Snakes !!!

njrqs · Feb 26, 2002

Yes I read one of the links posted above about snake repellant and the active ingrediant was Napthalene which is moth balls. I said to the wife last night, I wonder if moth balls would work.......

Only thing is the young fella may eat them but If I hide them well enough and keep an eye on him, he should be OK. Better than being bit by a snake I suppose !

Cheers

PS - Yes I also reckon it would be hard to throw a mothball hard enough to hurt the snake but I suppose I'll work on my pitching arm !

Cheers

njrqs · Feb 27, 2002

Dead snake identified as a "Yellow Faced Whip Snake"

So not as I thought.

Part of the highly veomous Elapidae family but not dangerous.

Trouble is until the bugger is dead in a jar, I can't get close enough to tell if it is this snake or a bloody dangerous one.

Will try the mothballs soon though !!

Cheers

StoneHeartFarm · Feb 27, 2002

<font color=blue>Part of the highly venomous Elapidae family but not dangerous. </font color=blue>

Neil,

Just checking in. You still alive?

What do you mean venomous but not dangerous?

SHF

njrqs · Feb 27, 2002

That's the but that worries me.

Other snakes in this family are noted as 'Venomous and Dangerous".

Mine is just plain old "Venomous"

What it is telling me is that if I get bitten, OK I need to get help but I am not likely to drop dead immediately which is a good thing.

Now I can probably ID one I'll let it go, but if I have my doubts, I'd better whack it just to check it out.

Still not happy they are living in my office walls. They are probably sleeping on my suspended ceiling insulation just like a bloody comfy mattress !!

StoneHeartFarm · Feb 27, 2002

If I remember correctly, there is at least one snake in the American Southwest that is venomous, but is not considered particularly dangerous to man because it's teeth are wrong for wrapping around a human body part. Work real good on mice and rats though. I remember reading about it, but don't know the name, Maybe Bird or one of our Texans could tell you.

Do ya think your snakes can bite people?

SHF

beenthere · Feb 27, 2002

I think you are thinking about the coral snake. I found this <font color=red>North American coral snakes rarely bite people; when they do, they rarely inject enough venom to cause major damage, because they are small snakes. Coral snake bites can be treacherous, however, because they are relatively painless and hard to detect, and severe symptoms can appear many hours after the bite. <font color=black>
I was told they can get between the fingers and get a bite, such as if picking fruit, cotton, or vegetables and reaching into a plant or bush.

njrqs · Feb 28, 2002

What about all the death adders and rattlesnakes we hear about. I thought the US was snake city.

We have Death Adders, Taipans, Brown Snakes, Black Snakes etc. - All deadly.

RanchMan · Feb 28, 2002

Texan here!

Yup - we got several poisonous flavors here. Rattlers, coral snakes, water moccasins, & copperheads. (Trivia - for any of you who might have seen Lonesome Dove, Newt's buddy got offed via water moccasins...but I digress...)

As a kid growing up in Central Texas, I saw a few coral snakes, water moccasins, and lots of rattlers. Don't remember seeing a coperhead though. Always had a .410 handy to "take care" of things if needed.

My current place has Western Diamondbacks on it (seen small ones of about 2' and one big one about 4.5') Definately a critter I don't care for.

Here's a couple of links from Texas Parks & Wildlife with more info if you're curious.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/adv/kidspage/snakes/psnakes.htm
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/expltx/jrnat/safesnake.htm

Jeff396 · Feb 28, 2002

I just moved East from Tucson, AZ. EVERYTHING that lives there either bites or will stick you. At our last house that bordered on the National forest it was not unusual for us to have (from smallest to biggest) scorpions, wolf spiders, Tarantulas, black widows and brown recluses. Then there was the Rattlesnakes....they were all over. You had to inspect the yard before you let the kids out! On the larger side we had bobcats, black bears and Javilina. One night when I was taking the garbage out, there was a herd of Javilina at the end of my driveway. These things sort of resemble a wild boar, they stink, can't see very well and can be fairly agressive. It was like wild kingdom out there. A lot more wildlife than the occasional squirell we had growing up in Detroit. We had a few problems with rattlers but the scorpions are the thing I was happiest to leave. They could get everywhere. Funny thing was that it was the smallest variety that packed the most punch in its venom. The problem was that they were like cock roaches with a kick....they could get everywhere through the smallest of cracks. One time I captured one and put it in a dish. I then sprayed brakeclean (which will drop a wasp in mid flight) until he was swimming in it. That just ticked it off! I finally had to smash it with a rock. I think it would be a battle between the cock roach and the scorpion for supremacy after Nuclear war.

Jeff