Afraid of snakes? Let's have another look to them!

Of course, some of these snakes are among the most dangerous of the world.

However, like many other beautiful creatures, they sometimes have beautiful and delicate colors that make us forget about their dangerousness .... for a moment!

Blue coral snake - Malaysian - Highly venomous


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Scarlet Kingsnake - Southeastern Georgia, USA - Non-venomous


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California Red-sided Garter Snake - California, USA - Non-venomous


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Emerald Tree Boa - rainforests of northern South America - Non-venomous


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Micrurus lemniscatus - rainforests of Amazon and Mexico - Lethal


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Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake - Galapagos Island - Venomous


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Nelson's Milksnake - Mexico - Non-venomous


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Banded sea-snake - Warm tropical waters - Highly venomous


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blue phase of the White-Lipped Tree Viper - Tropical bushes - Venomous


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Green Vine snake - India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh - Venomous



Iridescent Shieldtail (Melanophidium bilineatum) - Western ghats, India - Unknown


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Atheris squamigera (Variable bush viper) - West and central Africa - Venomous




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reply to post by elevenaugust


A very interesting collection, they are indeed colourful.

The Blue Coral is beautiful.

I used to have python and the first day I bought it, it took a crapola/pissed down my shirt.



Man did that stink.



My snake passed away.

very nice...i used to keep garters and i had a red one,beautiful markings..
while their not venomous,they are actually poisonous to eat 'apparently'
they can be a bit tetchy aswell,i had a huge common garter over 6ft(big for a garter)

Their one of the few(if not the only) that give live birth aswell, ,and can birth 20 at a time, baby snakes are cool

All snakes are venomous! At least they are to this guy. I am heading in the opposite direction when I see one. Now, you might notice I am from Canada and we do not have allot of snakes here.... keep in mind I am a well travelled and have seen many different snakes.

Great post, OP.

Beautiful pictures of these slithering creatures!

I used to have a severe snake phobia until I had to kill a large rattlesnake with a shovel. It was on my property, I was alone with small children, and had no idea how to use the rifle, so I remembered what somebody had told me long ago: Take the flat side of the shovel and wack the snake upside the head like Babe Ruth swinging at a fast ball. This disrupts their brain signals and causes them to just sit there in shock.

Then, take the sharp end of the shovel and cut the head off. Bury the head, which will still be biting, and venemous. The body continues to slither for a few hours afterwards.

I felt badly that I had to do it, but I had a great dane that had been bitten the week prior by this same snake, and he almost died, as he was struck twice in the leg, and he went into seizures, and the flesh rotted off the area where he was bitten. I was an hour and a half away from a hospital, so if one of my babies got bitten, they would die on the way to the hospital.

I now respect snakes and understand their place in the ecosphere, but if one that I recognize as venemous (pit viper) is on my property and will not go away, he's getting the shovel treatment.

reply to post by elevenaugust

Green Vine snake - India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh - Venomous

Those are some beautiful snakes. This one is sooooo interesting! It almost looks like it's smiling. And it's kinda flat, sort of like a foam cut out! I wonder if it's flat because it's hungry? Will it fill out more round like after it's eaten a mouse, or is it always kinda flat, with a "mouse bulge" here and there, every so often?

Oh why, oh why, did I click this thread lol! I was hopping for a reason to be less fearful. Maybe something saying unprovoked snake attacks were rare or that snake population had decreased so significantly I would never encounter one. Instead I has to scroll down quickly.

Yes, I am one of those who are truly terrified. S&F for getting me to click on the thread though.

I always thought these were cool:

I don't know why I opened this. Hoping there would be something to squash my fear of snakes maybe. I have a primal, irrational fear. On sighting a snake I freeze to the spot, dance in place, scream, cry & wet myself all at the same time. To my then husband my reaction is quite amusing but when you have a phobia this severe there's nothing funny about it.

reply to post by calstorm


My snake story was from when I lived in the hills of the coast of Central California. Cali is crawling with rattlesnakes. I've seen so many more snakes out there, than I have out here in west Texas.

Rattlesnakes in the southwest usually hide in the heat of the day. Come springtime, their babies hatch. Rattlesnake babies are actually more dangerous than an adult, as when they strike, they'll empty their entire venom sack when they bite. An adult will not.

They'll come out at dusk. If you live in a rattlesnake area, if it's late summer, and there's no water, be careful in the afternoon and dusk if you're watering your lawn or plants, as they'll show up for a drink. They tend to look for shady spots close to water sources, like a hose bib.

If you're walking in nature, stay away from dead logs, wood piles, cactus patches, holes in the ground, and rocks. It helps to have a long stick if you're walking in tall grass. Make lots of noise and sweep the stick ahead of you as you walk. They really don't want to mess with people, they just want to be left alone. They will strike if they are cornered and feel threatened.

We generally have no snakes around here because there's no food for them. My 10 cats eat all the rodents, so there's no reason for them to come and visit. I had a garden the first year I lived here, and found a snake (non-venemous) in a puddle by my jalepeno plants. One of my cats tried to mess with it, and it struck out at her. I went for the shovel and it slithered back into the tall grass where it came from.

Understand their habits and what they're attracted to (garages are a favorite hangout from the heat), and ALWAYS keep a shovel handy!

I love snakes. The emerald tree boa has always been my favorite, then the Burmese python.....they are so cute. I like all reptiles in general and I think they are cute.

Beautiful pictures! I love snakes!

I used to be terrified of all snakes until I met my husband. He had a red-tailed boa that had a sweet disposition. Yes, snakes do have unique personalities. Any snake owner will tell you this. They have moods, too. Especially grumpy when they are about to shed.

Snake fears are really about a lack of education. Prior to meeting my husband, I would make a wide berth around any snake, wild or kept. My interest in him led to my interest in snakes, which progressed to getting educated not only to what snakes are indigenous to where I live, but about vipers and constrictors.

We ended up owning a very docile burmese python about 12 feet long. We would get her out and take her outside and allow her to roam in the grass, get fresh air and sunshine. She also loved getting a bathtub of water and being allowed to soak for a bit.

We fed her frozen, eviscerated rabbits, because she was bitten by a large rat, that eventually took 3-4 to feed her, and got an infection. I also found feeding live prey distasteful. She adapted well to the thawed food, however.

We had her several years, and one cold night, one of her 3 hot rocks failed, and she quickly got pneumonia. The vet taught me how to give her sub q injections of antibiotics, but after several weeks of a lot of effort, we lost the battle and she succumbed.

We were both very upset, as she was clearly attached to us as well as my children. She would actually "play" with them, following them down the hallway, and even playing peekaboo games with them. She would "run" from them as they came after her back up the hallway.

People are far too ready to discount most animals and serpents as dumb and merely nothing but eating predators, but I can attest that is very much not the case. If you spend a significant amount of time with them, you will learn their traits.

Thanks for the thread and the nice memories.

Oh. The coral snake. Their mouths are very small for a poisonous snake, you almost have to put your finger in their mouths to be bitten by one. Their fangs are also in the rear of their mouths, and they more chew their prey than strike it. They are a member of the cobra family.

Red touches black, friend of Jack.
Red touches yellow, kill a fellow.

Coral snakes look much like non-venomous scarlet king snakes in Georgia. Since both snakes are found in Georgia, people that live here should know the difference, as king snakes are beneficial to have around, as they eat rodents. Knowing the difference can prevent killing an innocent snake that is good for the environment and harmless to people.

Some snakes are beautiful but I generally prefer to view them as pictures on a computer screen than in the wild. And cottonmouth water moccasins suck!
Had a blue runner that lived nearby when I lived in rural MS. Actually came to like him. He was pretty damn big and just slithered off if I got too close. Beautiful snake.
The sheer numbers of poisonous snakes down here is annoying but I do choose to live in a subtropical region.

Nice post.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


you didnt eat it? Rattler is good eating..

but i'm a snake lover as well, i have had many, currently have a red tail boa het A (albino)
She is about 6' now, got her when she was around 5" long. I have taken her everywhere i have
gone, when she was smaller i would take her camping with me, she LOVES car rides, only draw back
is she loves to peek out the open window's and see what the car next to us at the stop light is doing.
Which normally has a not so good reaction. My fav when she was smaller was to draper her around my
neck and tuck her into my shirt and take her to the store when i went shopping. She loved getting out
and i got a mixed reaction.

If you have a snake, you soon learn that mostly adults are afraid of them. Most children think they
are cool and want a closer look. But i have found that there is no inbetween, either people like them
or dont, there has yet to be a mid ground that i have seen.

You have some great pic's of snakes OP, quite butiful in their own way.

reply to post by severdsoul


Lol, you reminded me of a time we took our red tailed boa out. I think we took him to the vet, but don't recall exactly. We would carry him in a pillow case because he hated going out. He would always pee on me in the car!

Anyway, somehow, he nosed his way out of the pillowcase, and got his way up into the heating vent, then back behind the firewall. Instant panic.

We had a Ford Probe at the time, and all we could see was huge dollar signs to have someone, that was willing to work at our place -around a snake!- to disassmble the dash so we could get him out.

After 4 hours of fluster, panic, and high aggrivation, he decided to slither his sneaky butt back out. Needless to say, he got sent to bed with no dinner that night!

Great pics OP!

I became absolutely fascinated by snakes when I was 9, and rode my bike to every library in the county to lend out all their books on snakes. I knew the Latin names of just about every species. After 2 years of begging my parents, I finally got my first snake. After that, I went looking for them in the hills with my dog.

The last snake I had was a Burmese Python that I had until it was 9 feet long. Snakes are amazing if you are not afraid of them. When you have been around them a lot, you can sense their mood. You know when it's ok to approach them, and it usually is as long as they're not stressed (depending on the species, of course). Some snakes are so docile that they won't even bite you in a high-stress situation.

I lived in a loft when I had the python and had a huge terrarium for him, but most of the time, I left it open and let him 'roam'. Sometimes I wouldn't even know where he was for days. He could be under a bed, or suddenly appear on the couch and lay on my lap while I was watching tv. They really love body heat.

Snakes are all about mystery. They always have the same expression on their face, but there is a kind of extra-sensory communication going on..

soulwaxer

Wow they are like beautiful colorful jewels,the pale blue one is my favorite.

reply to post by elevenaugust


Your presentation of all these snakes is beautiful, however I do not like snakes. They are more than welcome to pass through my property lines, but not staying in my vicinity would be the wisest. All my encounters with these rascally fellers has not ended well, they either hiss, coil, or threaten to do bodily harm. I am aware of their many benefits but unfortunately they are not allowed upon my welcome mat.

reply to post by elevenaugust


Thanks buddy, I didn't need to sleep tonight, anyway.


Beautiful collection of FRIGGIN SCARY animals.