Rattlesnake

[Dave]

I commented to the neighbor just a couple days ago how I had seen lots of bull snakes but no rattlers. I jinxed myself. Yesterday evening I killed one on the road about 300 yards from the house. Just now there was a bigger one on the driveway about 100 yards from the house. It got the French revolution treatment from my shovel. Last year I only killed 4 all year. 2 already and it isn't even the middle of May. Is this going to be a snaky year?

 

[simme]

Is this going to be a snaky year?

Most likely. It is a mid term elections year.

 

[Dave]

Last year at 4 of them was my lowest year. My record is 21 in one year (22, or 23 ?). I figured last year was low because of the '24 fire. But the guys building fence up the hill where it really burned were killing nearly one a day. And they were running into all big ones.

 

[4hfarms]

I have seen a few snakes this year. A few fast black ones and the unfortunate copperhead. None last year, had got rid of 4or5 the year before. Only 2 in the coop in 6 years.

I don't like snakes now.

30 years ago I had a pet 3-4 foot red tail boa in the top tank that used to eat a few of my feeder fish per week in the tank below him then go lay on the iguana's heat rock across the room. The iguana preferred the back of the couch so he could watch everything...

Guess I have always had a zoo.

 

[ClinchValley86]

I stepped on a black snake two evenings ago. It and I both were high stepping to get away from each other.

Ill be damned if I didnt run into the same snake yesterday morning. Saw it before I stepped on it though.

I dont care what kind of snake it is, they startle me BIGTIME.

 

[kenny thomas]

I stepped on a black snake two evenings ago. It and I both were high stepping to get away from each other.

Ill be damned if I didnt run into the same snake yesterday morning. Saw it before I stepped on it though.

I dont care what kind of snake it is, they startle me BIGTIME.

Just think of all the mice he kills.

 

[Mrcopier]

Just think of all the mice he kills.

Cats are also mice eaters and stepping on them isn’t quite a shock.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Cats are also mice eaters and stepping on them isn’t quite a shock.

But it sure is noisy. Ha

 

[Travlr]

Cats are also mice eaters and stepping on them isn’t quite a shock.

I don't know, man... Every cat I've stepped on was pretty shocking.

 

[Mrcopier]

I don't know, man... Every cat I've stepped on was pretty shocking.

Ya but it doesn't come with the dance I do when stepping on a snake. A break dance move that comes close to breaking every bone in my body!

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

South of you in Arock Oregon Roy's mom killed 72 rattlesnakes in one season. No thanks!!

 

[Dave]

Ya but it doesn't come with the dance I do when stepping on a snake. A break dance move that comes close to breaking every bone in my body!

The markings on a bull snake are close enough to those on a rattler to give you a real start. I don'r know that I have ever stepped on one. But many times I have been about with my next step. It makes your heart miss a beat.

South of you in Arock Oregon Roy's mom killed 72 rattlesnakes in one season. No thanks!!

They are nothing to be afraid of. Just be aware of them. The vast majority try real hard to get away from you. The most I have killed in a day is 6. A neighbor kid said he has killed 8 in a day. His big brother got 24 one evening in the 3 miles from his parents house to his house. We know there is a den somewhere just east of the road. He must have hit it when the spring migration was happening. There is a lady who posts on Ranchers who lives in a pretty snaky part of the county. She just unsnaps one side of the reins and uses the snap on the end of the reins to hit them on the head. Smack them on the head kills them. They must have a pretty fragile skull. She says she likes to do it when some tourist is watching. I have a friend who stomps on their head with the heel of his boot. Me I prefer to use a shovel

 

[Chuckie]

I am all for the snakes that eat rats and mice, and other poisonous snakes. But still, when walking and if I happen to glance down and I am right over a snake; no matter what kind it is, I freeze, and feel my heart go into a different gear, then I can see what kind it is, then walk around it. It still gives you a flutter when you don't expect it.

 

[Dave]

My neighbor who grew up here said if you get snake bit, remain calm and go to the hospital. One day he was moving some cows while driving a quad. Got the cows gathered and nearing the gate, Zoomed ahead to open the gate. Jumped off the quad and came down straddling a very big rattle snake. Said he screamed like a little girl and leaped about 15 feet with his first step. Said he shook like a leaf for 15 minutes. So much for staying calm (his comment).

 

[texoman]

My neighbor who grew up here said if you get snake bit, remain calm and go to the hospital. One day he was moving some cows while driving a quad. Got the cows gathered and nearing the gate, Zoomed ahead to open the gate. Jumped off the quad and came down straddling a very big rattle snake. Said he screamed like a little girl and leaped about 15 feet with his first step. Said he shook like a leaf for 15 minutes. So much for staying calm (his comment).

I have been in this boat here. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’m used to snakes, but I hollered I reacted the same way hopping out of the truck at a gate. My dogs are used to just bailing out of the cab over the console when I get out. That thing rattled between my feet and it was a total cluster me getting in against their momentum lol

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I like all snakes. At my place in Texas there were cane break rattlers (they don't rattle much, they lie still and depend on their coloration which looks like dry pine needles and leaves), water moccasins, copperheads (their bites really hurt but no one has ever died), and coral snakes. They are all part of nature. If I came across one near the house I did not want it biting my dog so I would relocate the snake by getting a stick and holding their head down behind their jaw. Then pick it up right behind the jaw so it could not bite, drop it into a 5 gallon can with a lid and give it a ride out of town as I called it. Someplace where far from where there were any people.

One way you can train a dog not to mess with snakes - If you have chickens Texas Rat snakes can be usually be caught in the henhouse eating eggs. Those grow to 5' and are the bitingest non venomous snake there is. You drop one into a temporary pen made out of plywood and let the dog in there. The dog will go to sniff it and BAM he gets tagged on the nose. Leave the dog in there a while. For ever after he will avoid snakes like the plague.

One way to catch and relocate egg eating Texas rat snakes is you hard boil an egg and seal it inside a little cage made of chicken wire. The rat snakes eat rats and mice but they prefer eggs. The snake goes in, swallows the egg but can't bust the shell because it's hard boiled and they can't get away. Then they get a 'ride out out town'.

The only snakes that are here at this place in Oregon are pretty little striped garter snakes and rubber boas. Rubber boas are not boa constrictors. They are small light brown snakes with no markings. Their tail is round and blunt like their head. Their defense is to wave their tail around so a predator will for it so they can get away.

 

[Dave]

The guy I bought this place from said he only killed one in the yard. I kill every rattler I see. We have lots of bull snake who do all the good stuff rattlers do without the down side. I have had cows bit. Neighbors have had dogs bit and horses. One neighbor's daughter got bit years ago.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

You should slice up and fry the bodies. I hear they taste like chicken.

 

[Mrcopier]

You should slice up and fry the bodies. I hear they taste like chicken.

No thanks

 

[simme]

You should slice up and fry the bodies. I hear they taste like chicken.

Chicken with fish bones.