# Do copperheads really smell like cucumbers



## dixiegal62 (Aug 18, 2007)

to some people? I was walking to the chicken house this evening and the field is pretty grown up because our tractors broke right now and smelled a very strong cucumber smell. I reminded me of my mil's warning that when you smell cucumber turn around and leave the area.


----------



## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

some one told me that a few years ago when I mentioned i was weeding the garden, the creeping phlox, and thought that it smelled strongly of cucumber. But we really don't get em this far north and I went back to look for any snakes and never found any.


----------



## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Don't know. I've never gotten close enough to one to smell it!


----------



## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

I've always heard that rattlesnakes smell like cucumbers but the one time I was practically nose to nose with one...I don't remember what it smelled like. I just remember doing a rapid backward roll and shrieking like a locomotive.


----------



## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

naw, not rattle snakes. I used to play with them all the time as a kid. They never smelled like cucumbers.


----------



## Oggie (May 29, 2003)

Cucumbers don't have noses, so copperheads can't smell like them.


----------



## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

I'm just happy that I live in a region with no venemous snakes. After ten years in Arizona (the rattlesnake capitol of the world), it's nice!


----------



## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

NickieL said:


> naw, not rattle snakes. I used to play with them all the time as a kid. They never smelled like cucumbers.


Didn't they have Legos or Tinkertoys where you grew up?


----------



## tallpines (Apr 9, 2003)

According to the "Smithsonian National Zoological Park"

"The copperhead is the cause of many snakebites yearly but they are rarely fatal. Bites occur when people accidentally step on or touch the snake, which tends to be well camouflaged in its surroundings. When touched, the copperhead quickly strikes or remains quiet and tries to crawl away. Sometimes when touched, they emit a musk that smells like cucumbers."

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/Facts/FactSheets/Northerncopperhead.cfm


----------



## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Aw, there you go. Never reached down and touched one when I happened to cross paths with a copperhead!

Although, I'm not sure the Smithsonian is totally correct with their info. The only time I had a copperhead strike at me it was a good four feet away. Fortunately it was just far enough away that it fell short. I was eight months pregnant and the snake would have bit me on the leg if it had been closer. My ex was carrying his rifle and killed it. Copperheads will strike without being touched or stepped on!!!


----------



## Suzyq2u (May 17, 2010)

tallpines said:


> According to the "Smithsonian National Zoological Park"
> 
> "The copperhead is the cause of many snakebites yearly but they are rarely fatal. Bites occur when people accidentally step on or touch the snake, which tends to be well camouflaged in its surroundings. When touched, the copperhead quickly strikes or remains quiet and tries to crawl away. Sometimes when touched, they emit a musk that smells like cucumbers."
> 
> http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/Facts/FactSheets/Northerncopperhead.cfm


huh, well, now I can go to bed, learned something new


----------



## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

LisaInN.Idaho said:


> Didn't they have Legos or Tinkertoys where you grew up?


I was kinda a strange kid...I would gather as many snails as I could find then let them crawl all over me and pretend they were sucking out my brain.

I used to use smelly old salmon skulls as hand pupets.

I used to poke dead things with sticks and skulls were the coolest thing. I had myself a collection I had found wandering about. 

I brought home every sick and injured and lost little critter to nurse to health. It didn't matter if it was a possum, a lizard without a tail, or a day old skunk...

I would climb to the top of the big pine tree (doing my best to avoid the big scary red ants) during thunder storms because it was fun to sway around in the wind.

Well...I had about 20 broken bones as a kid....:bored:

But I sure kept myself entertained.


----------



## CarolT (Mar 12, 2009)

"I used to poke dead things with sticks and skulls were the coolest thing. I had myself a collection I had found wandering about"

If the dead things and skulls were wandering about, I'm darn glad I didn't grow up where you did! Sorry, had to say that


----------



## patty12 (Jan 25, 2011)

years ago I had a freind who had worked in vegetable feilds for a living . she said they smell like cucumbers when angry. said when she smelled them she went away from that spot quickly.


----------



## Freya (Dec 3, 2005)

CarolT said:


> "I used to poke dead things with sticks and skulls were the coolest thing. I had myself a collection I had found wandering about"
> 
> If the dead things and skulls were wandering about, I'm darn glad I didn't grow up where you did! Sorry, had to say that





ound:


----------



## Kazahleenah (Nov 3, 2004)

where I grew up, the only deadly things were being late fer grandma's supper and bein rude to an adult...... neither smelled like cukes to me.


----------



## mountainlaurel (Mar 5, 2010)

I've never smelled a copperhead though we have plenty of them around. I don't try to pet them

It's black snakes that stink. I don't know about a cucumber smell but they just plain stink. Dh is always finding them when they do plumbing inside of old houses and the stink alerts them.

They've pulled black snakes from walls when they have to cut into them to repair leaks. They've disturbed them in basements. Mostly it's older houses that they find them in. And he always comments about their stink.


----------



## nehimama (Jun 18, 2005)

A couple of summers ago a copperhead slithered out from under the milkstand WHILE I was milking! Never smelled a thing, but a feeling of something EVIL approaching my ankles alerted me to look down.


----------



## arcticow (Oct 8, 2006)

OK, copperheads have never smelled like cukes to me... Rattlers smell like rattlers and copperheads like copperheads, but they both have a smell. Specially if agitated. But blacksnakes smell worse.


----------



## Rita (May 13, 2002)

Once my face was no more than a foot from a copperhead that was coiled under some cucumber leaves and I didn't smell any cucumber smell. I have had several close encounters with copperheads and would say they are not aggressive at all. At least ours are very calm.


----------



## Haven (Aug 16, 2010)

As a kid, I was always warned by my dad to run away if I smelled cucumbers - Always wondered if it was a wives tale.

Fortunately I have no problem working around cukes in the garden, and I don't think twice about applying cucumber and melon body splash


----------



## ninny (Dec 12, 2005)

I don't think it's the snake that's emitting the smell, I think the smell is coming from your pants.

.


----------



## hikeswithdogs (Jun 16, 2011)

Haven said:


> As a kid, I was always warned by my dad to run away if I smelled cucumbers - Always wondered if it was a wives tale.


my husband told me this and i scoffed at it...yeah, uh huh cucumber smell, sure... 

But it sure did stick in my brain. Not long ago I was hiking with my pack of dogs and they all ran down to a little pond off the trail. As I followed them I smelled _cucumbers_! I recalled them back to me and sure enough I saw a copperhead slither out of the brush and cross the path toward the pond. 

I really hate snakes.


----------



## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I noticed the cucumber smell the first time I was introduced to a copperhead. When I smell that very distinct smell in the woods, I always look down, and within a few feet of me will be a copperhead. I think its some odor associated with their impending death.... as they always die shortly after I see them.


----------



## Tracy Rimmer (May 9, 2002)

Do they emit this "musk" when you "touch" them with a shovel?


----------



## Tracy Rimmer (May 9, 2002)

NickieL said:


> I was kinda a strange kid...I would gather as many snails as I could find then let them crawl all over me and pretend they were sucking out my brain.
> 
> I used to use smelly old salmon skulls as hand pupets.
> 
> ...


This explains so much, Nickie.


----------



## toni48 (Mar 25, 2008)

Yes they do have a smell like cukes.


----------



## DamnearaFarm (Sep 27, 2007)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> I noticed the cucumber smell the first time I was introduced to a copperhead. When I smell that very distinct smell in the woods, I always look down, and within a few feet of me will be a copperhead. I think its some odor associated with their impending death.... as they always die shortly after I see them.


Lol, I think you're on to something here.....


----------

