"snake stories" and (do you drive around, or over)

[gudel]

I live in the city, so no snakes here, but I like reading these stories

 

[1911Tuner]

Snakes

I drive around whenever possible. No sense in killin' anything for fun or "just because you can." Exceptions are mosquitos, fleas, ticks, flies and tapeworms.

The way to avoid snakebite is to keep a 4-foot length of broomstick handy
for whenever you need to be working around a "snaky" area...and use the stick to stir up the brush. If there's a snake, he'll let ya know pretty quick.

 

[lawson]

gudel,

in the city you get the most dangerous kind of snake, the two-legged variety.

 

[xring44]

I have been blessed to live in snake country my entire life, as a kid my ammunition was paid for by a minnow farmer, I killed snakes for him on these ponds, mostly watter snakes and cotton mouths, a few copperheads thrown into the mix. The cotton mouth if not aggressive is certainly fearless, he will ambush you and certainly won't back up. I have killed many, many snakes. I continue to kill the poisonous ones and make no apologies for it.

 

[Working Man]

We get a fair amount of snakes that come through my place every year.
If it is a chicken or rat snake I just toss them in the field (I don't want the
dog killing it) if it is a bull snake or copper head I'll walk it fairly far away
(I don't want the dog getting bit). We get the occasional yellow and black
king snake, which make great pets by the way and lately a lot of Texas
glossy.

Now every once in a while there will be a cotton mouth, those must be
dispatched as well as any rattlers. I have a young niece and two young
nephews that visit and I wont risk them getting bit. I don't trust my skills
enough to grab a cotton mouth or rattler and walk it out without getting bit
myself.

 

[Rock45]

"Timing is Everything"
I just had a Coral snake cross through the backyard this past weekend, the first one I had ever seen live. I considered killing it, but it really moved too quickly and cleared my property in only a few minutes. I did get the time to snap this picture, but I could not grab the shovel and the tripod at the same time!

Bryan

 

[unspellable]

snake bite

I have many years of experience with snakes. During the course of that time I have discovered the perfect cure for python bite. You wash the affected part with running water then take copious quantities of rum internally. The only problem is getting the damn snake to bite.

 

[Kramer Krazy]

Anytime I'm near a snake, I usually leave it alone, or I catch it and relocate it. I've never run into a problem with this, as I studied the local poisonous snakes so I can tell them apart. Back when I was 13, though, I rode my dirtbike through a state forest on nearly a daily basis, especially during the summer. I used to "roost" the bike while riding over copperheads. I think the one spring/summer, I killed 17 of them. I don't believe I've killed another one since then (24+ years).

About the same time, we killed a 6' long rattlesnake (a timber rattlesnake) in our front yard, back in '83 or so. I still have the rattles and the head in formaldehyde. A lot of people don't realize it, but a freshly killed snake (up to a day) can be just as deadly with it's head attached. Their central nervous system will cause a strike, hours after it was killed. That rattlesnake that we killed, without it's head and tail, would "strike" near any spot that you touched on it's body.....if memory serves me correctly, I remember it doing this the next day....12+ hours later.

 

[Big Larry]

I lived in Del Rio, Texas when I was 6-8 years old, and there was a desert behind our house. I can't tell you how many times, me and my buddies would be riding our bikes out there, and hear the buzz of rattlers. We never messed with em. We did however, play with the small brown tarantulas. As long as you didn't spook em, they'd crawl all over your hands and arms. Wouldn't let em get up past the elbow though. I've got a healthy fear of snakes on the water. Moccassins dropping into a boat, (I better not have a gun, I'll sink us), any snake on the water, gives me the heebie jeebies. I've hunted rattlesnakes in Sweetwater, (I don't gas dens), and we practiced a lot of catch and release. Biggest snake I've caught is a Western Diamondback, 57 1/2 inches long, 9 inches circumference, weighed about 8 pounds. This was one well fed rattlesnake. I've got it mounted on my desk. Wife won't allow it in the house. Place in Wichita Falls, is prone to copperheads, rattlesnakes, and the dreaded rattlemocassin. There will be no venomous snakes around the house? Snakes in the henhouse?? Nothing like reaching in to get eggs and something moves.

 

[20cows]

I leave all nonvenomous snakes alone, but not the rattlesnakes. I've had a dog get snake bit and though it survived, I don't want it to happen again if I can help it.

There is not one square foot of ground on my place that the cattle and horses don't cover regularly. I don't want them bit either.

Then there are the children.

Nope, I don't want the rattlers around.

 

[jondar]

Once it came over local TV that two convicts had escaped from a prison a few miles from my house. The announcer recommended that our outbuildings should be checked and no attempt should be made to engage these fellows. The only firearm I had handy that was loaded was a Webley MK VI and after checking the outbuildings walked out into the gravel road in front of my house. While standing there with that big revolver in my hand here comes the Sheriff's car with two deputies in it. The deputy in the passenger seat was a girl I knew well, she rolled down the window, said "What in the world are you doing?" I didn't want to appear a fool so I said that I had seen a big copperhead in the road and got my gun to kill it but it was gone when I got back. So help me, the Sheriff's car had just gotten out of sight when out of the rocks across the road came a very large copperhead . I normally am fond of snakes and more than once have taken big blacksnakes, wrapped around my arm, to a cornfield a half mile from my house, my wife driving the car. But copperheads and rattlers I can't tolerate.

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

I encountered a very large Rattlesnake in a Canyon in the Sandhills of Nebraska while hunting deer in November of 1995. Yes I know it sounds strange to see a rattlesnake in Nebraska in November but it was unseasonable warm that day and this one was apparently on the move. It was moving away from me so I had no good reason to shoot it but did so anyway. I sat down and put the crosshairs of the scope mounted on my 30’06 chambered Remington 700 right behind it’s head and decapitated him. It was weird to watch it’s tongue flicker in and out of its detached head afterward. It was even weirder when it would try and strike at twigs I would put in front of it. The body kept squirming for what must have been the better part of an hour. To this day I feel bad for having needlessly shot it.

 

[JMusic]

I'm not going to say if I kill them or not. Those you run over you have to skid your tires to do damage. Known around here as skiddin a snake.

 

[V4Vendetta]

"I continue to kill the poisonous ones and make no apologies for it."

That's what I do. I saw "Lonesome Dove".

"I've hunted rattlesnakes in Sweetwater, (I don't gas dens), "

My dad went there recently & hunted rattlesnakes at the roundup. He got one. He could have gotten more but said that he let others get them because they had come all the way from Norway. Except the guides my dad had used gas.

When I was young I used to go to the local park. One day while me & my little brother was exploring, we found a bridge & went past it. I was in front. On a bush 3' ahead of me was a huge, evil looking black snake just watching me. I froze for a good 8 minutes. It stayed & looked at me for a while & then it just left. I proceeded to run away & scream bloody murder.

Another time I was hiking through the woods alone to get to a friends house. Well to get there I had to cross a field. Well halfway into the field I see a huge, evil looking black snake. I froze. It slithered away to the left. I went to the right.

Another time me & my parents were kayaking with some friends of ours down a river. Our friends were in a canoe in front, I was in a kayak by myself in the middle & my parents were in a canoe in the back. Well 30 minutes into a 4 hour ride down river, I look to my right at a rock in the middle of the river. Laying on that rock was a huge, evil looking water moccasain. Let me tell you something. Lance Armstrong has got nothing on me. I started paddleing enthusiasticly down river. I screamed back to my folks "Moccasain on the rocks! LOOK OUT!" No one was hurt.

Another time I was kayaking with my friends & parents we stopped to have lunch on a rock. As we were eating, my dad noticed a black snake swimming toward us. I grabbed my paddle ready to beat the demon snake back to the bowels of hell from which it came. It turned around & swam away.

 

[Bama61]

I do not like snakes and do not appologize for it. If I see one, and can kill it, it is dead!

Bama61

 

[Smoke Rizen]

We have a Corp. of Engineers lake in our back yard. In the 70's when they filled it there was an increase in the number of Prarie Rattlers that would show up in the yard. I had small children then and being a small child once myself...I knew the danger. I spent quite a bit of time teaching my kids the dangers and differences in snakes. We never killed any rattlers as I wanted to teach them to live with,and respect the snakes. We had a large Bull snake,and a Hognose snake as "Pets" but only for a couple weeks so they could observe them. As usual with kids they would get bored with them in a short time then we would release them. We had chickens in the yard,which I found to be death on snakes. We watched a chicken kill a snake on two different occasions to my surprise. We were in the truck one day and I ran over a Rattler in the road. I told them since I killed it I had to eat it. That night we had Snake and Steak for dinner. and both of them told me to be careful after that,and not run over any more.
Last summer I was fly fishing on a little stream and on the way in to fish I stepped on about a 3'er and broke it's back. I did finish that snake off(didn't tell the kids) but as they say nothing in nature gets wasted,so I'm sure something cleaned it up.
I have horses and have always had a dog around,so I do remove any Rattlers I find in the yard. But it's only a quarter mile to the lake so I just take them down there and release them at the campground (tourists).

 

[Harry Paget Flashman]

I raise goats for a hobby. Because I store feed there has always been a mouse and rat problem but the local rat snakes keep them in check. I let Mother Nature work it out.

 

[MechAg94]

I grew up in the country an hour West of Houston. We would mostly find copperheads in the yard. We would see a lot of cottonmouths and black water snakes as well especially after my Dad dug out a pond in the yard. I don't think I ever saw a single live rattlesnake though they were out there. I rarely saw chickensnakes until my Dad tried to raise Guinea birds. They would go through the chicken wire, eat a couple chicks, then not be able to get back through the chickenwire.

We tried not to mess with non-poisonous snakes. However, my mom was bitten on the foot by a copperhead she accidentally stepped on right outside the door. Snakes were not allowed in our yard on penalty of death. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

My rule was that a snake was not dead until the head was severed. Then I didn't mess with the head. Just buried them after a while or hung them on a fence. I never even touched them is I had a choice. Grabbing a live snake barehanded just sounds nuts to me.

The best weapon for snakes is a shovel. 2nd would be a good walking stick. A gun is a backup and not preferred. They don't kill easy unless you shoot them in the head. Snakes can only stick 1/3 to 1/2 their length away and most I have seen strike what is closest to them. If you keep a healthy distance, you are safe. I don't have experience with the really big ones though.

I think there were several times as kids where we were just walking through the grass or woods and walked right up on a snake coiled up. If the snake thought he could get away, he would, but otherwise, he would stand his ground and strike anything that got close. Cottonmouths are notorious for this. Between snakes and cow patties, you learn to watch where you are walking when you grow up out in the woods.

The most aggressive snake I have seen is the black water snake that tries to act like a cottonmouth. I think it is a bullsnake. They can triangulate their head and overall act and look just like a cottonmouth. I think the difference is they have yellow bellies where cottonmouths have more of a white belly with very mild stiping. As a video I saw stated, if you can see that, you are probably too close.

Thankfully, I have never been bit. I was usually very good at watching where I stepped. Came in handy later avoiding all the trip hazards when tracing out piping in chemical plants.

 

[Azrael256]

I used to be completely indifferent to snakes. Then one bit me. That ruined it for all ophidians. If a snake is hauling scales away from me, I'll let him run. If he advances or refuses to retreat, he's target practice. That applies to all non-venomous snakes. Poisonous snakes will quickly become a pink ooze soaking into the dirt, regardless of their behavior.

Did I mention I hate snakes?

Mech, I agree. Dead means decapitated. I first practiced my quick draw (for real) on a moccasin who had crawled up on a brush pile. He scared the hell out of me, so I drew and fired all six rounds of .38 shotshell into him at about 4'. Then I reloaded, and gave him another six. Then he lifted his head, opened his mouth, and showed me his fangs. While I was going for the second speedloader, this one with the +P hollowpoints (for two and four legged critters), dad cut him into a "fun size" chunks with a chainsaw. Mom said it was quite a sight to see two armed, grown men getting medieval on a snake. There were jokes about artillery support and airstrikes for about a week. Mom didn't quite understand that neither dad nor I found anything unreasonable about calling in B-52s to deal with a snake.

Anyway, the point is that it's best to dust off and nuke 'em from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

 

[Ridge]

When I worked with my dad logging,we ran into a few snakes.

While in the coruse of finishing up marking the Non-grade logs (I was armed with a red crayon to do this),well I had to get down on my belly and use a small pen light and crawl under a few of the overhanging logs to mark those under them.

About five minutes into the checking and marking the logs,I crawled under one over hanging pop. and came nose to nose with a copperhead,I did have an old H&R revolver loaded with rat shot,I tried to back out at first,but my belt was hung up on one of the not so flushly cut branch stubs,I couldn't get out,so I did the only thing I could think of.

Later after my hearing began to clear up...I thought of some other way to avoid another nose to nose meeting with anymore snakes.

(Don't crawl under any over hanging logs)

 

[Strings]

Well Az, now I know what to get you for yer birthday...

Funny thing is, constrictors are actually more dangerous than the poisonous ones. Think about it: if you immobilize the head of a viper, it's screwed. Immobilize the head of a reticulated python, and you just improved his accuracy...

I've been told that, in dealing with constrictors, THE best 'survival item" to have is a spray bottle of bourbon. If attacked, spray into the snake's face: dries out their sinuses, making them release. Don't know why bourbon is preferred (I think it's a matter of what you might want to drink)...


There was the fun with Issa (that's my boa) this past halloween. I answered the door with the lil' guy around my neck (he's only about three feet: my neck's stronger than he is). The kids thought it was great. One mother, however, upon realizing the snake was real, teleported (that's the only way I can describe it: neither Spoon nor I saw her move) to the end of the driveway, leaving her children behind. Makes me loose faith in "maternal instinct"...

 

[redneckrepairs]

Snakes are too beneficial for anyone but the ignorant or moronic to run over intentionally. Pit vipers help control vermen just like the other snakes do.

Folks who post this nonsense have never considered the toll a pit viper can extract from kids, livestock , and pets .. the only good venomus snake arround humans is a dead one

 

[PlayboyPenguin]

Interesting statistic

I was listening to the radio today and I heard a story (it was actually a trivia question) that stated that more people in the US die from cork related injuries (the ones in wine bottles) than snake bites. I thought that was odd and relevant in a way to this thread.

 

[unspellable]

Really big constrictors

With really big constrictors go for the tail. They are pretty goosy. Not surprising when you consider that a large part of the time they cannot see what's coming at their tail.

 

[V4Vendetta]

"Snakes are too beneficial for anyone but the ignorant or moronic to run over intentionally. Pit vipers help control vermen just like the other snakes do."

"Folks who post this nonsense have never considered the toll a pit viper can extract from kids, livestock , and pets . the only good venomus snake arround humans is a dead one"


I agree with the second statement. I heard about a guy who got drunk & was bit by his pet copperhead. The anti-venom cost $10,000.