Uninvited Dinner Guest - SNAKE! - Photo essay - UPDATE, thanks Angela

DH and I just sat down to dinner when there came a knock at the door.  Now nothing bothers me more than a knock at the door or the phone ringing at dinner time.  I made my usual reply.....Doesn't anyone eat dinner any more?  DH said.....Who is it?.....I replied, I don't know, probably John or Al with a sigh.  So as he finished cutting his chicken, he got up to see who it was.  It was my next door neighbor.  She came to warn us to be careful when we took out the trash because there was a snake in the dumpster area!  Well, with that, of course I had be a looky Lou.  Coming from the north and a city girl at that, I supposed that I had to see my first snake since moving south.  I thought it would just be a garden snake or maybe some type of harmless snake that we would see when we were up the mountains in Pennsylvania. 

By this time our friend Al who lives across the street was on the scene.  Now Al knows a lot about critters, being a fisherman and living around these parts a lot longer than us.  He goes on to inform us that it is a Copperhead, poisonous, and we should keep our distance.  Well, you know me, I had brought my camera and was ready to get some photos!  DH was warning, don't get to close Miss Clumsy.  All the time I'm inching closer to get a good shot.  My neighbor is looking for heavy objects to smash it with and I'm saying "no way" "poor little snake" and the like.  Al's wife is on the phone with DNR (I think that's what he said) to see if someone will come out and get it.  What's DNR my neighbor asks.  Do Not Remove I reply.  They would only come out for a fee, so the snake is safe for now, and IMHO so are we as long as we keep our distance.  Of course I'll be extra careful taking out the trash, but I think he'll probably be headed out back for the pond area.  After all, snakes aren't know to be trash pickers.

So here's the photos so you can all see my newest visitor.  No, I'm not going to feed it or do anything to encourage it to stick around.  I draw the line at snakes, harmless or not.  He can just go back to where he came from and I thank him very much for the visit and the photos, but I'm not interested in any long term relationship here.

First I'll start with a photo from Google search:

This is not my photo but one from google to show what a copperhead snake looks like.

The following photos are mine taken with PowerShot S3IS.

I was expecting to see a little, long, skinny snake!  Whoa, now that's some SNAKE!  With all the commotion going on around him, he decided he'd try high tailing it out of here.

This shot shows his pattern, I'm still not so sure it's a copperhead though.  Al's insisting that it is and all I can do is take his word for it.

He's not too pleased right now and just wants to get away from us!

I don't think he's smiling for the camera, do you?

This one isn't very good but does show his length.

You can see by my shadow that I'm staying pretty far back!

He's really moving pretty fast for a snake.

So people, that was my pre-dinner entertainment for today!  I decided I got the best photos I was going to get, risking harm to body and limb.  I went in to eat my dinner at this point and let someone else worry about him.  My thoughts - he'll go back to wherever he came from.

Nobody came out, after dinner he was around the side of the building, traveling along the wall.  I would imagine he'll slither down to the pond and be on his way.  After all, it was probably his dinner time too.

I still have no idea what kind of snake this actually is, so anyone who knows, please share your expertise! 

Well, it didn't take long, Angela pointed me to two websites that have a description and photos of this snake.  Thanks Angela.  Now I can go back out without the fear of being attacked by a snake.  Thanks goodness my neighbor never found something to smash this poor snake with.

If you like, visit the websites Angela has in her comments below, very interesting information.  I love learning new things and now I have a bit of background to one snake that lives near me.

It's a Brown Watersnake!