Really hard headed snake.

smokeythecat

Gold Member
Nov 22, 2012
20,682
40,650
Maryland
🥇 Banner finds
10
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I did a moderate drive to MD spot. On the way south, I see this wildly aggressive snake on the side of the road. It apparently was trying to cross the road and having problems. There were three cars ahead of me. It would watch a car go by, start to cross, see another one and turn back, when it turned back it raised the front of it's body up about 8" off the ground (and I think cursed out the cars). I think it had it's mouth open to strike one of the cars. It did this on two of the three cars, then I just went on. I didn't see snake a'la road on the way back so I guess it made it.

It was the color of a car tire, dark charcoal grey, and if I saw correctly had a much lighter inside to it's mouth, unless I was looking at its chinny chin chin. Dark belly and about 3' long. Not very fat, either.

Near Warrenton, VA in the Piedmont east of the mountains. I really don't know what kind it was. Just bull headed and determined.

From my books it looks like a racer, totally harmless. Definitely hard headed though.
 

Last edited:

releventchair

Gold Member
May 9, 2012
22,242
69,740
Primary Interest:
Other
Maybe smarter than a turtle crossing......

Did see a mink jump at a couple cars during holiday traffic trying to cross a highway..Don't know if it made it.
 

OP
OP
smokeythecat

smokeythecat

Gold Member
Nov 22, 2012
20,682
40,650
Maryland
🥇 Banner finds
10
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
On a side note I did see a dead bobcat (hit by a car) just about 30 minutes west of Washington, DC.
 

OP
OP
smokeythecat

smokeythecat

Gold Member
Nov 22, 2012
20,682
40,650
Maryland
🥇 Banner finds
10
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I first thought cottonmouth, but this snake was too thin and was at least 200 miles (more or less) from the limit of its known range.
 

Megalodon

Silver Member
May 13, 2018
2,650
4,373
Maryland
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
Tesoro Cibola
Tesoro Golden Sabre Plus
Garrett ADS Master Hunter 7
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I first thought cottonmouth, but this snake was too thin and was at least 200 miles (more or less) from the limit of its known range.

Reptile field guides for at least 60 years have listed "Great Dismal Swamp" as the northern limit and I've seen no evidence that they have moved northward. Throughout tidewater MD and VA, people erroneously attribute the name cottonmouth to what is really the water snake.
 

OP
OP
smokeythecat

smokeythecat

Gold Member
Nov 22, 2012
20,682
40,650
Maryland
🥇 Banner finds
10
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Yes, this is a couple hundred miles from there. I have seen cottonmouths in the wild before, this snake was a lot thinner, in the same vein as a garter type. The Northern Water snakes around here are meaner than Satan! Not poisonous, but territorial and they'll chase you!
 

Megalodon

Silver Member
May 13, 2018
2,650
4,373
Maryland
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
Tesoro Cibola
Tesoro Golden Sabre Plus
Garrett ADS Master Hunter 7
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Yes, this is a couple hundred miles from there. I have seen cottonmouths in the wild before, this snake was a lot thinner, in the same vein as a garter type. The Northern Water snakes around here are meaner than Satan! Not poisonous, but territorial and they'll chase you!

Agree about the water snakes. You are right about them not being venomous but they can be aggressive and should not be handled. They have "dirty" mouths and bites usually become infected. I saw a bunch of them last week sunning on a beaver dam.
 

GB1

Gold Member
Jul 12, 2017
7,428
21,863
East TX
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Teknectics eurotek pro
bounty hunter time ranger
bounty hunter quick draw 2
used a teroso compadre.
Primary Interest:
Other

TooManyHobbies

Bronze Member
Dec 24, 2007
1,935
2,015
CT
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Whites MXT,
DetectorPro HH Underwater
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Sounds like a racer to me. Aggressive but harmless. Often raises it's head to see it's surroundings. The color sounds right too. It also shakes it's tail like a rattler.
 

SnakemanBill

Sr. Member
Apr 24, 2008
406
233
Maryland
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Tiger Shark
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Cotton mouth maybe.

There are no Cottonmouths in Maryland. The northernmost range of the Cottonmouth is the southeastern corner of Virginia. The snake encountered was either a Black Racer or a Black Rat Snake.
 

Charlie P. (NY)

Gold Member
Feb 3, 2006
13,003
17,106
South Central Upstate NY in the foothills of the h
Detector(s) used
Minelab Musketeer Advantage Pro w/8" & 10" DD coils/Fisher F75se(Upgraded to LTD2) w/11" DD, 6.5" concentric & 9.5" NEL Sharpshooter DD coils/Sunray FX-1 Probe & F-Point/Black Widows/Rattler headphone
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
If it was NY I'd guess it was a black rat snake. We get them over 4' long in the barn.

Harmless. Unless you're a rodent.

BlackRatSnake_610219_7.jpg

Pantherophis_obsoletusPCCA20050508-7264B.jpg
 

Last edited:

River Rat

Super Moderator
Staff member
Jan 6, 2006
20,846
2,531
SE Louisiana
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Ace 250 & Ace 400
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Sounds like a black runner to me. Anyway, check out my snake killer in action...it was almost 6' long. Jake sniffs out cotton mouths & kills em...he has a scar from being bitten near his eye. The older dogs would always teach the newer ones the technique of killing them. IMG_0708.JPG
 

RGINN

Gold Member
Oct 16, 2007
8,581
10,644
Summit County, CO
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
White's DFX, White's Classic 1 Coinmaster, Nokta Pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Yeah, sounds like a racer, if you have them in your part of the country. And water snakes are most disagreeable for some reason. When they bite, they clamp down and start trying to drag back so the teeth will slash and leave gashes. Luckily most of them are not big enough to accomplish much, but it is hard to pry them loose when they clamp down.
 

chub

Bronze Member
Apr 23, 2017
1,503
2,242
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75, Minelab Soveriegn XS 2
Nokta pinpointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
How toxic is the cotton mouth to a human?

Chub
 

GB1

Gold Member
Jul 12, 2017
7,428
21,863
East TX
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Teknectics eurotek pro
bounty hunter time ranger
bounty hunter quick draw 2
used a teroso compadre.
Primary Interest:
Other
people have died from them
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top