Greetings all, I am a High School Bio Teacher / rock flipper from Pittsburgh now living in western Virginia on a small ridge crawling with copperheads, hence my handle. One even got me on the finger picking the garden a few years back. Here are some of my attractive neighbors I've managed to get in front of the lens, with varying results:



we have a weird C.horridus morph around here - I've seen a DOR with more of this "Motley"pattern - gotta find that pic. This snake was saved from a neighbor's yard and moved. I get a lot of frantic phone calls


super red male cruised through my yard about 5 years ago



found this gorgeous pair across the road shortly after moving in and telling my wife "We probably will never get to see a copperhead." A quote she frequently mocks me with now.


our more common dark morph - this was found in the nearby national forest.... every bit of 5 feet


birds freaking out near our feeder clued me in to this big black rat



small eastern milk found in yard

looking forward to hangin' out with yinz-all.

Nice post, I especially liked the "in situ" shot of the copperheads and the boxie. Looks like a great place to live. Welcome to the forum!

RW

Thanks RW - those copperheads took my breath away. Ley me know I landed in a very special area. I need to get better photo equipment, though.

Wow. That first timber must have been a stunning animal.

Hi Copperhead- where do you teach in the valley? I grew up in Augusta county and occasionally travel back there to see family and friends (and herp). It's a beautiful place to live!

Van

Hey Van - I teach at Stonewall Jackson HS, and live on the ridge overlooking it. We have great kids around here, but it can be hard trying to change attitudes about snakes. I have a few corns in class that help, though.

Chris - it was My personal best, wish I had better shots!

Right on, I know that part of the country pretty well since we used to play Stonewall Jackson in HS sports occasionally (I went to Wilson, way back when). The snake attitude isn't the best, but keep trying and hopefully you can get some of them to come around!

If I get back there during herping season any time soon I'll be in touch. To my knowledge there aren't too many herpers in that part of the world!

Van