Snakes

Alan W. · May 23, 2018

While relaxing in the recliner from a hard half hours fishing on the pond my son came in and said that
mom about stepped on a snake. My wife stumbles upon more snakes than anybody I know. It was a timber
rattler about 3 feet in the backyard. Son shot the head off. The area we live in has always had a very
high number of timber rattlers and copperheads. You just gotta pay attention to what ya doin.
Anybody else have a lot of snake problems?

mddorange · May 23, 2018

Not in the western part of AL where we live now, but in the eastern part of AL where she is from, they plenty of both.

One evening when we were at her parents, one of her younger brothers said he saw one in the backyard. When we went to check it out, we not only found the mother but after turning over all the bigger rocks, we found 4 babies.

Thomas · May 23, 2018

We have timber rattlers in our parts but you gotta search really hard for them.
To me a snake is a snake and I am making dust the other way. :confused2:

Fuddy1952 · May 23, 2018

We're in S. Central Va. and yesterday mowing yard I saw lots of black snakes. One even went up in a tree. I didn't hit any, I've always thought they were good to have around and maybe it's a wives tale but I've heard if they're around you won't have poisonous ones.
One I bet was 5ft. long.

M5farms · May 23, 2018

plenty of snakes here , I try to let let them go as long as they don't startle me.

Fuddy1952 · May 23, 2018

Years ago here there was a snake in bushes near walkway that I've never figured out what it was. Small, maybe a foot long, 1/2" dia., green when I grabbed it behind head it puffed out like a cobra does.
I'm 99% sure it was harmless, I let it go in pasture. It wasn't a green or garter snake.

/pine · May 23, 2018

Fuddy1952 said:
We're in S. Central Va. and yesterday mowing yard I saw lots of black snakes. One even went up in a tree. I didn't hit any, I've always thought they were good to have around and maybe it's a wives tale but I've heard if they're around you won't have poisonous ones.
One I bet was 5ft. long.

Eastern black king snakes are one of the most beneficial snakes to have around...they eat poisonous snakes...
They have whitish undersides and can often have whitish banding...sometimes the banding is only visible in certain light...they are often referred to as "black snakes"...

They are quite docile and can be approached in a non threatening manner...

Turbys_1700 · May 23, 2018

Fuddy1952 said:
Years ago here there was a snake in bushes near walkway that I've never figured out what it was. Small, maybe a foot long, 1/2" dia., green when I grabbed it behind head it puffed out like a cobra does.
I'm 99% sure it was harmless, I let it go in pasture. It wasn't a green or garter snake.

Spreading adder or hognose snake. Harmless. See a few around here. Mostly black rat snakes.

Alan W. · May 23, 2018

One of the first things I thought about was that 2 blacksnakes had got tangle up in some netting my wife had in the garden and died last week. I had heard that they were a deterrent to poisonous snakes.

Dave Pee · May 23, 2018

LEAVE THE SNAKES ALONE. Good for rodent control.

JRobyn · May 23, 2018

Timber rattlers are protected.

Jstpssng · May 23, 2018

Thomas said:
We have timber rattlers in our parts but you gotta search really hard for them.
To me a snake is a snake and I am making dust the other way. :confused2:

Do you ever see them? Years ago I was doing right of way maintenance outside of Franklin, and on our weekly check in the power line guy told us to be careful in one section called Rattlesnake Hill because we might encounter some there. Luckily we didn't see any, as we had gone over the hill several days earlier.

Dave Pee said:
LEAVE THE SNAKES ALONE. Good for rodent control.

I used to think that, but was out with a biologist one day and he told me that they really don't eat that many mice. He may have been referring mostly to the species in this state,(garter and green snakes) we were walking and I didn't query him further.

Fuddy1952 · May 23, 2018

JRobyn said:
Timber rattlers are protected.

Regardless, if a poisonous snake comes close to the house, it's history!

oosik · May 23, 2018

Grew up in Omak, WA. Rattle snakes were common there. Been over here in Amber going on 37 years and only seen two rattlers. They were together at a location about eleven miles south of here - Hole in the Ground.

I have one very uncommon snake here on the property. Rubber boa. About two feet long - shiney metallic OD green - EXTREMELY slow moving. Twice in the last three years -stopped mowing to move the little snake. His name is Rupert.

rbtjr · May 23, 2018

/pine said:
Eastern black king snakes are one of the most beneficial snakes to have around...they eat poisonous snakes...
They have whitish undersides and can often have whitish banding...sometimes the banding is only visible in certain light...they are often referred to as "black snakes"...

They are quite docile and can be approached in a non threatening manner...

+1 and more. Eastern king snakes have rid our place of copperheads. We used to have many--many--copperheads. Then the eastern kings showed up. No more copperheads. The king snakes kill and eat them.

rekees4300 · May 23, 2018

Fuddy1952 said:
Regardless, if a poisonous snake comes close to the house, it's history!

DITTO ... Live and let live, I respect their territory and they have to respect mine or else. :snake:

Alan W. · May 23, 2018

Ky has some protected reptiles but to my knowledge no poisonous snakes are on the list. If I知 wrong then my son just joined the rest of the crime family

bunyip · May 23, 2018

All of ours are protected and I generally ignore them as most are around the creek or drain having a feast of endangered Growling Grass Frogs, if one comes near the house or won't move it gets relocated to snake heaven.
We had one in the bathroom when I was doing renovations, the walls were off and he came in from under the house, my wife found him and I reckon that you probably would have heard the scream where you are, another time our fox terier brought one into the house and presented it to us in the kitchen, it was very much alive and not happy, a few character building moments that day.
And to be a sanctimonious pedant I have heard there are only two poisonous snakes in the world and I think they are both in Japan.

beowulf · May 23, 2018

Dave Pee said:
LEAVE THE SNAKES ALONE. Good for rodent control.

Perhaps, but not good for marital harmony. We leave all the snakes alone except for the rattlesnakes and if they are anywhere I am or where wife frequents they will be dead snakes. It seems in recent years that we have fewer now than 32 years ago when we moved here but killed two small ones this year and one really feisty big one last year. Daughters visit with grand kids and I worry the entire time they are here that they may run across a rattlesnake. For us it is second nature to look before you step around a corner or into a darker area, or around places they might be, but the grand kids just go without a second thought. They will warn you (hopefully) so you need to warn them by making noise if you are where they might be.

Fuddy1952 · May 23, 2018

Where I grew up about 15 miles from here the lake had a variety of frogs. I always liked the small spring peepers.
We now live between two ponds about 1/4 mile North and South, frogs but no peepers.
We were at a large lake a few miles from here years ago and one area had hundreds of tiny ones so we took a bunch home in a cup, I let them loose at one neighbors pond here.
I saw him a few weeks later...he says "you guys sleep ok?". I said sure we do...he says "well we can't sleep a wink ever since these damned spring peepers showed up!".
I never told him how they got there, and now they're in both ponds!