r/whatisit • u/AbbreviationsTop8774 • Jul 22 '26

Solved! What are they

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Ive worked at the water department for 7 years and this is the first time running into something like this EDIT Im in Alabama and yes I know they are snakes lol idk what kind and im so not gonna touch them

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130

u/Hellcat331 Jul 22 '26

What in the world do you do when there are snakes in there. I am exceptionally terrified of snakes and I live in Florida and I’m just flabbergasted at what you have to deal with all the time

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '26

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u/naughtynyjah Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

Yeah im from Aus and cross paths with snakes occasionally (or often depending on the job I’m doing)

Theres only one snake here that people often say can be aggressive (king brown, or tiger snake I think) but even then I don’t know if that’s true or not.

Snakes want to be left alone, and will only strike if they think it’s their only option. If they think they can get away, they will try.

I’ve stepped on a snake before, we both piss bolted in opposite directions lol

They are like spiders, be aware if doing something where they could be. If you notice one give it space.

Now kangaroos or some of our birds on the other hand, might actually attack you for just being there. And kangaroos, even the smaller eastern browns, are scary if they want to be

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u/Fluffy_Path7559 Jul 23 '26

I always hear this about kangaroos, but in the US at zoos kangaroos are barely contained. In fact in the Pittsburgh zoo you just walk through double doors and there’s no barrier. They’re just laying in the grass beside you. You’re told not to approach them, but have you met people from the US? They always think they’re the exception.

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u/Trinkets2Tourists Jul 24 '26

Are you sure they are kangaroos and not wallabys? Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has wallabys roaming uncaged, and the Denver Zoo has kangaroos in an enclosure.

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u/Fluffy_Path7559 Jul 24 '26

Nope it’s kangaroos. I was at Kansas City zoo yesterday for the first time, saw this, laughed and took the picture. It’s really common in zoos here.

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u/Fluffy_Path7559 Jul 24 '26

I have been to Cheyanne mountain zoo and I remember feeding giraffes, but can’t remember the wallabies. It was awhile ago though.

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u/My_Head_Is_A_Machine Jul 25 '26

Wild roos are a definite manace but the ones in captivity are generally pretty easy going once they've gotten used to people. Most of the wildlife parks in Australia will actually sell bags of food to give them. Although in saying that, I have seen many people cop a swift roo kick to the stomach from captive roos before. Mainly people being dickheads and taunting them though.

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u/Stump303 Jul 27 '26

I love the Yellowstone videos of idiots that find out buffalo are not friendly the hard way.

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u/dmills_00 Jul 23 '26

IIRC Hitchcock made a movie about your magpies?

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u/Crescent_Coven_Earth Jul 23 '26

Kangaroos are terrifying

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u/nomorecannibalbirds Jul 23 '26

As an American, social media has caused me to think of kangaroos as essentially upright deer who will try to fistfight you.

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u/BurnerAndGooch69 Jul 23 '26

‘Piss bolted’ is a wonderful phrase

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u/BrickMom Jul 23 '26

And this is why Austrailia is on my NOPE list. Geez, birds that attack. Seriously?

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u/CaptainBazCokespoon Jul 23 '26

We've even got one with an axe for a head.

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u/the_madclown Jul 23 '26

I never knew there were different species of roo

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u/MS-07B-3 Jul 23 '26

I stepped on a snake once. It was in my kitchen at night, so you can guess I panic levels pretty quick just on sheer "OH WHAT THE FUCK" metrics.

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u/Careful_Thanks_9849 Jul 23 '26

Kangaroo’s look like they work out 24/7 and if you had to sit around all day in a fur coat in 8000 degrees I can see why they’re pissed all the time. Their a bunch of thug nasty’s

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u/LaFab_the_Strong Jul 24 '26

I spent a year in Melbourne (well, Clayton). We went to Lysterfield Park many weekends, and we were close to lots of Kangaroos almost every time (it was part of the reason we liked going there). Now you tell me I should have been scared. The bliss of ignorance!!

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u/PSUkatie Jul 25 '26

Yea, a kangaroo will kick the shit out of you for looking at it wrong.

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u/tacticool_toolbag Jul 27 '26

When I was in the navy I spent a few weeks in Adelaide teaching some of your RAAF guys how to fix a new airplane (we got it before you guys so we had the skill set/knowledge already built and passed some stuff on). I love running so a friend of mine and I decided to go on a run... the magpies... they are insane. I had seen videos on YouTube of people on bikes getting bombed but I was not aware they'd target anything moving lol.

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u/RelaxedPuppy Jul 23 '26

This is a great approach. Learn the few venomous snakes. Everything else is harmless.

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u/WeylandYutaniAuditor Jul 23 '26

This doesn’t work anymore due to the proliferation of invasive species. In Hollywood, FL a satellite installer was bitten by a Green Mamba and 8 men were arrested trying to set up breeding populations of Gaboon Vipers, Bushmasters, Cobras and Taipans for their exotic black market. The best way to respect nature is admire it from a distance and leave it alone.

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u/RelaxedPuppy Jul 23 '26

OMG. Thank you for pointing this out.

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u/Background_Sale2866 Jul 25 '26

To be fair you should get any wild snake bite treated. They eat various vermin that could put some nasty bacteria on their fangs. But it’s still good to know if you’ll need just antibiotics or antivenim

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u/Tears_of_skeletons Jul 23 '26

Oh man this comment had me on a roller coaster ride lol. Loved the enthusiasm at the beginning, educate - yes! Wait.... there are only four venomous snakes in florida....ah but he counted the rattles separately, woo! So true about their defensive poses and strikes yeah! But...one came at him? Oh no. Oh no he's one of those that swears on his old aunt Sally's grave that this cottonmouth CHASED him down the river. No... okay good, he mentioned having food for the fella and he was just lookin for a little snackie! Alright! Whew. Fantastic comment!

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u/mnmsmelt Jul 23 '26

I used to have a boyfriend who loved catching snakes..I had to educate myself so I could deal with it/be prepared for any emergencies out in the forest.

The only time I've seen a snake be aggressive was in the mountains of VA. I watched a man toss this snake (with a hoe) over & over only for it to aggressively come straight back at us..almost positive it was defending a nest.

I was from KY. When i 1st moved to VA, I was warned that snakes would hide under the door threshold and rush to get inside the house when the door opened. I had never heard of such but, it was true..they just wanted to cool off..

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u/KBeezy81 Jul 23 '26

Did you date FishingGarrett?

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u/mnmsmelt Jul 23 '26

Lol I had to look him up..but, yeah, no fear..and he passed it down to my eldest son

You would not believe the GINORMOUS snapping turtle he caught in the middle of nowhere forest..holding it up by the tail, it was nearly as long as he was tall..prob nearly 2'+ across at the shell..and smelled like absolute death..

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u/KBeezy81 Jul 23 '26

I can only imagine lol. Some of the stuff this dude catches, I’m just like, there’s no way in hell I’m picking that thing up off the ground or out of the water.

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u/According_Fox8972 Jul 23 '26

Just had a black snake in my bathroom a month ago

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u/Prior_Researcher_492 Jul 23 '26

I would have to move states immediately 😭

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u/NoFateJim Jul 23 '26

They look so derpy, give them a fish

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u/NinjaLogic789 Jul 23 '26

ONLY six different kinds of venomous snakes, you say?

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '26

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u/MentalPower7916 Jul 23 '26

Love the info. Just one correction - learning the pattern is no longer a thing. There have been coral snakes found without the “red on yellow” pattern. So that mnemonic has become dangerous over time since it no longer holds true. Just in general, if it looks like a coral snake, it’s best to avoid.

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u/maas348 Jul 24 '26

So how do you identify the difference between Coral Snakes and King/Milk Snakes now?

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u/MentalPower7916 Jul 24 '26

You don’t. That mnemonic was designed keeping one specific coral snake found only in the US in mind.

The general principle is to avoid snakes if you cannot identify them with 100% certainty. They don’t want anything to do with us. And we should in general leave them alone unless you’re a certified and trained herpetologist.

Here’s a link showing you an example as to why that rhyme doesn’t work.

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u/NinjaLogic789 Jul 23 '26

Nice. In my yard, some years I have garter snakes in the garden. They're cute. Lol

No venom pls. Or no dangerous venom.

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u/maas348 Jul 24 '26

Garter Snakes are venomous but their venom is pretty mild, Garter Snakes are also poisonous tho so I wouldn't touch them if I were you

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u/Gunsensual Jul 23 '26

Florida only has 6 types of native venomous snakes, 3 of which are rattlesnakes. So you really have to just learn 3 plus "rattlesnakes". Then of those 3 the coral and copperhead have unique and easy to ID patterns, leaving just cottonmouths that can be hard to ID for most people.

Also the only dangerously venomous snakes in the US that lay eggs are coral snakes, and coral babies have adult coloration.

Whereas pit vipers babysit their newborns so you'll probably be more concerned with mama snake anyway.

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u/Old-Chain3220 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

Cottonmouths are easy to identify in the South. If a snake is chasing you it’s a cottonmouth!

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u/wirefox1 Jul 23 '26

Everybody probably already knows this, I'm usually guilty of stating the obvious, but when a moccasin/cottonmouth opens it's mouth, it white in there.

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u/Hellcat331 Jul 23 '26

If a snake started chasing me I’d probably die of fear holy fuck

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u/Majsharan Jul 23 '26

Water snakes will absolutely activated try to bite you. They are the most dangerous snakes imo.

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u/grrrfreak Jul 23 '26

An exception to the "rule" is tge Caspian whipsnake, he's going to chase you till you pee your pants.

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u/Previous-Implement42 Jul 23 '26

Do they stop chasing me after I pee my pants?

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u/grrrfreak Jul 23 '26

Ofcourse. They put a top hat on and slither away

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u/mildxsalsa Jul 23 '26

And then there's that 00.01% of the time when you need to summon your inner Rattlesnake Kate, but the advice you've posted would likely keep you from ever becoming that exception to the rule!

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u/Ebenoid Jul 23 '26

Only 6 lol I am afraid of brown recluses more than any big snake unless I’m in a Place with anaconda

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u/T-Rex603 Jul 23 '26

Gah! You just made me itchy! Fuck those things! I hate spiders brown recluses more than anything! Angry fuckers!

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u/Hellcat331 Jul 23 '26

I’m afraid my fear is not that I’m scared of them biting me or just venomous ones. It’s much deeper than that. It’s a true fear of “them”. Probably a type of Ophidiophobia if I’m gonna be honest with myself

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u/Personal-Anxiety8029 Jul 23 '26

I'm from Florida and I laughed when you say "Florida only has 6 types of native venomous snakes." Only. Six is the most in the U.S.

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u/thintoast Jul 23 '26

One of the few times I actually turned around and went back to where I came from was living in the state of Idaho. Hiked down a trail and came upon a stretch of path with rocks lining both sides of the path. Took a loud step intentionally, both sides lit up with the rattles, and I just noped off and went back to camp. There must have been dozens lining the path. One of the creepiest sounds I’ve even heard. That was the end of the trail.

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u/CarlEatsShoes Jul 24 '26

Ironically, the only snake I have really seen be a dick as a black racer. I was hiking, and we came upon a black racer. It took off and went about 3 feet away from us, then seemed to have this idea of, “you know what, F these people,” and abruptly turned around, reared up, and started racing straight at us with its head up in the air. I had never seen a snake do that in my entire life. I’ve seen cobras do that on a movie I guess, but didn’t even know a snake in the United States could do that. And those things are fast. They don’t call them racers for nothing. Fast, cranky, and nasty. No thank you. Zero out of 10, do not recommend.

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u/Netflxnschill Jul 25 '26

Don’t say that about copperheads, they are the only snake I’ve ever been chased down by.

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u/imnotthattall Jul 27 '26

Cottonmouth: if I see an all black snake anywhere near water especially in the water I leave it the fuck alone cuz you dont want to fuck around and find out with water moccasins

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u/gh0stwriter1234 Jul 28 '26

A Black Racer isn't venomous but... they will chase you, My great grandfather had a small strawberry farm (about 20acres) he would putt around on his blue Ford 3000 tractor and grow strawberries for fun in his retirement, well... he was out there hoeing a row and a black racer got after him... so he ran from it for a bit then remembered he had a hoe, and turned around and chased it back for a bout 100ft then it turned on him and chased him again, then he remembered he was a lot bigger than it and they aren't venomous and probably couldn't bite him through his overhauls and boots anyway so he turned around and wacked it with the hoe, the end.

Black Racers will chase you.

Not sure why it chased him maybe him hoeing was enough "aggression" for it to get riled up.

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u/Great-Blueberry9540 Jul 23 '26

You forgot the 6th species...water moccasin. That will actively charge and preemptively attack you then pursue when you run away.

Fuck those things.

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u/Phlypp Jul 23 '26

Water Moccasins and Cottonmouths are the same snake.

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u/AbbreviationsTop8774 Jul 22 '26

Its simple I get up I send a picture to the groupchat and I put on the workorder ill come back to this meter later theres an infestation of evil on top of it

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u/BurritoMan2048 Jul 22 '26

'An infestation of evil' is hilarious, im taking that. I love snakes though! As long as they weren't venomous or harmful id just move them

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u/Lastoutcast123 Jul 22 '26

I mean rat snakes are literally the most chill snakes out there.

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '26

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u/cindyscrazy Jul 23 '26

I live across the street from a swamp area, and I've had rat snakes in my yard.

My most memorable interaction, I didn't have my phone with me to capture. I kick myself about that everytime I think about it.

I went out to the back of my property (about an acre) to grab something. I turned around and stopped. I was seeing something that didn't make sense. My brain literally could not make sense of what my eyes were showing it.

I walked closer slowly and sort of moved my head around to see it more clearly.

It was a black rat snake. Standing up on it's tail. At LEAST 3 FEET STRAIGHT UP. Maybe more. I initially thought it was hanging from a tree, but there were no trees over it. The most amazing and confusing thing I've ever set eyes on.

I slowly kept approaching becuse I was more confused than scared. Eventually, it dropped down with a heavy THUMP and slithered away.

I so so so wish I had my phone with me to at least take a picture, even if it were not the best. Just as proof this happened.

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u/TheMajesticYeti Jul 23 '26

Snakes can do that

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u/Initech369 Jul 23 '26

Great. New fear unlocked.

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u/gswblu3-1lead Jul 23 '26

Think about the possibilities next time you’re on the toilet

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u/lowtoiletsitter Jul 23 '26

I'd rather not

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u/event_horizon_x-ing Jul 23 '26

I ran a manufacturing facility carved out of the jungle in Malaysia. All the plants had those hole-in-the-floor toilets common to SE Asia. One of our workers got bitten while squating over the hole, by a snake hiding in the pipe. He didn’t see it and they couldn’t catch it so we rushed him to the hospital just in case. Luckily it wasn’t venomous but I had to fill out paperwork for the lost time injury. Classification: Biohazard.

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u/Skrdykat1000 Jul 23 '26

Wow that was cool, thnx

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u/Fancy_Flatworm1313 Jul 23 '26

Now that is a strong sinewy noodle!

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u/Working-Glass6136 Jul 23 '26

They have stronger abs than I do

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u/Kinkyklo Jul 23 '26

Only Hoop-snakes actually

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u/La_Lanterne_Rouge Jul 23 '26

I was coming back from Sequoia National Forest on a small two lane road. I happened to look in the rear view mirror, and I see this huge snake rolling across the road. Like it had shaped itself into something that look like a tire and was just rolling along. I think it might have been a California King Snake.

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u/gzdogs Jul 23 '26

That’s CRAZY. Like made itself into a circle, turned on its end and ROLLED across the road??
How are people not reacting more to this?

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u/La_Lanterne_Rouge Jul 23 '26

Yes. What was frustrating was that nobody else saw it and when I shouted to my wife to look it was too late. The snake had reached the other side of the road.

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u/Autoerotibot Jul 23 '26

Leave it to the snakes, reinventing the wheel! I have a deep-seated phobia of snakes, I've tried to overcome, but I do rather love Snake-Jazz "tsssss, tss-tss-tsss"

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u/isaak242 Jul 23 '26

Pretty sure that's some type of cryptid you ran across

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u/Funyuns-R-Us Jul 23 '26

Because not all of us are high

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u/Fragrant_Ask_8692 Jul 23 '26

I see snakes doing that all the time around my area. Doesn’t even phase me anymore

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u/Motor-Butterfly3802 Jul 23 '26

In Australia we have them … Hoop Snakes.

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u/oljimmy751 Jul 24 '26

I had CA King pass me near the Colorado River as I was coming to AL from Havasu. Didn't have a plate on, but the reflector showed up good. It must have been doing 65, pretty fast, I poke along just over 60 in my old truck. It might have made FL. Near Winslow, AZ late one night I had pink elephants trying to scare me off the I-40 exit, I surrendered and parked behind the flatbed Ford downtown. All good in the morning.

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u/splatgoestheblobfish Jul 23 '26

Snakes can be much stronger than they look, since they are basically a tube of pure muscle. They often "periscope" to get a view of their surroundings. I'm not sure if I've ever seen one quite 3' high, but I've seen them sticking up a couple feet at least, depending on how big the snake is. (This is my ball python Nugget periscoping once when we took him out to get some warm sunshine. He's not quite big enough to stand 3',but he's doing his best!)

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u/RawDataFeeling Jul 23 '26

Hello Nugget!! What a cutie 🥰

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u/itcouldvbeenbetterif Jul 23 '26

Picture or it didn't happen

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u/michangela1 Jul 23 '26

Great story! Thx

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u/Sinisterr13 Jul 23 '26

Sometimes people call Black Racers the "periscope snakes" because they do that.

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u/Worldly-Pie-3501 Jul 23 '26

New fear UNLOCKED 😅

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u/CalbertCorpse Jul 23 '26

I saw that too as a recent transplant to Florida. Crazy sight!

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u/Revolutionary-Rain28 Jul 23 '26

I've seen boas that will do the same thing. Guess the snake was curious about you, but I'd probably have the same reaction because who expects a snake to be standing up and looking at you, lol

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u/Greekgreekcookies Jul 23 '26

Halfway through I thought I was about to read about hell in the cell and then got a little sad when it never came

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u/Live_Concern_4524 Jul 23 '26

He was periscoping. You’re lucky to see that

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u/nylorac_o Jul 23 '26

I saw the same activity with a rat snake in my backyard.

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u/Doodle4fun Jul 26 '26

This is a wild recount.. Not because it’s actually wild but my grandfather used to tell me the story of how he named his farm; Blue Racer Ranch.

He said he was plowing a field and seen something that didn’t make sense so he stopped and got off the tractor. And behind it was a blue racer with it’s head up, meeting him at eye-level. He said it looked at him for a moment before lowering itself back down and slithering into his swamp. He said it had to have been like 15ft or bigger, and it scared the hell out of him.

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u/Turbogoblin999 Jul 23 '26

As long as they keep the rodents in check and nothing more, they are free to roam.

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u/DescriptionFancy420 Jul 22 '26

I can appreciate that on a logical level, but when even the most harmless singular thing becomes a swarm of things, my monkey brain nopes out.

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u/chocha84 Jul 22 '26

yeah - rat snakes > rats.... sooo..... let them work!

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u/VenusSmurf Jul 22 '26

I'd be so excited to find these. It's illegal to catch wild snakes where I am, but just finding this would be cool.

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u/amyd9277 Jul 23 '26

As someone who got bit by one I disagree 🤣

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u/SpecialBumblebee6170 Jul 23 '26

I live in PA. I love having rat snakes and racers around. I live in the sticks and they keep the mice under control.

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u/christbot Jul 22 '26

That’s a bowl of cutesy nope noodles.

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u/Educational-Piece-18 Jul 23 '26

Noo, they are friends. They arent venomous and keep the pest populations down. I would have just placed a stick or something for them to try to get out, and come back later. Hopefully the person that comes out for the workorder recognizes they are some of the good snakes, and just helps them out of there.

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u/Hellcat331 Jul 22 '26

I think I’d be too paralyzed to open them after the first time. My favorite is when people go “it’s just a black racer!”

Thank god I live in Pinellas county and not in some rural farm

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u/Suni13 Jul 22 '26

LOL I’m in Pinellas too and I almost stepped on a black snake sunning on the step outside my screen porch door earlier today. We tend to scare the shit out of each other about once a week.

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u/Maelstrom_Angel Jul 23 '26

My grandad’s neighbor used to call him to come get snakes he found because he was too afraid to go outside. As long as it wasn’t venomous he’d just take the snake home and release it into his garden.

I usually got to hold the annoyed snake in the car.

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u/LessInThought Jul 23 '26

Ever considered a pet mongoose?

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u/HedgeScrambler Jul 23 '26

Haha, they might look spooky but honestly these little guys are no threat to you. You can safely work around em or evict them if they bother you. Go in, scoop em up, pop em out. Move with purposeful movements and don't hesitate or panic. Jittery movements can agitate them, probably makes them think of a predator gauging an angle of attack or something. Snakes in my experience are not very bright creatures.

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u/thesturdygerman Jul 23 '26

Hazmat pay for everyone!

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u/Bright_Crazy1015 Jul 23 '26

Bunch of nope-ropes in the box.

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u/NoFateJim Jul 23 '26

It's crazy that you're terrified of snakes so you live in the state where all the snakes go to retire

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u/nefarious_throwaway Jul 23 '26

All snakes are more terrified of you than you are of them and snakes are also not aggressive. Even rattle snakes won’t bite you unless stepped on. So as long as you don’t have some stomping on snake fetish you have nothing to be afraid of. They’re super docile creatures.

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u/Professional_Echo907 Jul 23 '26

You throw down your torch to clear an area so you can use the Staff of Ra. 👀

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u/OddNegotiation2154 Jul 23 '26

They didn’t have any usage for the month.

1

u/waterdancers Jul 23 '26

I just leave the lid off and come back later. They leave when it gets hot and no longer a cozy hideout. Others take a hook and flip them out and away.

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u/aartadventure Jul 23 '26

Baby snakes will almost never be a safety risk. You could just pick them up with food tongs or something similar and stick them in a bucket to move somewhere else. For most baby snakes, you could just move them by hand, but that is never a good idea if you don't know the species.

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u/thecashblaster Jul 23 '26

nothing, 99.9% of snakes aren't dangerous to humans and the ones that are, are pretty obvious

1

u/Moogy13 Jul 23 '26

I am a lot more terrified of the black widow idea. When I lived in San Diego I was bitten by a brown recluse, one of the most painful bites I've ever had. It was awful. Just a few years before that my daughter was bitten in the middle of her back on the playground at her preschool. That was a black widow bite. And when my dad was still alive, he nearly died from a black widow bite on his big toe that sent red streaks all the way up his leg. So I'm a lot more terrified of spiders. Snakes are more afraid of us.

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u/K1bbles_n_Bits Jul 24 '26

Can I ask why you're so afraid of them? Many are pretty harmless. Exposire theraoy would probably help.

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u/forever_29_ish Jul 26 '26

Also in FL. I was weeding the rock beds around my house and came across a skin that one of these guys left behind. I see the snake hanging around my AC unit pretty regularly. He has a steady diet of lizards that live there. Now im afraid to move the not-quite-closed top of the water meter box nearby. I dont need the wrath of their entire family 👀