Snakes, The Good, The Bad, and the ugly

[reb]

I agree with Junkman. I will kill any poisonous snake near the house. But anywhere else any rattlesnake big enough to eat is fair game, too. As for the danger of dead snakes, I can verify that. One time while hunting quail I shot a 3' rattler and deheaded it immediately. About an hour later, I hung it over the bumper of my truck while I unloaded the gun. It wiggled enough to fall to the ground. My buddy leaned over to pick it up and it went through the striking motion when he touched it. He wished he had brought a change of underwear.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

The only snakes I ever killed was with a tractor implement. And none were killed on purpose. Last week I killed about a half dozen garter snakes with a york rake. As far as I am concerned those things are welcome to live in my fields and woods. I just had to clear the field.

The only poisonous snake I ever killed was killed with a backhoe, and I didn't know I killed it until sometime later when we found it. That one, had I known it was there, probably would have scared the living begeezus out of me, and I probably would have gone the other way at high speed had I even seen it.

A few weeks ago I took a picture of my wife and daughter being wrapped up by an albino boa constrictor while vacationing. . . but that was just for fun, and besides, their life insurance was paid up. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Generally, I'd prefer a dozen snakes to a pair of mice, because a pair of mice turn into scores of them and they are just dirty vile little creatures.

 

[higgy]

I don't kill snakes, I encourge them to do their thing. I used to live in northwestern australia and in my back yard we had 7 of the top 10 most poisonous snakes in the world. My dogs, and kids lived through it with no problems. I have found they want out of the situation as badly as you do. We need to have ballance in our eco system.

Everyone has their own ideas and last year there was a raging debate about this same topic.

Some do and some don't. I don't.

Just my 0.02

Dane

 

[txdon]

My attitude is that even snakes are part of the Eco system and control the rats, mice, gophers and their young are bullfrog food and raccoon food. I enjoy them as long as I see them first, from a safe distance and identify them as nonpoisonous, otherwise I tend to do the heart throbbing "SNAKE DANCE", - a quick high stepping backward kind of jig.

I have had many confrontations with snakes and conducted various experiments and observations and the only snake that I cannot tolerate is the COPPERHEAD. The copperhead will hold it's ground and strike. They will quickly strike a stick that I move toward them. My uncle, and cousin and friend have survived bites but with much pain.

Even the very poisonous CORAL SNAKES can live because they are non aggressive. I have identified about 10 different snakes but find the coachwhip to be the most unique. I like the way he stands high and is so curious but a thump on the ground will send him slithering quickly away.

I have not seen any rattle snakes but if they hold their ground they will have to go also.

Start collecting your snake photos, in a couple months (when the warm weather settles in the northern states) let's do a "This post has gone to the snakes" photo thread. (live only)/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[FordMan2000]

I am with you on snakes, a good black snack should be left alone, but if it can harm you then kill it. On that subject I have a good story about a snake and my wife to tell you. Last summer while she was bush hogging and I was nearby trimming trees I heard her calling for me. looked and saw her with the tractor stopped standing on the seat screaming about a black snake that was looking for a free ride. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I ran the snake off but she still has it out for that snake /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. and if she reads this, for me. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[jdmar]

Let 'em live...except if at the house. I would not tolerate a venomous snake at my house...got three boys, my wife and me to watch out for. The rest of the snakes are fine. I actually feel bad about saying kill 'em at the the house but I'm sorry this is a Darwin world and I want to stay on top!

There are generally only two types of venomous snakes in the US...Coral snakes that are actually in the same family as cobras...fun heh!. The others are the pit vipers (including the rattlers in there). Pit vipers are easy to recognize....wide triangular head, generally thick bodies, pits in front of the eyes, long fangs (hollow if you really want to get close). The coral snakes are generally very docile and I do not think there has been a coral snakes death in many years (eastern ofr western). Corals look a lot like king snakes....remeber the "jingle." "red on yellow kill a fellow(coral snake), red on black venom lack(king snake)"

I'll through in some pics too.

Peter

 

[jdmar]

Here is a black and white close-up of a pit viper showing the pits in front of the eyes...this one happens to be a copperhead...hard to tell without color!

Peter

 

[jdmar]

Here is a coral snake. I also have nice photos of black widow spiders, brown recluse spiders and bark scorpions-in case you really want to see more of what can hurt ya. Sorry if some of these photos are not clear....many of the original files are VERY large....up to 6 megabytes a piece and they are hard to shrink down.

Peter

 

[r0GuE]

I look at those pics and I just want to start killin!!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

I think if I get the property that I am trying to get, I wil attempt to not kill garder snakes (which is about all I've ever seen). Apparently there are rattlers and copperheads too. If I see them, they will have to die. I couldn't let one go and live with the possibility that one of my kids might get bit later on.

 

[sassafraspete]

Being close to mothers day, this post reminded me of my mom's distaste for snakes. When I was a child, my mom would take us out in the woods to hunt mushrooms. She always took a garden hoe with her and could kill a snake faster than you could blink. If a snake got into the yard, it was a gonner. One time she killed a snake by our creek and wanted me to go look at it...as she thought it was a copperhead. When I got there, I could see it was a water snake (they have similar coloring). The funny part was that the snake looked like it had gone thru a meat grinder....my mom had chopped so many times, there wasn't much left.
When my 2 children were growing up, my wife taught them to handle and admire snakes. Two events I remember well.....1) when my daughter took her pet garter snake "for a walk" and it went down a hole. She cried for awhile over that....and 2) when my son and daughter got into a fight and were chasing each other around the yard. My son was in front running for all he was worth...with about a 2' blacksnake flopping all about in his hand, and my daughter in hot pursuit saying "give me my snake back".

This just illustrates that it is all in how we grow up, what we are taught, and how our parents felt about things...probably shaped our thinking too. For me, my wife has taught me to tolerate snakes...but I still have a tendancy to go looking for that garden hoe.

sassafraspete