My then girlfriend and I were renting a house on a 1500 acre ranch in central Texas. I returned home from work to an odd site. There she was looking disheveled leaning hard on a shovel with a foldup table leaning against her body. I got out of the truck to see that she had a rattlesnake pinned to the ground. The rattler had sustained signifcant damage. I dispatched it with a ball peen hammer, it took quite a few blows to do the deed. Kristi had been moving the table from the front porch to the garage when she felt something whack against her sneaker. The rattler was coiled up in the grass next to the sidewalk. It had no rattle - it had lost it somehow with just a tiny nub remaining. Well, Kristi isn't just going to stand there and take that! It was very lucky she had shoes on as she preferred to go barefoot. I think she's cured of that habit now. The snake skin from that encounter now decorates out guest room. Don't want people getting TOO comfortable...
That same ranch a few weeks later we came home from grocery shopping to see our 2 cats playing with something next to the kitchen door. It was another rattler. This one I picked up with my 12 foot pruning saw and moved it a few hundred feet from the house. Oddly it let me do this without getting too mad.
One night I was returning to work to pick up something I needed. As I turned the corner on the little country road where my warehouse is, I told Kristi to look for snakes as I frequently see one crossing the road. Sure enough there was a small rattler only about a foot and a half long in the middle of the road. Failing once again to excersize good judgement I got out of the truck and prodded the critter along with a blade of long grass. It didn't bother the snake at all. I remembered the 1/3 body length striking distance and since the snake was stretched out all the way going away from me, I gave it's tail a quick flick with my finger. I have NEVER seen a creature move so fast. It instantly coiled up and started buzzing. At that point sense came back to me and I got back in the truck while the serpent made its escape.
Non poisonous encounters in TX. In May of last year I sold my house on 1.2 acres while I was looking for my little farm. I had to relocate to a rental until escrow closed on the new place. I went out to pick up the eggs from the chicken coop and found a 5+ foot snake coiled up in a nesting box. It was a big rat snake and I grabbed it and put it in an ice chest to show off to my employees and wife. It would strike like it could kill and it certainly inspired caution, but it was all bluster. I let it go where it couldn't get to my chickens eggs.
Last one is only humorous. When Kristi and I had moved to the house we sold in the previous account, we were fascinated over finding our first scorpion. The first I had ever seen in the wild. While looking at the bug our cat ran past us with a 2 foot long bright green snake. She went straight through the cat door into the house! Luckily I was able to encourage the creature to leave with a broom.
I have yet to see a snake of any kind at my "new" 15 acre place, but I know they're out there.
