snake story

[wushaw]

How bout this. Eastern Ribbon Snake - North Carolina

 

[patrick_g]

Pat, on many occasions in Northern Ontario I have seen a school of ducklings being herded by their mother, and suddenly a wake would appear heading for them, and one of them would just disappear from the surface. We were pretty sure they were northern pike, or maybe muskie, grabbing the ducks. I don't think they live down your way, do they - I think they're cold water lovers. It even made me think twice about dangling my fingers over the side of the boat!!

When I was in grade school and junior high school we used to take family vacations in Cold Water, Michigan, fishing trips really as my parents were avid fishermen. We were warned to not dangle toes or fingers in the water over the side of the boat while transiting from point A to B due to pike which as you know have a mouthful of teeth like a dog. Ducklings are snacks for largemouth bass too.

Whatever got the duck I mentioned had to have quite a big mouth on it to swallow the duck whole and not dislodge any feathers.

Now as to the SNAKE TOPIC:

When I was in high school I used to shoot a lot of bull frogs with my single shot iron sighted .22 with hollowpointed shorts. My mom and aunt the biology teacher for nearly 40 years would clean them and fry them for supper. I was too dumb and skipped the frog legs for a hamburger. Didn't try frog till after I got out of the service... dumb me, they are delicious.

Well anyway one big mess of frogs I brought home had distended bellies. Curiosity got the best of my aunt and my mom so they cut some open to see what they were eating and it was SNAKES! Each frog was just fully stuffed with small (probably baby) snakes. The sight of all those partially digested snakes made them both sick and put them off eating frog for months.

Pat

 

[buck12]

Buck12, I too had an encounter with a snake in tall grass last weekend. Everything turned out OK but there was some pain involved.
My dog Halley was laying in the tall grass near the oak tree about 15 feet from the garage where I was working on the tractor. All of a sudden Halley jumps straight up 2 feet in the air.After a few minutes of searching the grass I find a coiled up rattle snake. I get a shovel and dispose the snake. By now my wife is out wondering what all the commotion is about and I tell her that Halley was probably bitten by a snake. While my wife and I are talking about what happened I notice Haley's lower jaw is swelling up. about then we decide to take her to the vet. By the time we get ready to leave and get Halley into the truck she now has a lump on her throat the size of a softball, now I'm starting to get concerned.
We get to the vet and she says we have two choices, antibiotics or antibiotics and anti venom. last month we lost Pepper, our dog of 18 years, and did not want to lose another so I opted for antibiotics and anti venom.
One week later and $1100 poorer at least all is well with Halley.

Glad to know the pup is ok. They become members of the family. I lived in the sticks growing and my dog was bitten fairly regularly and lived to a ripe old age for a country dog. Times are different now in that I spend more on the healthcare of my daughter痴 cat and dog than I do on myself.

 

[buck12]

Some people kill things because they don't understand them or out of ignorance or fear. Others share a little space on this planet. Thanks Sunspot for being in the latter group. That black snake may very well have grown up to kill the rat that may have spread some disease to your or some other family.

I don't guess I share the planet well because I'm an avid deer and turkey hunter. When turkey hunting I only kill cotton mouths but when it comes to my little 1.5 acre corner of the world my wife, daughter, dog, cat, 15 ducks (more coming), and the fish are safe and well cared for anything else including snakes have a limited lifespan.