I saw someone asked but I am real curious what part of Dallas are you in. Don't see these guys in too many metro areas. And the pairs thing is not a wives tale. Keep your eye out for another. This is breeding season for them and there will be others somewhere. I will second sulpher...I live on a farm and I use it to keep these guys and kings out of the barn and tack room where we store feed. Put it out around the entire barn about once a month during the snake season. We have had some bad encounters with the copperheads. We have a lot of kings now and they have just about run the copperheads off. Kingsnake lives to see another day...Copperhead 22 with ratshot hanging on the wall...

copper head,them are some nasty snakes if provoked with!

I would rather I bite the snake than the snake bite my kids or dogs. Now if it is a harmless snake let him go. To quote someone else on this this is the time of year they pair up.

Sulphur powder... Good tip; thanks!

I personally like snakes myself but when the kids are in danger the snakes gotta go by whatever means you feel are necessary.

Snakes made a big debut this past weekend. Saw 3 of them on the road where I rarely see any. Killed a coral snake last week, couple of copper heads already this spring. We're way ahead of schedule this year.

Interestingly detailed article in last month's Texas Monthly about the writer getting bit by a copper head. Sure didn't sound like much fun and cost $49,000 for all the anti-venom and antibiotics. Let's see...pretty snakes vs. 49K and hospital time. Ain't looking too good for pretty snakes around here.

For me personally, I would have relocated the copperhead, but I understand the urge to kill the snake that very easily could have bitten one of your little ones. While copperheads are the least venemous of all the venemous snakes here in TX, they still pack a nasty wallop, especially for children!

That's bad bad bad with little ones around. I understand the live and let live thing, but in my yard with my kids, it's dead. All of the recommendations I have read here to keep them away are good, and I want to add to educate your children about snakes,and I am sure you have done that already. They don't need to know about what snakes are good or bad, all they need to know is when they see one, stay away and come get mom or dad. That gives me chills thinking of the potential there. Another thing about animals. When I was growing up, my dogs would get bit all the time, but it never killed them. They would just get all swollen up around the bite for a few days. Back in them days, we didn't take dogs to the vet for nothing. I don't know what kind of snake they were getting bit by, but we lived close to the lake, so I would guess Cotton Mouth, but we also had Copperheads around. Copperheads aint nothing to mess with, they are very poisonous and if you don't die from it, you would wish you were. Keep those babies safe, I am so thankful you were there.

I personally don't kill snakes any more but I'm willing to take the chance to relocate them. I definitely wouldn't suggest that the average Joe should try and capture a live snake. That's how almost every person who is bit gets that way. If the snake is venomous or if you aren't sure and it is in a path that people or pets will run into it then the safest thing to do is call the fire department. If that isn't an option then a shovel is the best bet. Just beware that the head is just as deadly after it is dead than it was when it was alive. You have to be sure and dispose of it where kids and animals can't find it.

How big was it? It looks like a bigger one. I almost stepped on one last summer at Texoma. It was dark and the only reason I knew it was there was that it made some noise in the leaves it was in. Scared the [censored] out of me and I am not normally scared of snakes, when I can see them first!

I heard from a previous post last year that Sulfer Powder is good for keeping chiggers & mesquitos off as well.

You're correct on that. If you have no small children and no pets, you can broadcast the sulphur throughout the entire yard and it will keep most bugs and critters out, including the flying ones. Skeeters, junebugs, ants, etc all be gone. It doesn't kill them, just relocates them. Beware though that small children and pets, especially indoor small pets do not do well and become very sick. Don't know of any dying, but that does not mean it can't happen, I just haven't experienced it.

From this site: http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/1999/05/40.htm:

Copperhead Myths

Copperheads smell like cucumbers. You may have heard someone say you always know when a copperhead is around because it smells like cucumbers. This is both true and misleading.

Yes, copperheads and most other kinds of snakes give off an offensive odor when molested, cornered or captured. This defensive odor, produced by glands at the base of the tail, is given off at will and may also be mixed with feces. To some individuals this musk may smell somewhat like cucumbers.

However, a snake has to have a reason to expel its musk. Thus, a copperhead at rest under a rock or alongside a log will have no reason to give off its musky defense. You could walk within a few inches of the snake and never know it's there.

Black snakes breed with copperheads during floods and produce venomous black snakes. Not true. This myth has no biological basis and does not happen. Black rat snakes are not closely related to copperheads and have no interest in breeding with the venomous copperhead. Such a union would not produce viable offspring.

Copperheads always move in pairs-if you see one you will find another. Not true. Copperheads are competing with each other for food and shelter. If they remain together, their chances of finding enough prey to eat is reduced. If copperheads are found together it is because the habitat is ideal and may sustain more than one snake, or the site may be an overwintering den.

Baby copperheads are more dangerous than adults. Not true. There is no biological reason for baby copperheads to have more potent venom than adults. They have smaller venom glands, tiny fangs and are not capable of producing a venom more potent than adult copperheads.

I ran across two snakes this weekend while fishing. One while on the lake and the other at a pond. Almost stepped on the second one!

I was thinking it seemed a little early to be spotting snakes. I usually don't see them till summer.

Maybe all the rains have them in a tizzy?

awsome snake. A copper for sure

Fellow thank for all the advice(go info). Kids are fine wife still in shock. We live is in Garland off rowlett road near lAKE Ray Hubbard.