Name that snake

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If they're (poisonous) in their habitat they live. Around the house I reluctantly kill. Not quite comfortable enough to remove them alive.

Had to throw the snapping turtle in just for show and tell. Felt sorry for him. Wanted to strap my thermocell on him and help out with the mosquitoes.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Texas has one too, in Sweetwater. Frankly I think it is going the way of dog fighting, cock-fighting. Lots of anti-cruelty sentiment surrounding it now.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/10/sweetwater-texas-rattlesnake-round-up
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The rattlesnake "roundup" is one of the stupidest things we Texans do. The "hunters" use hand tank sprayers filled with gasoline to flush the snakes from their hibernation dens. There are hundreds captured and killed every year.

This idiotic practice obviously affects the natural balance of predators and prey. But the biggest issue is that the yahoos around Sweetwater are systematically exterminating a beneficial species.

The "roundup" is defended with a couple of assertions. One claims the rattlesnakes are dangerous and aggressive, which is ridiculous. The snakes are extremely timid, and will flee from humans. Just about every bite occurs when the snake and human are surprised and the snake feels it has to defend itself.

The other excuse is that the money raised from attendance to the event and sales of rattlesnake meat benefit charities. The idea of using cruelty to animals to raise money isn't really a valid reason, don't you think?

It's really a shame that most people think killing every snake they see is acceptable. They play an important part in the ecosystem.

If you see a snake just walk away. Except for the very territorial cottonmouth, snakes are timid and will not bother humans.
 
Shepherd said:
Yeah. You just can't fix stupid.
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There was a reality show on (briefly) last year about snake handling churches. During the run of less than 10 episodes there were 3 snakebites and 1 death.
 
I don't expect my grandson to be as snake savvy as you e-experts. Its my responsibility to make his environment as safe as I can and my yard qualifies. See a snake, kill a snake. No remorse.
Same goes for bears.
 
Stewartb said:
I don't expect my grandson to be as snake savvy as you e-experts. Its my responsibility to make his environment as safe as I can and my yard qualifies. See a snake, kill a snake. No remorse.
Same goes for bears.
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I take a different approach. See a child, educate a child.
 
Reading about copperheads and cottonmouths near the house makes me glad I live in an area where there are no venomous snakes. Not that I really worried about them in MI - massassaugas are very shy and I have never seen one in the wild. The only venomous snakes in VT are a few timber rattlers southwest of Rutland, but that's miles away from where I live (or hike).

Bears, then again, are another issue... :(
 
Yeah don't mess with bears unless you have a big gun. Lived in the N.Ga mountains years ago and saw a few by the house at times. Stayed inside, especially since one was a cub! If you see a cub you have trouble 'cause mama bear goes on the offensive.
 
I have a bear (at least one, never seen more than one at a time) and love it! Just like snakes, by the time you see them, they're typically already heading in the opposite direction. Unless, of course, you get between a mom and her cub(s).
 
Folks are scared silly about snakes while they''ll walk right up to a strange dog. Wanna know which is more likely to harm you? Wanna know which can cause more harm?

Snakes are good things, just like the posters said. Most of the things they eat are many the things we don't like. A pretty vast majority a non-poisonous here. The few poisonous varieties are mostly not deadly and very obviously marked. One of the very few things I dislike about living int he city is I don't get to see more snakes mooking about.

If you're that worried about snakes move up north. Fewer of them, and the poisonous ones don't get that big or dangerous.
 
steingar said:
If you're that worried about snakes move up north. Fewer of them, and the poisonous ones don't get that big or dangerous.
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WHAT! And give up all this Alabama blue sky and sunshine, plus freeze.... :eek:;):)
 
steingar said:
Folks are scared silly about snakes while they''ll walk right up to a strange dog. Wanna know which is more likely to harm you? Wanna know which can cause more harm?
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Very true but it's genetic. We have an innate fear of snakes that we don't have for dogs. Even though I love snakes and love f'ing with them (non-poisonous ones of course) it's still an adrenaline rush every time I do.

Don't get an adrenaline rush from any dogs! ;)

Oh, and occasionally I'll f*** w/ a poisonous one, but I save those escapades for the "hold my beer and watch this" events.

Even my dogs have an innate fear of snakes. If they get nose to nose with one they'll jump straight into the air...landing a good 3 feet behind their launch point. I've never seen them react that way to any other wildlife that they encounter.
 
timwinters said:
Very true but it's genetic. We have an innate fear of snakes that we don't have for dogs. Even though I love snakes and love f'ing with them (non-poisonous ones of course) it's still an adrenaline rush every time I do.
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I must not have gotten those genes then. I have absolutely no fear of snakes generally, in fact I like them. Garter snakes, milk snakes, blue racers, I'm happy to see anything with scales along the trail. As long as it's not venomous. But I'm as nervous as a schoolgirl hiking through areas known to have lots of rattlers or copperheads - I did one solo hike in the Smokies through a high diamondback population area a couple of decades ago that had me treading VERY carefully. :eek:
 
Day 3. Still here. Based on his position, and the fact that Bob has been in the same place every time I've spotted him, he's living under my deck, not just waiting for dinner to come out. Here's another picture for those that wanted to see the head. Zoom in for more detail...

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Guess I need to figure out how I want to block access to under my deck.
 
steingar said:
We have this neat thing up here called heat. You don't even need electricity, you can just burn stuff.
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Oh we have that too, electric, gas, or woodburning. Whatever ones flavor is. I know cold. Lived in Duluth when my Dad was stationed there. Very cold.
 
From his eyes, looks like he's getting ready to shed. He's probably staying hidden in one area until then. After that he'll likely wander off.
 
timwinters said:
Plus it's only "miserable" for three months instead of six or seven.
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Well it's usually nice until about middle of May til maybe late Sep-Oct. Then it's hot, very hot during the summer.
 
You guys fly those dangerous airplanes and are scared of snakes.......go figure ;)
 
Post #103 would be getting a 40 grain Pb vitamin in these, here, parts. No questions asked.
 
Stewartb said:
I don't expect my grandson to be as snake savvy as you e-experts. Its my responsibility to make his environment as safe as I can and my yard qualifies. See a snake, kill a snake. No remorse.
Same goes for bears.
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Teach him. I caught my first snake when I was six, it was a black racer.

This is our garter snake. My grandson and I caught her, we feed her goldfish.

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My brother got married outside. We helped set up chairs and get everything ready for the ceremony.

While we were setting up chairs, I kept running into this HUGE garter snake (larger than your pet). He wasn't hurting anybody (and they're not poisonous anyway), just moving around the yard, and by the time the guests started arriving, he was nowhere to be found.

I figured the people freaked him out, and he went hiding somewhere, or went home.

I was probably right; but I think he decided things had calmed down when everybody had taken their seats (people weren't walking all over the place anymore). He started looking/wandering around. I nudged my other brother, showed him the snake going under people's chairs, down the aisle, etc. He moved slowly, and everyone (else) was watching the ceremony.

I don't pray very often, but I did say "oh please oh please no one notice until after the wedding is over".

Nobody noticed, he slithered away, no shrieks from the ladies he was mere inches from. PHEW!!!!
 
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