Snakes on the Move – Surprise Shows Up in Texas Mailbox

Temperatures are starting to rise, which means that snakes are on the move! Which means they could pop up anywhere!  That is exactly what happened to Sarah in Weatherford, Texas. She posted the below picture to the Texas Snake Identification Facebook page. According to the Facebook post, Sarah heard birds in the mailbox. They cut the bottom and found a nest with eggs. Now we have a new friend. According to the one FB comment from a Top Contributor, the snake appears to be a Harmless Great Plains Ratsnake (Pantherophis emoryi)

What is going on with copperheads changing colors in Texas?

According to a Facebook post from Texas Parks and Wildlife, park rangers at Dinosaur Park just found a uniquely colored copperhead and it's pretty terrifying.

Texas is very familiar with copperheads.

Copperheads are pit vipers, and just like rattlesnakes and water moccasins, all of which will bite you if you get too close, and just happen to habitat the GREAT STATE OF TEXAS are pit vipers, and pit vipers have "heat-sensory pits between eye and nostril on each side of the head," so fun times, they can detect minute differences in temperatures and can accurately strike the source of heat, which is often potential prey and lots of Texas feet and hands!

But according to the World Animal Federation, Texas isn't the state with the most snake bites in the United States!

The states with the highest incidence of snake bites per million population per year are North Carolina at 157.8, followed by West Virginia at 105.3, Arkansas at 92.9, Oklahoma at 61, Virginia at 48.7, and Texas at 44.2.

"The copperhead bite is one of the nastiest venomous snakebites you can receive. The copperhead snake is easily identified by its copper coloration and the distinct hourglass pattern that runs horizontally across its body," the World Animal Federation offers.

But this Texas copperhead wasn't "easily identified" by its copper coloration."

Oh no, this copperhead that Dinosaur Valley State Park Wildlife Rangers found this copperhead to not only have a unique brightly colored red-and-orange coloring but a BAD ATTITUDE too!

Yep, copperheads are changing colors in Texas! With its unique color and attitude Park Rangers named it...Red Hot Cheeto.

Check this out y'all! This copperhead looks like as the kids say..."FIRE!"

In short, if you think you can identify a copperhead from its copper coloration, these vipers may be morphing into different colors, maybe just to throw us all off! I mean, it's evolution at its finest!

Just watch where you step, please!