Tag: Texas snakes

Texas the Snake State

Esther’s writing prompt: November 4th: Snake

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For Esther’s prompt today I am posting about a Texas Snake book that I like. I am also adding some additional Texas snake information. There are 105 species of snake in Texas. More than any other state. 16 of them are venomous. Below is a picture of four venomous Texas snakes.

The four snakes are on a beige sofa.
Western Diamond Back, Copperhead, Cottonmouth, Texas Coral Snake.

The Western Diamond Back Rattle Snake is a very common large Rattle Snake. The Copperhead is another common venomous snake. The Cottonmouth is a common venomous snake which is white inside its mouth. It is also called the Water Mockasin because it is a semi-aquatic snake that hunts fish and frogs. The colorful snake on the right, the Texas Coral Snake, is very venomous but luckily not very aggressive. A bite from the Texas Coral Snake has enough venom to kill seven adult men. There is a harmless snake, the Milk Snake, which has similar colors to the Texas Coral Snake. Since both Milk Snakes and the Texas Coral Snake have similar coloring, how do you tell them apart? This is the rule you follow:

Red touches yellow kill a fellow red touches black friend of jack

Can you see this in the picture below? The snake on the left you can hold and cuddle. The snake on the right can kill you.

The Milk Snake on the left is red, black and yellow with the black bands separating red and yellow. The coral snake on the right is also red, black and yellow but with the yellow bands separating black and red.
Milk snake and Coral snake.

The Green Mamba Between my Feet

When our kids were young, we frequently visited Dinosaur Valley State Park south of Glen Rose Texas. It is famous for its fossilized dinosaur footprints. As I was walking around with my four year old son (our younger son) on my shoulders, he suddenly called out saying “Dad you almost stepped on that Green Mamba”. I looked down and between my feet there was a Green Grass Snake. It did not look like a Green Mamba, so we were safe. However, I am still glad I did not step on it.

Green curled up small snake.
Rough green snake (Opheodrys aestivus) MH Herpetology, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Whip Snake Inside my Shirt

When our daughter was young, she was part of the scout like organization called Adventure Princesses. Sometimes the Adventure Princesses went camping with their dads. On one occasion we visited a state park that had a building featuring lots of different kinds of Texas snakes. None of the snakes were venomous and the dads were allowed to pick them up and show them to the girls.

My daughter and her friends were sitting on chairs in a classroom like setting. I made the mistake of picking up a coachwhip snake or a so called whip snake. These snakes are long and thin but very muscular. They can easily raise their head above half their body. The whip snake was wild, and it snuck itself under my long shirt sleeve and started crawling up my arm. It was much stronger than I anticipated so I struggled with the snake before I could pull it out of my shirt sleeve. The girls were very interested in the spectacle. However, nothing bad happened. The snake was just very good at slithering where I did not want it to.

Snake crawling inside a man’s shirt sleeve.
Coachwhip going inside my shirt sleeve.
A long curled up dark brown and black snake.
Eastern coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum flagellum) MH Herpetology, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Rat Snake in the Sink

This happened more recently. We were visiting my wife’s parents when my wife went to the bathroom. As she was washing her hands, she noticed that a piece of what she thought was the faucet moved. She realized that there was a more than a yard long snake right behind the faucet. She had washed her hands just an inch away from the snake.

It turned out to be a harmless rat snake. However, since the Rat snake looks a bit like a Cottonmouth / Water Mockasin, we were afraid of handling it and we called animal control. I can add that we had also read that Water Mockasin Snakes could crawl through sewage pipes and come up through the toilet and bite your behind. As turned out, that is just a common myth.

Big black snake in the grass looking into the camera.
Central ratsnake, Pantherophis alleghaniensis. Stephen Lody Photography, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Now finally, the review of the book.

Lone Star Field Guide to Texas Snakes (Lone Star Guides) by Alan Tennant

Below I am listing the two editions of this book. I bought and read the paperback edition.

  • Paperback –  Publisher : Random House Large Print (November 13, 2018), ISBN-10 : 1984887262, ISBN-13 : 978-1984887269, 352 pages, item weight : 10 ounces, dimensions : 5.3 x 0.82 x 7.8 inches. It costs $27.00 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle –  Publisher : Taylor Trade Publishing (January 27, 2006), ASIN : B00IUFI1K8, ISBN-13 : 978-1461635642, 658 pages, it costs $10.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
The front cover of the book features the title and author of the book and picture of the Gray Banded King Snake.
The front cover of Lone Star Field Guide to Texas Snakes (Lone Star Guides) by Alan Tennant. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback edition of the book.

Amazon’s Description of the Book

The State of Texas not only boasts the largest snakes in North America, but also the largest number of species—105. This guide describes in detail each and every one of them, from the benign Texas long-nosed snake, to the venomous Western Cottonmouth. Facts on the biology and behavior are given, plus the latest findings on abundance, reproduction, prey, sizes, and habitat. In addition, introductory chapters describe the physiology and diet of snakes, and an all-important section on “Venom and Evenomation” debunks the many myths surrounding what to do when bit by a venomous snake. 128 color plates of species and subspecies aid in identification.

This is my five star review for the book Lone Star Field Guide to Texas Snakes

You almost stepped on that green mamba

“Dad, you almost stepped on that Green Mamba”. That is what my 4-year old (sitting on my shoulders) told me when we were walking in Dinosaur Valley state park. Using the second edition of this book I was able to identify the snake as the “Rough Green Snake” when I got home. I am glad there are no Green Mambas in Texas (in the wild), but there are still some very poisonous snakes to watch out for. Seven species of rattle snake, two species of Massasauga, and a pigmy rattle snake, cottonmouth (water moccasin), three species of copperhead, and the Texas Coral snake. The Texas Coral snake is the most poisonous of the snakes in Texas (but it is not aggressive) and the poison from the Mojave Rattle Snake can kill six adults (lives only in West Texas). There are 105 species of snakes all in all in Texas.

This edition (third edition) has essentially the same pictures and information as the second edition, but the third edition is organized better, is a little bit bigger, and more updated. What I really like about this book is that for each of the snakes it has a map of Texas showing the distribution of the snake. The book is also well organized and the photos are good. It is also an interesting book to read, it contains a lot of facts about the various snakes. Once you start reading about the various snakes, and looking at the pictures and the distribution maps, you just can’t put it down. The book tickles your curiosity. Compared to other Texas snake books that I have seen this one is the most interesting and the most well organized of them all. If you quickly need to identify a snake this is the right book.

The back cover of Lone Star Field Guide to Texas Snakes (Lone Star Guides) by Alan Tennant. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the Kindle edition of the book.

My Other Responses to Esther’s Prompts

To see the Super Facts click here

Red Touches Yellow Kill A Fellow

There at least 105 species of snake in Texas, the most of any U.S. state and 15 species are significantly venomous and four more are mildly venomous. The most venomous is the Texas coral snake, which has enough venom in one bite to kill six adult men. However, the milk snake and the king snake are harmless snakes that look very similar to the coral snake. The way to tell the difference is to use the rhyme “Red touches yellow, kill a fellow; red touches black, friend to Jack” or alternatively “Red touch black, safe for Jack. Red touches yellow, kills a fellow”.

Look at the two pictures below. One is my daughter with the critter man, and she is holding a milk snake. The other picture is of the deadly coral snake. Can you tell them apart by using the rhyme?

My daughter on the left is holding a milk snake. It has red, white/yellow and black bands | Red Touches Yellow Kill A Fellow
My daughter with a milk snake. We hired the critter man for her birthday.
A Texas Coral Snake, Mircrurus tener, isolated on a white background | Red Touches Yellow Kill A Fellow
Photo of a Texas coral snake. Stock Photo ID: 2018440949 by Scott Delony

The Green Mamba

When our kids were young, we frequently visited Dinosaur State Park near Glen Rose, Texas. On one occasion I was carrying my four-year-old son on my shoulders. Suddenly he shouted, “Dad you almost stepped on that Green Mamba”. I looked down and between my feet crawled a green snake. It was a harmless green grass snake, but I did not even know there were green snakes in Texas.

On another occasion I was showing a whipsnake to my daughter. It was at a girl scout camp, and I had taken the snake out from its glass jar located in a room where they stored nonvenomous snakes. I was holding it in my hands. The whipsnake was pretty strong and decided to crawl under my shirt sleeve. I had to fight it to get it out from underneath my shirt sleeve and back into its glass jar. I probably looked like a clown juggling a snake. Whipsnakes are thin but very strong, long and stubborn.

We’ve also seen all kinds of water snakes as well as the dangerous water moccasin or cottonmouth as it is also called. We’ve seen rat snakes and snakes in our yard. I’ve seen a lot of snakes in the wild here in Texas and I typically don’t know what kind they are. That’s why I needed The Lone Star Field Guide to Texas Snakes by Alan Tennant.

Lone Star Field Guide to Texas Snakes by Alan Tennant

The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. Important facts that we know to be true and yet they are shocking or disputed among non-experts. Super facts are important facts that people get wrong.

However, I sometimes create posts that are not super facts but contain other interesting information, such as this book review and book recommendation of the Lone Star Field Guide to Texas Snakes. This book features 105 snakes and includes hundreds of photos, information on prey and reproduction, habitat information, geographical distribution, and more. I bought the paperback version of the book.

  • Paperback –  Publisher : Taylor Trade Publishing; Third edition (December 28, 2005), ISBN-10 : 1589792092, ISBN-13 : 978-1589792098, 352 pages, item weight : 1.15 pounds, dimensions : ‎ ‏ 7.1 x 0.81 x 8.46 inches, it costs $43.46 new on Amazon, but you can buy used copies much cheaper. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle –  Published : Taylor Trade Publishing; 3rd edition (January 27, 2006), ASIN : B00IUFI1K8, 352 pages, it costs $10.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of Lone Star Field Guide to Texas Snakes by Alan Tennant | Red Touches Yellow Kill A Fellow
Front cover of Lone Star Field Guide to Texas Snakes. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback version of the book.

Amazon’s description of the book

The State of Texas not only boasts the largest snakes in North America, but also the largest number of species—105. This guide describes in detail each and every one of them, from the benign Texas long-nosed snake, to the venomous Western Cottonmouth. Facts on the biology and behavior are given, plus the latest findings on abundance, reproduction, prey, sizes, and habitat.

In addition, introductory chapters describe the physiology and diet of snakes, and an all-important section on “Venom and Evenomation” debunks the many myths surrounding what to do when bit by a venomous snake. 128 color plates of species and subspecies aid in identification.

This is my five-star review for Lone Star Field Guide to Texas Snakes

The review I posted below is a copy from Amazon, but I’ve improved it a bit. For example, in my original review of 2008 I called snakes poisonous. Snakes are not poisonous, they are venomous.

You almost stepped on that green mamba

“Dad, you almost stepped on that Green Mamba”. That is what my 4-year old (sitting on my shoulders) told me when we were walking in Dinosaur Valley state park. Using the second edition of this book I was able to identify the snake as the “Rough Green Snake” when I got home.

I am glad there are no Green Mambas in Texas (in the wild), but there are still some very poisonous snakes to watch out for. Seven species of rattle snake, two species of Massasauga, and a pigmy rattle snake, cottonmouth (water moccasin), three species of copperhead, and the Texas Coral snake. The Texas Coral snake is the most venomous of the snakes in Texas (but it is not aggressive) and the poison from the Mojave Rattle Snake can kill six adults (lives only in West Texas). There are 105 species of snakes in Texas.

This edition (third edition) has essentially the same pictures and information as the second edition, but the third edition is organized better, is a little bit bigger, and more updated. What I really like about this book is that for each of the snakes it has a map of Texas showing the distribution of the snake.

The book is also well organized, and the photos are good. It is also an interesting book to read, it contains a lot of facts about the various snakes. Once you start reading about the various snakes, and looking at the pictures and the distribution maps, you just can’t put it down. The book tickles your curiosity. Compared to other Texas snake books that I have seen this one is the most interesting and the most well-organized of them all. If you quickly need to identify a snake this is the right book.

Back cover of Lone Star Field Guide to Texas Snakes By Alan Tennant
Back cover of Lone Star Field Guide to Texas Snakes. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the Kindle version of the book.

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake Crotalus Atrox

One of the most common venomous snakes in Texas is the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. It is fairly big, 3 to 7 feet long. Nearly all of the most serious cases of snakebite treated in Texas hospitals are inflicted by Crotalus Atrox, the Western Diamond-back. Deaths are uncommon but the loss of limbs is more common. There are 10 species of rattlesnake in Texas.

A diamond-backed rattle snake raising its rattle and preparing to strike.
Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, crotalus atrox. Stock Photo ID: 2494534895 by Clint H

To see the Super Facts click here