If it doesn't rattle....

...it's a cobra. My hard and fast rule for snakes. In the mornings I love to take my coffee and go walk around our porch. There's usually a nice southern breeze that makes the 80 F temperature and 80% humidity reasonably comfortable. (Good old North Texas summers!) The birds are singing and everything is green-it's really lovely out here in the mornings.

Evidently, this little guy thought so too. He was curled up in front of the porch this morning. For those not familiar with snakes, this is a little copperhead, a venomous snake. Even the babies like this could be dangerous, especially to a small child. I almost missed him because his coloring is so similar to the dirt. Needless to say, I was NOT happy to see him. My old adage "if it doesn't rattle it's a cobra definitely applies here. We do try not to kill the "good" snakes, so we have familiarized ourselves with the differences between them.

The shape of the head shows it's a viper and the markings and tell-tale green tip of the tail show it's definitely a young copperhead. I think what really bothers me is the fact that it's a baby, which means a group of eggs has hatched nearby and there are more out there, and probably adults too. With our grands around we will have to be careful before we let them outside! (And yes, my husband killed it for that very reason.)

I guess that's my adventure for the day. Bother adventures!