re: He or she is gone.

quote:

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There's more to it than that. There just way better indicators than the appearance of a triangular head. Just about any water snake can do it and I've seen Garters do it.

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I'm not talking about the ability to hinge their jaw on talking about the actual shape of the head itself. You seem to acknowledge that they are different, but when opening or feeding can appear triangular.

If it's swimming like a wood duck and looks like a rattlesnake, there's like a 99% chance it's not a rattlesnake.

The copperhead's pretty easy to identify. Same for a cottonmouth.... he's a nearly black a-hole with cotton in his mouth. Clearly speckled bellies aren't exactly hard. Can't say a blue Runner is hard to spot either. Every real rattlesnake that I've encountered for the last 20 years has let me know he's there by rattling and striking at the exact same time.

I fully intend to teach my son about snakes, and the ability to identify them. However, I will also teach him a simple rule, if he's in the yard, and he isn't a king snake or garter snake, shoot him. If he's in the woods give that snake a wide berth. In one situation you're in his home, the other situation he's in yours.

Same rule I have for an alligator, if we're in the woods leave them alone. If he's in the pond behind the house, get him out.