Warning: Don't run over sticks...unless you are sure!

Not sure why I hesitated yesterday, I usually don't, and every time I thought the stick looked weird, I was correct. I almost collided with a King Snake. Huge. If anyone can identify the first snake, I'd like to know what it is. Doesn't look venomous, but maybe a water snake? He had obviously just eaten and was having a time moving across the trail. The second one is a beautiful Copperhead. He had attitude also. Wasn't going to move off of the trail until he was good and ready. I even rolled pebbles at him. He just looked at me like "Are you kidding?" He finally turned around and left.

Oh my, I should not have opened this thread! I just moved to MO, and snakes are definitely one of the reasons I haven't ventured out on the trails yet... eek! Do you see them often?

I ran over a huge gopher snake last year - I was on a downhill and didn't see him in time to bunny hop him. I went back and assisted him off the road and he seemed ok. I felt awful about it, and I love snakes, but then a few miles later at the SAG stop someone had a bungee cord and I got this huge irrational adrenaline rush because I thought it was a snake. :rolleyes:

I can't identify your first friend there, but he is lovely.

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Originally Posted by irrealised

Oh my, I should not have opened this thread! I just moved to MO, and snakes are definitely one of the reasons I haven't ventured out on the trails yet... eek! Do you see them often?

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No, no. I think it's because this part of the trail has had no maintenance. I was the trespasser here. We did see a few in May for the Pedlar's Jamboree, but they were the harmless King Snakes. I usually see babies and Garter snakes if any. I've ridden many many miles on the Katy, and last Sat. was pretty unusual for creatures. If it's any comfort, they are anxious to get out of my way. Well, except for that Copperhead, and that's the first time I've seen a Copperhead that wasn't in a zoo in 54 years. Mo all my life. Just don't assume it's a stick. I'm serious about that one.

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Originally Posted by maillotpois

I ran over a huge gopher snake last year - I was on a downhill and didn't see him in time to bunny hop him. I went back and assisted him off the road and he seemed ok. I felt awful about it, and I love snakes, but then a few miles later at the SAG stop someone had a bungee cord and I got this huge irrational adrenaline rush because I thought it was a snake. :rolleyes:

I can't identify your first friend there, but he is lovely.

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I think I felt a kinship with the first snake because of the whole "Too full to move" thing going on. I'm going to have to look up gopher snakes. Now I'm interested in others' encounters!

It's hard to see much detail in your picture. Here's a list of common snakes with some really nice photos.

http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/herpetol/snake/snake1.htm
http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/herpetol/snake/snake2.htm

I agree with MP. Your specimens are beautiful.

Copperheads can be quite aggressive, so I'm surprised he didn't want to move.

You're right about that--never assume it's a stick. Fortunately, I often assume it's a snake, and THEN figure out it's a stick, and feel foolish. :o

Karen

eek- snakes!:eek::eek::eek::eek:

I'm impressed that you took the time to photograph them. I'd have high-tailed it out of there so fast it would have caused me to go back in time. :p

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Originally Posted by SadieKate

It's hard to see much detail in your picture. Here's a list of common snakes with some really nice photos.

http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/herpetol/snake/snake1.htm
http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/herpetol/snake/snake2.htm

I agree with MP. Your specimens are beautiful.

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Thanks for the links. I cropped and added another photo of #1.

Cool.
I'm gonna take a WAG-Stab-In-The-Dark and say "rat snake" for your first one.
Very neat.
I've never seen a copperhead (thankfully).

I remember uforgot telling me "never assume it's a stick" when we rode on the katy trail. Not long after that, I was riding on al foster trail and before I even realized it, ran over a copperhead. I went real fast for a bit, then turned around and went back. He was coiled up on the trail, angry. Some walkers were coming with a dog, so I chased him off the trail.
But it made me think of a story someone told on another bike forum about running over a snake, and it flipped up and got in the chain and everything, and made a mess. That alone would keep me from running over them if I saw them in time.
vickie

I ran over a garter snake once that I thought was a stick. I was afraid to look to see if I really hit the poor thing. I sent bf back to look for it, and was gone, so I guess it was okay.

Another time, I ran over what I thought was a stick, and it was a rusty piece of metal. Yeah, I flatted.

Oh, and someone else here ran over a stick (that WAS a stick), and it caught in her wheel, and she went over the handlebars. So, one more reason not to run over a stick. :p

I love snakes. That copperhead is beautiful!

A couple weeks ago, I came across this.
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/1672/snakeb.jpg

It was in the middle of the trail and I only had a few moments as I sped up to it (going downhill) to identify the head end, and went around its tail side. I then decided to get a photo, but he was really moving and was almost gone in the grass by the time I got out the phone to take a photo. He was maybe about 2 1/2 to 3 feet long. Rattlers are about all I see out here in So Cal, mostly diamondbacks with a red every once in a while, but the reds are too shy to hang out on the trail.

I've rolled over rattlers twice (not by choice :eek:). One actually darted across the singletrack between the wheels; all I saw was a huge middle, it was so big, then thump.

Your snakes are definitely cooler looking though; we sure don't get water snakes out here.:D

While I haven't run over or nearly run over any snakes, I did almost run over a baby alligator once. Poor little guy got separated from his momma and was out in the middle of a heavily used trail. I was too scared to help him off the trail though. those suckers have sharp teeth!

I have (fortunately) never encountered a snake while riding, but I have encountered many while running. Never the most pleasant experience, IMO. I wish I could get over my fear of snakes, but I think it's an inborn thing for me...

Cool pictures, though :)

FYI
be careful when you run over REAL sticks too; I have a serious biker friend who did that and the stick somehow got into his spokes and he fell down and broke his collarbone.

Very cool photos! Although, I would never have even thought to get my camera out.

I was hiking once, going down hill, and stepped on what I thought was a slippery rock that almost landed me on my arse. I turned back to look and realized it was a snake that I stepped on and squished. No idea what type, it was reddish, so maybe just a garter snake. I'm not really sure what we have here in New England.

Yikes! I have to admit I'm scared of snakes. All that slithering is just too much for me.

So after reading your post this morning, I went out for a ride and every time I saw a stick or other long skinny object in the road, I wanted to yell "SNAKE!!!". I actually did yell SNAKE! when I came upon a long black and orange striped snake...except it wasn't a snake. It was a piece of rope.

I am not a fan of snakes. Snakes, sharks and motorcycles scare me.
I was out on one of our trails here south of Dallas and saw not one, not two, but 3 rattlesnakes in a 7 mile loop. The first was coiled in an angry, rattling, ready to strike pose in the center of the trail because another cyclist had stopped and tried to move it off the trail by poking it with a stick. I came flying around the singletrack and nearly hit it (no thanks to the guy with the stick, who I didn't see until I came around the corner). It rattled and hissed at me and I went in reverse Fred Flintstone style with a four letter expletive repeated 10 times fast. My husband at the time nearly collided with my in reverse backside.
My husband and the original poker got him off the trail at last and we went on. The next one was slithering across and I again stopped short of running him over. More expletives and again, the almost crash (why was I leading??). After that, he led. He got a little ahead of me and a third was sunning itself half on/half off. My husband never saw him, but I did!! I was, at that point, done. I just wanted off.
And, snake lovers....slightly off biking...I was called out just a bit ago to a house (no animal control on the weekend) on a snake call. The drain plate was not screwed on and a little moccasin crawled up the drain, knocked the plate off, and joined this lady in the shower....slithering over her foot. AAAAGGGGGHHHHHH. Typical suburban home. Can you imagine???
Ugh.

I thought it looked most like the Prairie Kingsnake. I checked with my fellow science teacher who is more knowledgeable about reptiles than I am, and he said it was either a Prairie Kingsnake or Glossy Snake.

I've seen a couple of small snakes this week- one was definitely a Gopher Snake, not sure about the other.

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Originally Posted by uforgot

No, no. I think it's because this part of the trail has had no maintenance. I was the trespasser here. We did see a few in May for the Pedlar's Jamboree, but they were the harmless King Snakes. I usually see babies and Garter snakes if any. I've ridden many many miles on the Katy, and last Sat. was pretty unusual for creatures. If it's any comfort, they are anxious to get out of my way. Well, except for that Copperhead, and that's the first time I've seen a Copperhead that wasn't in a zoo in 54 years. Mo all my life. Just don't assume it's a stick. I'm serious about that one.

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Ok, that's good to know it's not a regular occurrence! I don't mind the non-venomous ones, and I saw plenty of garter snakes on the trails in NY, but I guess I got it in my head that MO snakes are scarier! I will be careful though, and try to avoid anything that looks like a stick :)

you girls are so brave............ I'd have pooped myself and never to be seen for dust .....

thankfully there are no snakes in New Zealand;) 6 months in rural Australia was enough for me :o:o

Snakes are ok. I know on trails it's difficult to know which ones are dangerous and which aren't, granted.

Gopher snakes are good. Garter snakes are good :) I used to catch them (gopher snakes, that is) when I was young. I grew up with the potential of rattlers but I guess we learned how to tell who was who.

Cool..I don't mind snakes & other wiggly creatures.

I just wish i could say coming accross a snake here in Western Australia is hunky dory. I can't because all of them are venemous. I just know if i'm bitten to not move & lie horizontally. Kind of hard when you're on your own :rolleyes::o

Here in Oklahoma I see snakes on the trail all the time. Usually if my husband is with me he is stopping to try to catch it. He loves snakes. :confused:

My snake story has nothing to do with my bike. Last summer I came home from work and opened the garage door to go into the house. Stretched out in my dining room facing me is a 5 foot long black snake. It doesn't flinch or move a muscle. At first I thought "haha funny". I thought my husband had left a fake snake on the floor to scare me. Then I decided I was too scared to find out if it was fake. I backed myself right back out of the house into the garage. By this time my house alarm is going off and the alarm company is calling. Luckily I have a phone in my garage so I answered and told the lady what was happening. In the meantime my husband is calling me on my cell phone which is in my hand and it starts to vibrate so needless to say I screamed in the poor lady's ear. Freaked me out! My husband sent over a friend and my brother-in-law to get the snake for me. By the time the guys got to my house it had hidden itself under my stove. The guys kept saying "where did you say it was?". I thought I was going to have to go to a hotel until it was caught. LOL Blacksnakes are harmless but I don't want ANY snake in my house.

I still think about it about 50% of the time when I'm the first one home and go walking through that door. We have no idea how a snake 5 feet long and about 1.5 inches diam. got into our house.

I saw a big blacksnake crossing the road a couple of weeks ago but couldn't figure out how to get it home on my bike! :D

I'd rather have one snake than a whole extended family of mice thankyouverymuch.

I can definitely do without coming across poisonous snakes in my path though.

A friend of mine and I like to ride what we call the "flats" out near the fish ponds here in NEA. One day we were riding along and a snake darted (snakes don't really dart but this is the best word I could come up with) in her path. Thankfully the snake timed it right and lived to tell the tale. I am now hypervigilant that every stick I see could be a snake. We have lots of snakes in this part of the state which is why I stick to road biking! I too admire the posters that took the time to take the photos. SOmeday I will tell the tale of my encounter with the three ninja coons!

Add me to the "better off never seeing a snake" group. I saw a black snake on a running path known for having water moccasins (cottonmouths) in the nearby creek. I almost threw up. Couldn't have been a cottonmouth, it was far too mellow. I can't even stand those cheesy little green snakes and poisonous ones are one of my biggest fears. I can go to the exhibit at the zoo though. ;)

Best not to run over any loose items on the road.

Don't care if it's a frog, squirrel, snake... Bad for the animal and could be bad for you.

I've heard someone hit a german shepard and the person lost control of her bike and crashed into a tree and broke her pelvis.

I also remember during Coors Classic where a Russian rider picked up a stick in his front wheel on a down hill. Lets just say that he was airlifted to a hospital with serious injury. 198?

Sometimes it happens so fast and you weren't expecting it... squirrels scare me because they come out onto the road. look at you. Turn around and go back from where they darted out and then turn around again and run right into your wheel at the last second. ugh!!!

I also hated to ride underneath tree canopy with dancing light on the ground. You can't see loose rocks, pot holes... In one event, I had to place my faith into the riders in front of me as we careened down a narrow winding mountain road. Didn't know if the turn up ahead was just a bend or a full on 180 degree hairpin turn. I figured one of them knew the road. If they went in hot from the outside, then I went in hot from the outside taking the same line. And if they slowed down, then I slowed down... :eek: