Posted by Alex, forum owner on July 21, 2007, 1:21 pm, in reply to "Copperhead babies?" --Previous Message-- Next, remember that Animal Control officers are often rather untrained in snake recognition (I was one once, so I know), and they may have misidentified the snakes. Several species of Water Snake can look an awful lot like Copperheads. Next, it is a little early for Copperheads to give birth (they don't lay eggs, but have live babies); they usually give birth in August, and the babies follow mom to the denning site. I would simply go around the property where the serpents were found, and look under any rocks, logs, boards, or any other cover, and just make sure there are no babies. Then let the kids out. Next, I would take the kids to a Nature Center or to the Atlanta Zoo and have them look at the native venomous snakes. Most zoos and nature centers have a very good instructional class in venomous snake recognition. Have fun!
68.189.165.136
: Over the past two days the snake wrangler
: from our local sherriff's office and
: animal preserve has come out and
: captured two copperheads from our
: garden in the N. Georgia mountains .
: He told me today that since there were
: two, to be on the lookout for babies.
:
: My question for you is how long should
: we be checking for them? I have seven
: kids that would love to go back outside
: to play, but we can't do that until we
: know they won't get in the way of the
: babies.
:
: What time of year are babies normally
: seen in N. Georgia?
:
: I love having non venomous snakes in
: the yard. I wish there was a way to
: just keep the venomous ones away.
:
: Cathy
:
Honestly, there is really not a lot to worry about. If the kids are old enough to be instructed on how to recognize venomous snakes, you have a perfect teaching opportunity (at least 4 years old). I would teach them to stay away from all snakes until about 10 years (I was catching small woodland snakes at 6, but I am crazy) or so.
Next, I would learn the field marks of the Copperhead (hourglass shaped bands on the back, narrowest in the middle of back), and especially remember that babies have bright yellow tails, and your kids shou ld be fine. Just teach them to be aware of their surroundings.
Alex
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