http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerodia_erythrogaster

Probably the harmless "yellow-bellied water snake" ... they are easily irritated and will bite if you give them a chance, but not venomous. Like many snakes, when they are disturbed they will coil, hiss and try to look big and bad.

Because the YBWS has a white mouth lining, many people mistake it for a cottonmouth. It's just a poser.

Before you shoot any more snakes, learn to identify them by body shape and head/neck shape as well as color. If you are close enough to shoot it, you are close enough to get a proper ID.

Water moccasins are chunky snakes - thick bodied with a relatively short tapered tail section. Water snakes, racers, etc. have skinnier bodies and a longer gradually tapering tail end.

Water moccasins have a very distinct head/neck intersection. Watersnakes and racers don't ... their head is almost the same size as their neck.

Its a Plainbelly Water Snake. They are harmless. The best way to identify copperheads is to remember that they have hershey kiss or bell shaped markings.

When it comes to safety, I choose my life over the snakes. This snake was under the edge of my husbands shop and was not really visible. Since we do have a very, very severe problem with copperheads and other mocassins, especially in that particular area, he immediately assumed that was what it was and took necessary action. Once he drug it out and saw that it wasn't, he was kinda sad about it. He does normally try not to kill anything that isn't harmful. We also have quite a few oak snakes and I even had to shoo a king snake out of the drive way this morning. So we don't just shoot every snake that we see. But the copperheads we have are VERY aggressive and have actually tried to bite my husband and did bite one of our dogs. So we aren't going to give them any chances.

But thank you so much for your responses. Now that I know that snake isn't going to kill me or our dogs, I will know next time.

Ah well, probably get flamed, but what else is new.
First, head shape is not a good way to identify snakes. Almost any harmless snake, especially Water and Garter, but including the Rat Snakes and others, can spread the head to look dangerous. Learning the snakes of your area, and how they look in the field is the only way.

Now, next, aggressive Copperheads. Please see Copperhead.
I imagine you are people who will not kill any "harmless" creature, but will kill any creature you feels is "harmful" or "bad", which is very human centered. I can sort of understand, but here I think it is a good thing to think that Nature (or God, if you prefer) placed these creatures here with a job to do. When we take it upon ourselves to decide what is "good or bad", well...
I think everyone on this forum should read Wayne's page at Waynes page. He actually hunts dangerous snakes, and has never hurt one, and has never been hurt by one.

Also, I remember an old man telling me "a person can walk backwards faster than a snake can crawl forwards". Even the most aggressive snake couldn't catch me.

As for your dog, well, I understand, but dogs will invariably "mess" with snakes, and should be taught to leave all snakes alone.

Looks like you have done the thing of moving into an area that was formerly wild, and is now being "tamed".

Good luck

Dan - How would you "teach" a dog to leave snakes alone?

A water snake, a racer, or a rat snake trying to look dangerous doesn't look like a rattlesnake or a copperhead. They may have the coiling and tail thrashing OK, but their posture is wrong, and they aren't rattling.

Hognoses do their cobra imitation, which widens their neck even more compared to their head, while copperheads and rattlers either don't or can't do that and maintain the distinct indent at the intersection of neck and head.

And the entire skull shape is distinct - angular muzzle, eye ridges more prominent, rear of head is heavily muscled behind the jaws.

I am fortunate around here because if it doesn't have rattles, it's not poisonous enough to worry about.

If I found a rattler in my yard, I would carefully drop a plastic bin over it, slide the lid under the bin, fasten it securely and then relocate the snake to the nearest arroyo or rocky hillside. They eat rodents. The local rodents may carry bubonic plague and Hanta virus ... the snakes are on my side.

To be bitten by a rattlesnake, it helps to be male and drunk. I used to win bets in the AZ hospital's ER when the dispatcher announced incoming snakebite victims. I'd bet the new interns $5 that the patient would be male, 16-30 and have a blood alcohol at or above the legal limit.

I lost one bet in 2 years - that patient got a flat tire, and stepped on the snake in the dark as she walked around her car to look at the tire. The others were all drunk and doing stupid things with snakes.

Copperheads are not aggressive at all and that is the problem. They will let you step on them. Then they get aggressive and bite. Since the emergency room is not cheap and anytime you go to the hospital you are in danger from complications etc, I think it makes sense to kill copperheads. I would rather have rats than rattlesnakes. But if you have lots of snakes where you live, it is your reponsibility to learn which are harmless. A harmless snake should be relocated if is scares you not killed. I know black rat snakes are beneficial but I would not want one in my yard. Never kill a kingsnake. This one lives here but where you live they may have a different pattern. This guy is eating a garter snake but he would eat a small copperhead if he found one.

Copperheads and also harmless snake do rattle if they are in dry leaves. This guy was vibrating his tail when I got close.

If interested, contact me and I'll put you in touch with someone who does dog training for snake avoidance. Every dog that lives in an area with a lot of snakes should have this life saving training.

And your explanation that copperheads are "really aggressive" and need to be killed doesn't add up.

Danetherton, thank you. My thoughts exactly. I hate to even look at pics of people wanting to ID snakes because I know I am likely to see them killed. I also trained my dog to not bother snakes. I did it simply by telling him NO! just as I would if he got after a cat or a chicken. I had no trouble with my dog because he really was anxious to please. I live in an area with all four kinds of poisonous snakes (coral, rattlesnake, cottonmouth and copperhead), alhtough the cottonmouths are the most prevalent. We NEVER kill them. And interestingly enough (or maybe not), lots of snakes eat other snakes. Not just king snakes.

Here is a beautiful rattlesnake that I was given to release.

It's nice to see at least some people not killing any snake they come across just because they *think* it might be poisonous.

If you have a dog that isn't willing to leave a snake alone simply because you say "No", you have to make leaving a snake alone more rewarding to them than checking out a snake ever would be. And you have to practice so it's second nature that snakes are NEVER to be bothered.