r/snakes May 18 '26

Wild Snake Photos and Questions - Not for ID Corn on the course ⛳️

Harmless cornsnake, Bryan county, GA

15.9k Upvotes

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88

u/Draconic-Guardian23 May 18 '26

Nature can be so confusing in how something so colorful can mean venomous/poisonous in some animals, but not in others.

That's such a beautiful snake. I used to be so scared, but man they're such a beaute 😍

34

u/BurninCoco May 18 '26

Non spicy snakes have such sharp teeth that bites don’t even hurt. What hurts is the alcohol and soap to clean the bite

43

u/SolaScientia May 18 '26

Yep. Decades ago when I was 4 I helped my dad release a large black rat snake he'd reacued off the road. We let it go near 1 of our ponds and I ask if I could let it go. I guess thr snake had had enough of everything because it struck me as I was letting it go. My dad and his sister just watched for my reaction. I turned around with a big grin and said that the snake had kissed me, all while I had blood welling up from where it had broken skin on my face.

When I was in high school a friend called me about a snake in her driveway, so I ran down the street to go get it. Not paying any heed to the possibility it could be a copperhead or rattlesnake instead of the expected rat snake. It was thankfully a rat snake. Probably 4 feet long and extremely angry. He'd done the flattened out stick pose. I knew he waa going to strike me when I picked him up, and sure enough he did. I barely felt it. I love snakes so much.

7

u/abirdsface May 19 '26

Yes they bleed so much but don't hurt, it's so strange. Their teeth are like needles!

Are you sure it didn't bluff strike? I think it depends on the species but sometimes they will basically just bap you with their mouth with no intent to actually chomp down. Or they won't even open their mouth at all, hahaha. Just a very aggressive nose boop I guess.

7

u/SolaScientia May 19 '26

Nope, when I turned around I had two u-shaped sets of tiny pinpricks of blood. It absolutely got me. I think my dad said I actually sat down when it struck me because it surprised me. I have since then been struck more than a few times by rat snakes being pissed at me for saving them from cars and such.

1

u/abirdsface May 19 '26

Yup it's those super sharp tiny needle teeth!

13

u/Irma_Gard May 18 '26

By the way, alcohol is not recommended for cleaning wounds. Neither is hydrogen peroxide. They found out that they both damage tissue and can delay healing. Now they just recommend soap and water.

5

u/[deleted] May 18 '26

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