An overabundance of Copperheads...

[BK7saum]

I have seen at least 6 Copperheads in the last 5 nights. They have all been seen at dusk at the edge of my back yard about 75 yards from my house. It is a bit early for them to be actively moving towards a den for hibernation. Anyone have an idea of what is up with them. I've seen no other snakes besides a small speckled king snake. All six snakes have been seen within a 50 yard by 10 yard area.

Brad

[GRUMPA]

Snakes are hunters, take away there food source and they migrate to greener pastures. If you have a food source for them they'll stay, if not they continue on there way....

[starmac]

Could it be the copperhead rut. I have always seemed to notice that where one snake was seen others ofthe same were close by.

[victorfox]

[smilie=p: reminds me of the simpsons episode... The great day or something they hit snakes with sticks...

[JeffinNZ]

[smilie=p: reminds me of the simpsons episode... The great day or something they hit snakes with sticks...

Whacking Day. Either snakes or the Irish.

A member in Texas had a run on copperheads also. LOTS.

[victorfox]

Thanks Jeff.

[LIMPINGJ]

If the Cicadas are coming out the snakes will gather in an area to catch them before the exoskeleton has a chance to harden.

[44man]

Sneaky buggers and usually not aggressive but I would not want them near. Dogs and such can be bit. I would shoot them. Black snakes take care of rodents. Tree huggers might hate you so just send them the snakes! I don't want any poisonous snakes around at all.

[44man]

No cicadas here yet and I am disappointed. I want some to eat. They are good!

[mold maker]

A bumper crop of both Cicadas, and black snakes here. I had no idea they might be connected. Never too old to learn.

[Freightman]

No cicadas here been way to dry for way to long.

[BK7saum]

Well apparently the cicadas are what they're after. I didn't really expect the snakes to congregate near my house. I don't have a problem with Copperheads or rattlers as long as they are in the river bottoms and pasture away from my house. I leave them alone, then.

These snakes have been eating cicadas. I guess they are easier to find along the mowed lawn next to the taller weeds, grass and brush/trees. I hear the cicadas in the woods, but they're usually here all summer anyway. I didn't expect to be seeing so many Copperheads.

[toallmy]

I had to look up ( cicadas ) we must call them something different here in Va. But as far as the snake I kill em all .

[starmac]

No cicadas here yet and I am disappointed. I want some to eat. They are good!

How do you prepare them to eat??? Curious minds want to know.

[starmac]

I had to look up ( cicadas ) we must call them something different here in Va. But as far as the snake I kill em all .

We called them locusts when I was growing up.

[toallmy]

Like a grasshopper sort of , or a cricket . Ether way I'd kill the snake .

[MarkP]

We called them locusts when I was growing up.

Same here but would hear both cicada and locust with Locust being more common.
I remember in the early 1970's out in Western Nebraska at a rest stop along I-80 seeing huge grasshoppers 3 or 4 inches in length. A man watching me catch them told me they were locusts. I think these are the locusts of the dust bowel era.

[montana_charlie]

Like a grasshopper sort of , or a cricket . Ether way I'd kill the snake .
A cricket looks like a fat grasshopper, but it's black.
The grasshopper and locust are the same bug, but they are locusts when a swarm eats your entire county.

The cidada makes noise by rubbing it's wings ... not it's legs, like crickets and grasshoppers.
It's a long, low, heavy-bodied bug.

Comparing by looks, if the grasshopper is a jack rabbit the cicada is a badger.

[44man]

How do you prepare them to eat??? Curious minds want to know.
I just pulled the wings and ate them. Males are kind of empty though. There are recipes to cook them too. You can grill or fry them. You can eat locust/grasshoppers too but they just taste like grass.
We have grubs in the ground but I never tried one. My dogs and the fox and skunks dig them up, I find holes all over my yard.

[funnyjim014]

I thought you had to cook grasshoppers due to some sort of bacteria or parasite that lives in there gut

[Blackwater]

One other thought, could be that it's their mating season. My son killed a couple of rattlers in the act of mating, complete with intertwined spiraling around each other, a couple years ago right behind his house in the field. They can show up in numbers during the mating season, and where they pick and why they pick it is a mystery to me, but it'd probably pay to watch EXTRA carefully in that area for at least a while. I think they release some pheromones or hormones or something that they can attract mates to the smell with. If your dog sniffs around the place a lot more than normal, and acts a bit leery of what he's smelling, that would be a possible indication of this. That's my best guess and all I can add to the discussion, anyway.

[TXGunNut]

Copperheads around here seem to move around more in the spring and fall, always heard that was mating season for them. OP seems to be more about food.

[starmac]

I just pulled the wings and ate them. Males are kind of empty though. There are recipes to cook them too. You can grill or fry them. You can eat locust/grasshoppers too but they just taste like grass.
We have grubs in the ground but I never tried one. My dogs and the fox and skunks dig them up, I find holes all over my yard.

I reckon I have never been that hungry, and hopefully will never be. lol

[6bg6ga]

Can you eat copperheads? I hear rattlesnakes are tasty. At any rate shoot the bastoms.

[snowwolfe]

Someone just reported in our county in Tennessee a lady was bitten by a copperhead. They claimed they are hanging from the trees so they can catch the cicadas. But the cicadas sure don't look like a grasshopper where I live.
Just passing it on, can't verify if it is true.

[wgr]

hot as its been they might be looking for a cool spot, like around water

[MaryB]

I have been hearing a few cicadas buzzing but the garter snakes are thick this year so most of the bugs haven't had a chance int he lawn. I have at least 30 snakes living in my yard with one really big once right by my front door(hisses at me when I weed the hops plated there!). Has a den in a hole in the foundation.

[Teddy (punchie)]

from what I recall the locust were of a Rocky Mountain grasshopper that was able to change into a phase and grow longer wings and body to support longer flying distance. Sometime in the 1950's or 60's they died out or phased out. They are not sure why or what made them phase. There a documentary program on them, not sure if it was about the dust bowl or about just Locusts.