Rattlesnake

[greybeard]

Mostly, they taste like whatever oil, seasoning and breading you fry em with.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I have a friend in Texas who is a fish farmer. Since gators are found in Texas and in his ponds an employee gave him some tail meat. He cooked it in the usual way he cooks steaks, ate some and announced
"Man is not supposed to eat Reptile".

 

[Mrcopier]

Ya donT cook it like steaks that’s for sure, not a fan of gator but have eaten some. Usually cooked in corn meal

 

[Dave]

I kill another one this evening. That makes 5 in the last 8 days. Thinning out the population. One would think they would be an endangered species. Everyone kills every one of them they see. The Oregon Trail started through here 183 years ago. And the gold rush here 163 years ago filled this country with miners. A lot of people for a lot of years doing their best to kill them all.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Where there are a lot of rattlers there are a lot of rodents.

 

[Dave]

Where there are a lot of rattlers there are a lot of rodents.

Generally the other way around. Last year we had no snakes and lots of mice. The years with lots of snakes we have very few mice.

Timing and weather was right so I took the quad for a drive up the canyon about 5miles and back. Killed 5 rattlers along the road. None of them very big but they aren't going to get any bigger now.

 

[Ouachita]

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.

You sound like my ex wife

 

[Ouachita]

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

I learned yesterday, they don’t like rocking chairs.

 

[4hfarms]

You sound like my ex wife

She had a deep voice?

 

[Ouachita]

She had a deep voice?

She always had or wanted unusual pets (including me, although I didn’t realize it until I was “invested”).
She had a pet cougar when I met her. Really. I had never heard the term “cougar” back then, but get it now.
I got full custody of our only child when we divorced. I was her first husband. Her number four husband was only 6 years older than our son. I don’t know much about the subsequent ones. Don’t care, but I’ll bet money she’s had a ferret or some other weird pet longer than a husband.

No, in hindsight, it wasn’t that good. Wasn’t easy to see at the time.

 

[greybeard]

No, in hindsight, it wasn’t that good. Wasn’t easy to see at the time.

It never is..........

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

"Where there are a lot of rattlers there are a lot of rodents.: ""Generally the other way around. Last year we had no snakes and lots of mice. The years with lots of snakes we have very few mice.

This is the balance of nature. Nature is never balanced, it is always balancing. Swinging one way or the other. When there are a lot of rodents, the snake population increases until there are fewer rodents. Then the snake population decreases until the rodent population increases again. This is the same where there are re introduced wolves and cattle and bison as prey animals.

Example : in the 55 square mile forest fire of Texas of 2011 on our ranch, after the fire there was a population explosion of rodents because all the snakes had been killed in the fire. With the extremely high birth rate of rodents and the low birth rate of snakes, every few square foot was a visible rodent. They chewed the electric wiring off our trucks and tractors at great expense. Within 2 or 3 years the snakes moved back in and the (temporary) balance of nature was restored. That why I say if there are a lot of snakes there are a lot of rodents. This is a temporary and blessed situation.

I can see removing pit vipers off the local home situation but if the general population understands these are helpful to prevent rodent plagues and damage.

 

[Dave]

There is a lot more bull snakes here than rattlers. We go out of our way to protect the bull snakes. They do the same good things as a rattler without the down side. No more cows than I have about every other year I have one get snake bit. I am about the only one around here who has not had a dog snake bit. I don't go up on the hills hunting them. But I kill everyone that I happen on to. 11 in the last 11 days.

 

[greybeard]

I'm pretty sure that it's an irrefutable scientific fact that areas that have lots of contrails in the sky have more and larger rattlesnakes than any other places on Earth....

..Cliff Claven, Cheers?

 

[wbvs58]

I'm pretty sure that it's an irrefutable scientific fact that areas that have lots of contrails in the sky have more and larger rattlesnakes than any other places on Earth....

..Cliff Claven, Cheers?

We'll have to get @Chuckie to comment on that one.

Ken

 

[Tailwinds Land & Cattle]

I used to kill every rattler I came across. These days, I give them a wide berth and let them pass. Guess I am getting soft in my old age.

 

[Tailwinds Land & Cattle]

a

 

[Dave]

We loaded up a load to take to the dump. About 11:30 we left. About 100 yards from the end of the driveway there was a rattler in the road. Had to dig the shovel out from under the garbage. Again a small one just 3 rattles about 20 inches long. That was number 16 and it is only June 3. The most I have killed in a year is 21. Four more months of snake season left. I have a feeling I will kill more than 21 this year.

 

[tater74]

I will trade you your rattlesnakes for some Lone Star Tics.

We are covered up with them this year.