My Dog Blu Was Bit By A Poisonous Copperhead Snake Today

Thank you Big Horn and AP. I didn't know that there are snake vaccines. Good to know! I'll ask my Vet about it. Blu is off all pain and inflammation meds. He was taking Rimadryl. Tomorrow is the last day for antibiotic pills and then he's done. He's perfectly back to normal now.

I have a stream at the far end of my property outside the fence but I wonder if it attracts more snakes. Water must.

There is a black netting in a roll at the hardware store that I'm considering for the lower part of the fence. Snakes may not want to get caught up in that.
 

Lord have mercy! Bella this time! No bite and not poisonous (black/gray/white snake) but she was barking at it and getting closer when I first saw her from my deck. Both dogs off their leashes in my fenced yard. What is really strange is that I could hardly tell what it was because it was in a tight ball, undulating, and rolling over on itself to get away from Bella (as if she's all that ferocious). It wasn't in a coil to strike. Couldn't see the head or tail.

I still was even quite sure it was a snake when I finally got to Bella but Blu was now heading over and I didn't feel I could waste time staring at it. I had to get them to run to the house fast!

The only way for that to happen was for me to turn my back and run to the house screaming in fear (for them) and yelling "treats!!" and it worked. We all got to the house and I went out on the deck to see if I could get a closer look but it was gone.

It was black on the top, gray on the sides, and white on it's belly. It was kind of shiny like slimy or sweat. I couldn't see the head because I guess it was inside this undulating coiled up ball. Or maybe on the other side of the ball hidden from my sight. It obviously had no plan to strike. It's body was about maybe 1.5" wide...which I consider to be full grown.

It's gone. Has anyone ever seen a snake in a tight undulating ball like that? My heart was pounding like crazy!

Meanwhile, yes, I'm looking into a black mesh barrier that sticks into the ground at an angle which, supposedly, is the only thing to keep snakes out.
 
Just be glad, Lara, that the snake wasn't into "treats" and followed y'all! You gotta start "meshing" with that legless varmint!
 
haha, meanderer..."be glad the snake wasn't into "treats"...only you could make me laugh at a time like this :D.

Thank you RR and AC

It looked a little like these two pics while Bella was only 2' away barking. Mostly like the first pic...the grey one for color, tightness and no head/tail showing. And the one on the right for it's slimyness and less organized coil...

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Wasn't around when you posted about Blu, glad he's okay now. Happy that Bella wasn't bitten also. We saw a large snake in a ball like that in the weeds near the side of the road at the dog park. When we looked closer and the odd throbbing ball, we saw that it was two snakes coiled together, we had to assume from their actions that they were doing the 'wild thing' and in the process of mating. They became frightened and separated, each going in different directions.

One on my dogs Gunter, was bitten by a rattlesnake in my yard years ago. We never caught or identified the snake, but that's what the emergency vet said. He knew better than to knowingly go too close to a snake, but he was bit on the back leg and was likely caught by surprise, maybe not even seeing the snake. He was holding his leg up and we got out the small clipper and shaved the area where we thought he was injured.

It was an obvious snake bite mark. Within minutes he started panting heavily, had trouble breathing and was drooling...and he was not a dog that drooled. I rushed him to the vet hospital and they kept him overnight. He was on IV fluids and received an anti-venom shot, and was given meds. Luckily he was okay after that ordeal.
 
Good grief SeaBreeze, poor Gunter. Blu drooled too and the doc said that's from pain. So glad Gunter was okay. Interesting that you experienced that snake coiled in a "throbbing ball" but I think this one I saw was just one snake. I didn't stick around long enough to find out...I was frightened out of my mind. But I think it's a "good snake".
 
We thought it was one large snake, it was a surprise to see two heads in that ball. We have bull, garter and rattle snakes in our area, if we see a rattle snake in our yard we will do our best to kill it. The bull and garter/garden snakes we leave alone since they're not poisonous.

Luckily we don't get too many snakes in our yard, just now and then. Years back my husband was sitting in the yard in the shade of one of our pine trees, and was surprised by a snake hanging down from a branch near his head. I've only seen them on the ground and would like to keep it that way. I did see a Red Tailed Hawk fly from one of our trees holding a snake, not sure if he took it on the ground or in a tree.
 

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