Texas, 1 hr NW of dwntwn Houston

I say viper

I don't think so. King snake, perhaps.

I don't know what kind of snake but not poisonous.

Yeah, King snake, thanx, he didn't die

Look at the Banded Watersnake.

The stripes are a little inconsistent for a kingsnake.

editing: Our local expert says he is a Broad banded water snake, but he gets to stay anyway. So not a Kingsnake, but I swear they have a similar king snake in the Google images I pulled up.

yeah... I was thinking king snake too...
certainly nothing like a viper.

Pit vipers have short fat bodies, and big wide heads, they don't look like anything else.

I'll post picture(s), unfortunately I don't have anything but rattlesnakes photographed... and, you seldom see them stretched out...
unlike a cottonmouth or copperhead...


king snake

I do have this pic of rattle snake...



observe the fat body...

Here's more typical of how we normally see rattlesnake... observe fat body... and... unfortunately, the head pretty much blends into the body... and takes studying pic to notice...


Personally, I value my rattlesnakes... I take pictures and lock up cats... otherwise... I might lose both... can't teach the cats to leave the desirable animals alone.

Snakes can look vastly different depending on if they are juvenile or adult so you can't always go by photos on the internet

The only reliable identifier (unless you want to get way too close for comfort) is the triangle shaped head.

The kingsnakes in my area have brown stripes. My brother has Mountain Kingsnakes at his place - much more alarming to see than mine.

Cats reaction time vs snake

https://youtu.be/prECuyfQU-o

Cool video!

Saw an alert for an old rattler showing back up here in the area, a Black Tailed Rattlesnake, but usually it is small timber rattlers we see here.
Stone, apparently I have a local in the neighborhood that relocates vipers for the area, it ws their id of the broad banded watersnake, but I wonder if there can be crosses here in this area- like Floridas tailless rattlers? Rattleless rattlers?

Rattlesnakes can't hybridize with Colubrids (kingsnakes, watersnakes, rat snakes). Mostly because one eats the other.

Well, not sure what the rattlers in Florida are crossbreeding with, but they definitely are doing it.

They're probably Pygmy Rattlesnakes which have very small rattles and can appear rattleless.

kittriana said:
Stone, apparently I have a local in the neighborhood that relocates vipers for the area, it ws their id of the broad banded watersnake, but I wonder if there can be crosses here in this area- like Floridas tailless rattlers? Rattleless rattlers?

While the rattle snakes may be evolving a quieter rattle... ones w/o rattles? I think not.
Some worthless slob shot a snake at the front of my drive a couple years back... came back to show the kids...
I'd already picked it up to bury... sick and tired of people leaving dead stuff near me...
Anyway... no rattles... Dumb ass tried to tell me that it was a kind that didn't have rattles... I think maybe a hog nosed snake.

Saw a coachwhip snake this morning...



Spotted a pine snag... thought it might be useful as fat lighter... pulled off the outer crust, and there was the snake... trying to get some sleep... I was like... uh... pardon me, didn't mean to intrude...

He must be tiny!

poor snake, and he thought he had a good place to snuggle! I know it sounds wrong, but these rattleless rattlers were full sized snakes and Florida put out a warning at the time to watch out for them. Cannot say I have seen them, but my daughter said she caught a 2 1/2' one in her laundry area at the time and she was aggravated about it.

Lucy68 said: He must be tiny!

Who?
The coachwhip snake is very large...
Might be bigger than this one that I rescued from bird betting back in 2016:


That bird netting...
I was having too many snakes getting tangled up... had to stop trying to use...