Osage Copperheads and some thoughts on tin for AC

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Gary2sons
Posts: 297
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:44 pm
Location: Camden County, Missouri

Osage Copperheads and some thoughts on tin for AC

Post by Gary2sons »

All these were found on the 8 acres we own. Had a good year for copperheads with a few seen many times. Finished with about 6 different ones.

This first pair was found early May.
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I had just moved the tin over a few inches a few days before to have some green grass under the tin. It seems this helps sometimes.

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Saw the one in front several times last year.

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Same snake with a spider, I have had this happen several times over the years.

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This one has been seen a couple times in years past. Very nice pink if I can see it after a shed!

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This little juvenile was our first after all these years of herping. :D Just could not find a juvie until this year!

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This one has also been around before this year.

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This was one fat copperhead found in May. It went down the hole after a couple pics.

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Same snake in late Fall about 500 feet away.

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This was a beautiful copperhead. It was found about dark one evening so this was our best pic. It was found under wood just yards from our back yard. We have two pieces of wood about the size of plywood that produce but tin seems to work better for us.

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We sometimes use a spacer stick in between tin. I always place a few leaves which seems to help. This pic is a good reason you never grab for a snake getting away such as a milk or hog-nose to get pics without really looking around to see what else is there.

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We have checked our AC for over 10 years now but is is still hard to say there is any absolute theories that always work. Our best piece of single tin is in complete sun but I try and have some sun for all tin. My favorite is a double tin with a spacer and leaves. I never like tin that is devoid of grass and leaves but yet we have tin that we find snakes under. Tin sometimes produces very quickly and twice last year we had two that only produced one snake each all year in October. But when it is a milk and copperhead one hates to move it! But I tend to move tin around that hasn't produced in a couple months. The moving over a few inches to cover green vegetation seems to help.

Hope this helps for those thinking of using tin. Just some random thoughts!

Thanks for looking!

Gary
Brendan Murray
Posts: 174
Joined: August 4th, 2010, 8:07 am

Re: Osage Copperheads and some thoughts on tin for AC

Post by Brendan Murray »

Gorgeous Copperheads!! Makes me excited to see our local northern variety soon.
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HerperChance
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Joined: January 19th, 2011, 6:56 pm
Location: Western North Carolina

Re: Osage Copperheads and some thoughts on tin for AC

Post by HerperChance »

Awesome looking copperheads!
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Phil Peak
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Joined: June 20th, 2010, 8:17 am
Location: Kentucky
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Re: Osage Copperheads and some thoughts on tin for AC

Post by Phil Peak »

Nice post Gary and beautiful copperheads! I agree, tin stacks seem to be more productive with a bit of woody debris and leaves between the sheets.

Phil
stlouisdude
Posts: 458
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:30 pm
Location: St Louis, MO / Hartford, CT

Re: Osage Copperheads and some thoughts on tin for AC

Post by stlouisdude »

Very cool to be able to walk in the backyard and find them! It's cool that their habits often allow them to survive near hiking trails and homes undetected by humans, well other than Gary (these guys are still going strong even in heavily urbanized St. Louis County). Unfortunately, they are not so good at avoiding cars. I really think copperheads are a great species to search for because they have some nice color variations, are common enough that you always feel like you can succeed (even when you don't), and are venomous enough to keep our attention (but unlikely to end our herping careers if something goes wrong).

I've found similar looking spiders on copperheads under tin before. Perhaps it should be called the copperhead spider
Does this look like the ones you see, Gary (the spider that is lol)? I can't be certain if the spiders are on or I scare them onto them when flipping.

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Looks like you've got some nice snakes around your place!
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Gary2sons
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:44 pm
Location: Camden County, Missouri

Re: Osage Copperheads and some thoughts on tin for AC

Post by Gary2sons »

Brendan and Herperchance...thanks for the comments
Phil Peak wrote:Nice post Gary and beautiful copperheads! I agree, tin stacks seem to be more productive with a bit of woody debris and leaves between the sheets.

Phil
Thanks Phil...You have checked far more than most yourself over the years! :thumb:

stlouisdude...Thanks and and yes it is cool to have them so close. We really enjoy looking for them.

Your spider looks the same, sometimes I wonder whether they were there before the pic also. The excitement of taking a quick pic before they move must be the reason. Always fun to see something in a pic later you miss at the time! :lol:
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