# Snake Question On The Ohio River ???



## GOLDFISH

Just got back from the river in the racine area we had a water snake of some kind in our goldfish keep with one of our gold fish half way down it's throat 

My question is. is this snake poisonous? It looks very close to a copperhead in my opinion with a triangled head looked tobe a poisonous snake just checking?


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## sparkywest28

i would say cooperhead. triangle head and orange diamonds.i was fishing a backwater sunday in belpre and saw 2 cooperheads in the water. they were close 2 the boat on top of the water. 2.5 feet long at least. i c alot of water snakes here and they r mostly all brown and big maybe 4 feet. look like a black snake.


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## misfit

99% chance it was a harless common northern water snake.


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## sparkywest28

ive been looking at snake picture on the odnr site. it has the northern water snake on it . thats not the snake i saw but i do c them alot in the rivers back waters.


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## GOLDFISH

I looked at the pic the odnr has other than the pic being a little darker the pattern seams the same it was eating are goldfish


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## fishmeister

Copperheads are not aquatic, unless you throw one in the water. Cottonmouths do not occur in Ohio, so that is definitely not the snake. The pic of watersnake on the ODNR site is a general one, and there is alot of color variation in watersnakes. I would bet any amount that it is a watersnake. I've had them try to steal bluegill off of my stringer while wading farm ponds! They are very bold, and dont have a very good temper either, but they are not poisonous.


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## GOLDFISH

Thanks guys Iam sure it is a watersnake I had one get real bold at night 
sunday There were just a good number of them out this weekend on the bank we were fishing I hate snakes But good to know they are not poisonous I don't know where the nearest hospital is my guess is ravenswood


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## sparkywest28

i caught a water snake and a copperhead in a fish trap once . the copperhead drown and the water snake came out like nothing happend.


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## ncraft150

When I fish Lake Wylie South Carolina every year those copperheads scatter accross the rocks as soon as you start putting your boat in the ramp. If you get a bait stuck in the rocks down there or you hook one of them you just cut your line. Even a $20 Lucky Craft is worth getting bit by one of them!! I've only heard of one poison snake in Ohio and I've heard its a type of rattlesnake and only in southern Ohio. I don't know how reliable that info is though.


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## bronzebackyac

Yeah, 
there are Timber rattlers down here. Thery are mostly out around Tar Hollow State Park and in the remote big woods of The Hocking hills and such. I know some people that have ran into them mushroom hunting.


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## bkr43050

Here is a bit from the ODNR snake information that lists the three poisonous species in Ohio.



> Ohio has only three species of venomous snakes, two of which have rattles at the end of the tail (Eastern Massauga (_pictured right_) & Timber Rattlesnake). The third species is the copperhead. Although many believe the water moccasin occurs in Ohio, it actually ranges	no farther north than the Dismal Swamp in southeastern Virginia in the eastern portion of its range, and extreme southern Indiana and Illinois, in the western	part of its range. Water moccasins are not native to Ohio.


 Here are the link to the info.

Venomous Snakes of Ohio


Ohio Reptiles


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## Dougerus

The Northern Water snakes are very thick in Duck Creek a tributary of the Ohio River. I saw a dozen or more last trip down there!


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## jkeeney20

ran into a timber rattle snake last week at Roosevelt lake (shawnee state park)while trying to catch some tiny bass for my fish tank....he was laying on a rock about the size of a kitchen table......got about 10 feet from him and heard him rattle...scared me to death...only had two rattles...guess that means he is 2 years old....he was oly about 2-3ft long but still deadly......


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## Dougerus

Hey the ODNR is tracking Timber Rattler sightings!
Check out this site!

http://www.dnr.ohio.gov/wildlife/Resources/rattlesnake/raattlesnk.htm


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## Walter Adkins

I was out at George Rogers State park yesterday doing some noon time bass fishing. A long the dam I almost put my foot down on two snakes. One was nice and big and the other was only about 16". The interesting thing was that they were curled up on each other. As I fished the small one just swam along the shore following me. I do not know why but as I moved it moved, when I stopped to cast it stopped. When I started back to the truck I found the two snakes wrapped up again. I am going to head over there with a camera and see if I can get a few photos of them. OH, they were water snakes.


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## spiff

Common water snakes vary in coloration by age. Most of them get pretty thick and dark when they get older. Younger ones still have the "pattern" on them. Although there is a common description for them, I've seen many coloration differences in them. They like to eat in or under water and my experience has been that they pretty mean when cornered. Got horse-shoed in the back of the calf quite a few times as a kid. Now that I'm all growed up I figured out how to keep from being bit...I quit trying to catch them...My son, however, looks to follow in his old man's foot steps...poor kid. Here's a pic of a young one from last year...one of about 20 setting in a spring feeding East Fork....Twin Bridges..


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## jkeeney20

Thanks Dougerus! I'll get one of those filled out and sent of to the department! Although most people hate snakes, I don't want them to go extinct!


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## daldg

Thanks for the info Spiff my old lady would freak thats where we fish


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## shuvlhed1

sparkywest28 said:


> i caught a water snake and a copperhead in a fish trap once . the copperhead drown and the water snake came out like nothing happend.


It must have just entered the trap, unless you discovered some new exotic species of snake with gills.


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## Salmonid

Dugerous, thanks for the link although I have a picture of a timber rattler ( dead) that my dad killed on our farm back in the 80's on the NW corner of Adams county. I think it was the only one we ever saw there but could find copperheads within a few minutes if you looked for them, lots of downed old logs and shale rock salong a steep ravine with a year round creek on it, perfect snake habitat!

I also have seen massasaugas in Champaign, Greene, Montgomery, Brown, preble, Highland and Adams counties so they are a smaller version of a rattler and much more common then most folk would think. They love shale rock outcroppings on hilly ground and also seen em at Cedar Bog

Salmonid


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## creekwalker

Salmonid said:


> Dugerous, thanks for the link although I have a picture of a timber rattler ( dead) that my dad killed on our farm back in the 80's on the NW corner of Adams county. I think it was the only one we ever saw there but could find copperheads within a few minutes if you looked for them, lots of downed old logs and shale rock salong a steep ravine with a year round creek on it, perfect snake habitat!
> 
> I also have seen massasaugas in Champaign, Greene, Montgomery, Brown, preble, Highland and Adams counties so they are a smaller version of a rattler and much more common then most folk would think. They love shale rock outcroppings on hilly ground and also seen em at Cedar Bog
> 
> Salmonid



I thought I was relatively safe from the poisonous varieties where I live in Southeastern Clermont county. I thought the timber rattler range stopped down near Shawnee State Park (Scioto County). I also thought the Massasaugas were farther north around central Ohio. Copperheads on the otherhand I thought might be in our area, but I also thought they tended to stay farther south in Ohio and mostly south eastern Ohio where I grew up.

The creek behind our house is certainly the perfect habitat that Salmonid describes, but I have only ever seen Water Snakes, Eastern Milk Snakes (cool colors), and Black Snakes. I guess I better be a little more careful. Even though I didn't think we had much of the poisonous varieties, I still take care when stepping over logs and walking the rock outcrops!

Anybody reading this thread have a map of ranges for the poisonous varieties in Southwest Ohio?


CW


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## Basskisser1

I ran across this one fishing in Franklin Co. last Sept.









They give me the creeps......
This is a Northern Water Snake with a ten inch bullhead in his mouth.


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## GOLDFISH

EXACTLY WHAT i SAW when he had are goldfish in his mouth that head looking like a triangle gave me the creeps thanks, bass kisser


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## Fin Hunter

Throwing in my two cents worth and previous experience. I too have pulled up a minnow trap from a small creek here in Cincinnati and found a dead copperhead inside. Don't know if he drowned first but the two dozen crawdads inside the trap with him had just about clipped his head off. Have seen plenty of copperheads swimming across small lakes and ponds to get from one spot to another. No, they don't have gills but they can submerge and swim underwater for a few seconds to avoid danger or sneak up unto a spot. Seen it more than once.


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## GOLDFISH

OK a debate is not want I wanted to get into Iam sure there are copperheads in the river although this watersnake was dead I am sure that 
is what it was it got inside the cage snatched the goldfish and then could not get out it.


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## Mushijobah

Lol sorry, copperheads are terrestrial. Look it up.


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## uglykat23

if yu can give me a good descrition of the snake i can tell you everything ya wanna know i have been into herpotolgy for 15 years now and can tell you almost any breed f snake in ohio i am a avid outdoorsman also so i run into them often usually catchingthem to gross out my girl friend and there are 3 types of poisones.... didnt spell the right.... types of snakes in ohio my e mail iss buzz_me23 at yahoo dot com


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## snake69

I'll tell ya, it sounds alot like my cousin Billy Joe Bob, but not certain....hain't seen 'im in awhile, ya know!?


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## sharkattack

Mushijobah said:


> Lol sorry, copperheads are terrestrial. Look it up.


it may live and it may grow on land but they take a dip when they choose to.


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## Carnie

Here are a couple that I found while fishing. The first is a northern water snake. The rest are pictures of a queen snake. Both harmless. Both Ohio watersnakes. The queen snakes actually specialize in eating crayfish.


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## GOLDFISH

Nice pic of the northern that is the snake I have been seeing thanks to all


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## bunkeru2k

I can definitely tell you that Timber rattlesnakes don't stop in Adams county. I have personally seen them in West Harrison almost on the border of Indiana (and nearly peed on them). Scary feeling to be that up close and personal.


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