door neighbor got bit a was pretty sick for about a week. A week before the dog got bit my daughter had one in the lawn equipment shed she was lucky to have spotted it.My SIL dispatched with a shovel.

Probably a staph infection from an open wound. Sad to hear about the snake being killed. When given a chance, they try to get away. One exception would be a cottonmouth but those are very territorial. Also venomous, better to avoid it rather than try to kill it.