How many on the forum has had a problem with the slithering serpent while clearing and building on your property?
On Thursday the DH killed a copperhead about 18" - 24" that was 15 feet from the back corner of the house.
Then today as I was leaving ....on the gravel road that passes by our house I ran over another copperhead that was about 4 feet long.
I hit him 3 times and he still slithered away ! :-?
We have spent the week mowing and clearing any debris and will spend Sturday doing the same.
Glenn has killed several rattlesnakes. Killed one by the water faucet at the well pump, one underneath the motorhome, another small one somewhere & one with 12-13 rattles by the hot tub... I walked over one up at the top of the hill when we were exploring, there were a lot of big boulders - on the way back down, stepped from 1 big rock to another, heard something rattling, snake was coiled up in between the rocks I had just stepped over - it was gigantic! Got out of there fast!
So, to answer your question, yes, we do have problems with rattlesnakes. Won't bother them if they are far away, but anywhere around the place, Glenn will kill them. I am amazed that I haven't run into more of them - maybe just haven't seen them, because I've done a lot of weedeating & weeding & cleanup all over the place.
Yet another reason to live in the PNW, no rattlesnakes ;)
Keeps us in food though, PEG. We won't go hungry. :)
QuoteKeeps us in food though, PEG. We won't go hungry. :)
Go right ahead without me , I've tried a lot of different food , but I'll pass on rattler :o
BTW what it taste like? Chicken? Or is it a cross between spotted owl and bald eagle ? ;D
Tastes almost exactly like snake, if you didn't know what it was you would swear it was snake. ;D
We overcooked ours so it tasted like smoked snake jerky.
PEG and Jonesy -- you guys will have to come by and we'll see if we can rustle up another one -- maybe do it right next time. BTW I read that you should leave off about 6 inches of neck to be sure you miss the poison glands.
In all my time in the woods and fields I have only seen one venomous snake, it was less than 6 inches from one of my friends kids feet and before I could say anythng it whizzed off...
I AM strange as I always try to catch almost any critter to examine. Have had lot's of pet snakes. Sam, a water snake I caught in Pa. was kept in an aquarium in the garage with "George of the Cage", a garter snake and teeth, another garter snake, named for its propensity to bite. My dad and I came back from fishing one day and he freaked whenSam, turned out to be Samantha and had given birth to more than 50 little sams that were EVERYWHERE in the garage and house. They were small enough to get out of the wire mesh on the aquarium. Pretty funny, so thought I.
In Florida we had black racers around the condo, in the bushes and around the pool. Always grabbed them where I could and sold or traded for other critters at the local reptile shop.
I don't think I'd kill one unless I was going to try rattlesnake stew or the like but I must be careful because the urge, for me, to grab any snake ranks right up there with the urge one has to pound down a nail that sticks up. There are places that will pay good money for the little and not so little things. just think, you could say that "rattlesnakes paid for this window" or "my deluxe Delta faucette was financed by copperheads". Yeah, I know, I am strange.
Patty
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Yeah, I know, I am strange.
Patty
Yup ;)
Can't say I've ever had a problem with snakes... usually just leave them alone, and vice versa. If one is in a really inconvenient spot, I've moved 'em along with a stick, (lo-o-ong stick in the case of copperheads).
I bought a house once from some friends that had a large population of Garter snakes, you know the cute little garden variety. The woman had to do the yard work because the guy had a phobia about them; turned white as a sheet whenever he saw even the smallest. My grandmother also feared them, couldn't even say the word.
I dunno, I'm the kind of person that scoops the spiders up and puts them outside. I guess if I had kids or critters, or was hungry enough, I might kill a snake that was haning around, but mostly they are just part of my environment, to be treated with due respect. I get pretty nasty with wasps, though, the kind that sting ya for no apparent reason. All out war, no quarter! [smiley=angry.gif]
I used to try to leave them alone -lots of gophers and wood rats around here so the snakes help, but a lady a few miles from here left one alone near her house and a couple days later it bit her and killed her. A tree trimmer for Asplundh was killed a year or so ago and someone else also.
So - I modified my rules. Well away from the house is OK --near it is not.
Ug caveman , Easy hunting that way. Killum close to house less draggum back , Ug ;D
Patty, my son had a python & also a little skinny bright green snake. When he brought home the green snake, I was sitting in the recliner reading a book, he sticks it up in my face & says "hey, Mom, look at the snake I found."
I couldn't tell at first whether it was real or a fake. Took me off guard a little at first.... :o don't like them 2 inches from my nose! The python would get out of his room all the time & go into the linen closet. I don't know if he ever named it. I used to keep pet blue belly lizards in the house, put them in the windows so they could eat any bugs that got into the house. My other son had a gecko. I would hold them, but not brave enough to grab one out in the wild (the snakes, that is)! I don't especially like most bugs, though, especially spiders... I can pick up the daddy long legs but they are so prolific around both our places, & make so many spider webs that I am constantly having to clean them up. I had a friend, as a kid, who had pet tarantulas - we'd let them crawl on our arms... took me awhile to get up the nerve to hold em, though.... Glenn had pet tarantulas too. What fun!
QuoteI used to try to leave them alone -lots of gophers and wood rats around here so the snakes help, but a lady a few miles from here left one alone near her house and a couple days later it bit her and killed her. A tree trimmer for Asplundh was killed a year or so ago and someone else also.
So - I modified my rules. Well away fron the house is OK --near it is not.
Wasn't it thier house first? I mean before you and the bulldozer came ;D
Possession is 9/10 of the law?
Walk softly and carry a big stick?
I'm gonna tear your arm off and beat you with the bloody end of it? Wait ---snakes don't have arms. Nevermind. :-/
QuotePossession is 9/10 of the law?
Humm almost a Govt. thread here ;D
Walk softly and carry a big stick?
Good old Teddy, wonderful President ;)
I'm gonna tear your arm off and beat you with the bloody end of it? Wait ---snakes don't have arms. Nevermind. :-/
If dolpins had hands there'd be bridge's under /in the oceans ::)
I almost elaborated on the government thread but am refraining from rants this morning as there is a $5 all you can eat breakfast at the American Legion Hall today and I want some of it. :)
Enjoy your beer with breakfast, Pst don't tellum your anti Govt. they'll tap your phone or somthin ;)
You know who those Legion- airs are ::) Semper Fi ;)
I know, PEG --but they have cheap food and lots of it. Ladies got to eat free today.
Wear the tutu mate, they'll never know. ;D
Well ---- there was a very old fella there with a diamond stud earring.
I suppose If I did that, Jonesy, I'd have to shave my legs so there wouldn't be hair flying into the food.
Snake phobia around here is soooo pervasive. Even Miss Cherty Pie Barker hates them. I can tell by her bark if there's a snake in the yard. Probably even if it's just some cute little grass snake.
Guy working for me last summer carried a St. Patrick's medal at all times to protect him from snakes. I didn't tell him about the black snake under the foundation where he was sitting. :) It was just a little one--there was a bigger one about ten feet away.
One of the rattlesnakes is an endangered species around here. I've yet to hear anyone mention that without saying that they would kill one if they saw it. They don't care if it goes extinct. I think I do. Not that I want to have a rattler three feet away. I'd much rather have a black snake trying to convince me that she was [highlight]bad[/highlight] by rattling her tail in dry leaves. They do. Seen it more than once.
Copperheads are supposed to have really septic bites. As in infection, more than the poison, is the problem.
I could not believe my eyes!
This morning the DH and I were on our way to the homeplace to do some more outside cleanup when just before we got to our driveway..........there lay the SNAKE! :-?
DH was shocked that it was so big...... once again he got away but we know that he is in the patch of bushes by the neighbors drive.
So, trying to be a good neighbor I alerted them of "Copper" maybe the neighbor can eliminate him and will probably do so since his 2 small children usually play on that side of the yard.
Old one here, but...
Did you hear about the snake who was so poor he didn't have a pit to hiss in. :-/ ;D
Sorry Glenn that was really bad
lol
Sorry, Kevin -- I'm a bit burned out lately so have trouble thinking of new ones.
On the other hand, my wife usually forgets them after a few weeks, so I can recycle them--good for a laugh 2, 3 or maybe even 4 times. :)
Glenn,
That joke was so bad it hurt my eyes to read it.
Here's a photo of a rattlesnake that I spotted last May in the crawlspace of one of my clients in Napa. I was checking the perimeter of the building and found this guy sunning himself against a ventilation grill.
We brought in a "Reptile and Amphibian Rescue" specialist to evict him. The guy loved snakes and went into the crawlspace on his hands and knees armed only with a tool that looked like a golf putter and a burlap sack. I was suprised at how passive the snake was even when bagged. He never even rattled.
Rattlers shouldn't be underestimated, though. Last year friends of mine in San Mateo lost their dog when he ran into some tall grass at a county park and tried to play with a rattler.
The snake guy told me that rattlers breed in large numbers and tend to return to stick around their nest areas. They are very hard to drive away as no noise or smell repels them. According to him, the best way to keep snakes away is to provide a wide open space around your house and keep rodents away. Snakes like shrubs for shelter and rodents for dinner. In my client's case, he had a rodent problem, lots of low shrubs near the house, and an open crawlspace door.
A final note -- the snake guy was afraid of spiders.
-Mike
I don't take snakes lightly. Wish a reptile and amphibian rescue person was closer than 50 or a hundred miles.
Cherty the dog barks a lot at them--never seen her get bit (or the results of it, although I watched her try to get a bee this afternoon--smart move--not).
But Buster did, at least once--the other puffed up face might have been due to a scorpion. He ended up at the vet both times.
But I expect snakes have got a right to the tree of life too.
In this part of East Tennessee we have a saying. "If you've been in the woods for 15 minutes, your shadow has probably fallen on a snake." It's something you always need to be aware of. We have a "snake stick" made from a garden hoe that lost it's blade leaving a hook shaped tang. It's also useful as a fire poking tool.
We're always careful when picking up anything that could hide a snake, and try to keep the grass cut short around our main camping/building area. My wife ran over a poor little garter snake with the power mower. KHARRAUUUPPPPTTT!!!! No more snake.
No venomous snakes around here... just typical garden/garter snakes. We do have a lot of nosey black bears around. Neighbour woke up one day last fall and found one drinking from the old handpump turned water fountain in her front yard. I have seen bear "mines" all over my section of the road too.
I grew up on some property in North Carolina that had been a rice plantation in the 1700's. (might have been awfully temperate climate back then for rice that far north) One of the paddys had morphed into Rattlesnake Swamp.
My dad and I tramped around in it a lot, never saw any snake in there, let alone a rattler. But we did make a whole lot of noise. Deliberately.
Actually, Amanda, some rice varieties can be grown as far north as Long Island. South Carolina owes it's pre-eminence in rice cultivation to the fact it was the major destination point for enslaved Africans with knowledge of rice production. Those poor folks were not only the labor source, but the brains behind the success.
A bit off topic, I know, but the subject is of interest to me. One of my great, great uncles had a rice plantation in South Carolina.
Never kill a black snake ,As he will run the others off . A snake smells,once you recognize the odor youll can smell them ,its kinda of a mellon smell .smell one in a jar and Youll go "Oh Thats familiar" Creepy is to be where you cant see the ground and smell one. They dont like the open areas so Im clearing all around the cabin. They really like to lay under things so eliminate places for them to hide near your area of travel . You also might wanna get geese and let them roam.I do not like shoulderless friends at all. I havent seen one yet while clearing and building but they are there. I work one area at a time and the noise will drive them off, use a hoe to flip stuff on the ground .I was told once lime spread about will keep them away?
We ranch for a living (my husband is a cowboy) and have lived in several locations where snakes were common. The place we were on in northern SD we had about four rattlesnakes in the yard during the three years we lived there. Here in southwestern Nebraska, I've only seen one in three years in my yard.
Prairie rattlesnakes, while to be respected, aren't usually deadly unless you have a reaction. A run to the hospital is still the rule of thumb, but it's not like you should sign your will as soon as you get hit or anything.
And we do have a couple of bull snakes who have set up residence in my lilac bushes. ::) Bullsnakes are harmless (though they will bite!), but their protection is the mimicry of rattlesnakes. Colored very similarly, and they "rattle" with their tongue/mouth/something. They can scare the crap out of you if you happen to almost step on one as you're running out to the sandbox. (My six year old yesterday...)
From the time they could walk, my kids know that when they see a snake they "leave it alone and go tell Mom or Dad."
Where Im building has copperheads.eastern rattlesnake,a potent little pygmy rattler and water moccasions.many years ago waliking to afriends house one night I stepped barefoot on a dead one in the road.A feeling you dont forget.make lots of noise and keep youre eyes open ,lately Ive only seen some neat lizards.
The other morning Miss Cherty Pie Barker was giving her "There's a snake here" bark, so I went out and looked at it--black snake, doing the rattling bit, even though it obviously is not a rattlesnake. Getting ready to strike if the dog (or I, for that matter) got any closer, too.
We also have water snakes that look remarkably like copperheads--except, of course for the pit viper head.
Well, O.K.! Been taking down a 40'x80' greenhouse, and no snakes so far. However there is a huge pile of concrete blocks associated with it, and I can report positively for at least one black widow spider. Couldn't firgure what was wrong; several days of headaches, really sore muscles, dizzy, etc. Then I saw the little booger today, and thought "Hmm...". A little attention to the soma and a looksee located two little puncture marks on the back of my elbow, right where the rolled up shirtsleeves bind.
How'd that song go, "I don't like spiders and snakes...."?
Anyway I'm on the mend, I did NOT squish the spider, (she's jus' tryin' to make a livin', and not get stepped on by "the man", same as the rest of us), and I would point out that construction sites, especially ones not visited daily, are prime real estate for bugs.
I'll look a little more carefully [smiley=sad.gif] when schlepping stuff around in future.