SNAKES

[Kathie in Thorp]

I don't dislike snakes -- I HATE snakes. I don't care what kind, how big they are, or any of that. I HATE 'em!! Snakes, grizzly bears, sharks with big teeth, wasps, flies and chiggers are on this earth just to torment humans -- that's my opinion. :yuck:

Last weekend, I stepped off the front porch, onto the walk, and there was a snake just off to the side of the walk. About a foot long. I retreated quickly into the house, hollering for my gun-toting hero -- who informed me that it might look like a rattler, but he was sure it was a bull snake -- a good snake that kills rattlers, mice, moles, etc. (We've never found a rattler on the place, but the neighbor had a couple baby rattlers on his sidewalk last year. I DO know what a garter snake looks like, and tolerate them from a distance.) He would not defend my honor and kill the snake. So I went back in the house for a couple hours and gave the "good" snake plenty of time to move along.

So, as I get to our locked driveway gate tonight, I grab the key off the rear-view mirror, glance out the driver's side window -- and there's about a 3-foot version of last week's snake, sunning on the gravel, just outside my door. "Well, craap!" I have nothing inside the car to throw outside at the snake. I can't see his tail -- that part is in the grass. "Well, craap -- nobody's home or the gate wouldn't be locked! And I'm not 'gonna just sit here and wait for somebody to show up and rescue me!" So I back up the Jeep, guesstimate where that thing is, and go forward; and then backward. And when I look again, snake isn't there -- blood spot, but no snake! "Well, craap!!!!" But putting on my brave face, I get out, look carefully around, quickly pull the gates open, dive back into the Jeep and get myself safely to the house over rough enough gravel that I hope the thing dislodges itself if it's stuck on a tire.

Gun-toting hero just got home, and was not amused by my story. "Craap!!" he said. "You probably killed one a those good big dam bullsnakes! They kill rattlers, and . . . . . . . . . . . . . (and more expletives)."

Oh, well . . . . I feel much safer now. Much better, too. Hero will get over it.

 

[cross_7]

i tried to do a good deed and move this one outof the road yesterday and he didn't appreciate it.
he did his best to look like a rattle snake.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

i tried to do a good deed and move this one outof the road yesterday and he didn't appreciate it.
he did his best to look like a rattle snake.

He looks pretty convincing! :yuck: My mother had/has a huge fear of snakes. When my several brothers were young, two of them captured a garter snake, and figured a safe place to keep it until they found a safer place would be inside the washing machine tub. Mother was not amused. We visited Reptile Gardens in SD as kids -- Mother declined the tour, and waited in the reception area reading a magazine, not realizing until we left that the coffee table she sat at had live snakes under the glass. In Jr. H.S. or so, one of the brothers brought home a rubber snake from a joke shop, and plopped down on the bed beside her as she was taking a nap. Am amazed that both she and he survived THAT ONE!

 

[Jogeephus]

Maybe had someone been kind enough to paint the snake a nice indigo blue then maybe the thing wouldn't be so startling and intimidating when it appears from nowhere. What gets me is the shock that occurs when your mind's eye picks them up. I mean there could be a hundred dollar bill laying on the ground and I wouldn't notice it but somehow my subconscious picks out snakes in hiding - most of the time. I hate to be startled like this but what I hate more is that distinctive feel of a snake under your boot. When that happens, baritones turn to sopranos and gravity no longer applies.

 

[Grandpa]

I had a morbid fear of snakes until we lived on a place on the river where we saw snakes every day. If you ran squealing away from one, you might just run into another, so I learned to identify the "good" from the bad snakes. In general, if it has a really long tapered tail and a rounded nose, it is a good snake. Poisonous snakes have the triangular "viper" head and are a little stubbier. On our place here, we see a rattlesnake on very rare occasion, but we have lots of copperheads. We live on a gravel road where they come out and stretch out on the road after dark to soak up warmth from the rocks. Just driving down this road at night, I have killed 41 of the little devils this spring, running over them, shooting them or chopping with a hoe. Last night, the grandkids were with me, and I shot a copperhead and then left a ratsnake alone. I don't "fear" snakes any more, but I sure do show them a respectful distance. Contrary to what my granddaughter thinks, snakes don't have any desire to chase you.

 

[larryshoat]

I hope you can see this. This little feller was outside the window the other morning. I released him into the wild......right after I separated him from his head.

Larry

 

[Ryder]

To those of you that have been killing snakes---- :clap: :clap: :clap: :tiphat:

 

[Ryder]

Maybe had someone been kind enough to paint the snake a nice indigo blue then maybe the thing wouldn't be so startling and intimidating when it appears

Good grief. :roll:
Here he goes again. :help:

 

[Commercialfarmer]

Contrary to what my granddaughter thinks, snakes don't have any desire to chase you.

Not sure that applies to all snakes. I always liked to help grandma collect eggs when I was really young. I was no older than 6 and one time went out to the coop and opened the door and a black snake greeted me face to face- he was hanging from the door frame by his tail and his mouth was open and hissing inches from my bulging eyes. I screamed like a mad man and took off running, only to look back and that snake was directly behind me chasing me. I screamed like a girl this time and ran for the nearest farm truck and dove in the back of it.

My cousin did some traction work with it's spine and lengthened the space between its skull and upper vertebra in its back. I vividly remember that thing still trying to bite the handle of the shovel after it was decapitated for a long time.

I've had a healthy fear of snakes from that point on.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

Maybe had someone been kind enough to paint the snake a nice indigo blue then maybe the thing wouldn't be so startling and intimidating when it appears from nowhere. What gets me is the shock that occurs when your mind's eye picks them up. I mean there could be a hundred dollar bill laying on the ground and I wouldn't notice it but somehow my subconscious picks out snakes in hiding - most of the time. I hate to be startled like this but what I hate more is that distinctive feel of a snake under your boot. When that happens, baritones turn to sopranos and gravity no longer applies.

I agree, there is nothing worse than that feeling of adrenaline. It can make you faster than a cheetah and stronger than a gorilla, but I hate that feeling. I also dislike the loss of control when your reflexes take over. I don't know about you, but it takes a while for my brain to catch up to what is happening and sometimes my reflexes make bad decisions.

There was a time I almost stepped on a couple of rattler's sunning themselves on a path in some native grass along a canyon. I was walking and then suddenly realized I was falling down the side of the canyon. My conscious started playing catch up to what my subconscious and reflexes had started. And as I laid on the floor of the canyon in pain from a twisted knee, I played back in my mind what happened. As my foot was coming down, my subconscious recognized the uncoiled rattlesnakes laying across the open path and told my mouth to scream (that is what my buddy says- I don't remember that part), and my other foot to jump to the left. I don't know if my other foot just did too good of a job of jumping or if my subconscious told it to shoot for the groundless region. Either way, I tumbled down a pretty good cliff. In retrospect, I'm glad I didn't meet any of their neighbors.

I assume that was a better outcome than had I not moved so quickly and one of them actually got me. But it was still a long, painful walk home. I really, really hate snakes.

 

[cow pollinater]

I don't like snakes at all but once I know they're there I can tolerate them from a distance with only a few hours of hyper-vigilance. About the ONLY good thing about all the pigs on my ranch is that they do keep the rattlers pretty well cleaned up.

One time back when I cowboyed for a living we had a chickenshyt boss who liked to delegate and disappear and then show up drunk at quiting time. About the only part that he was good at was anything that involved sitting on a horse and even then he was the last one on and the first one off. He was terrified of snakes and that gave us ample opertunity to express our dislike for him and strangly enough that made him tolerable.
We used to turn our saddleblankets upside-down on top of our saddle to let them air out. So one morning we put a coiled, spring loaded rubber snake under his saddle pads and waited... The scream made one horse set back and the crash made all of them dance. He literally tore down the shelving unit that lined the oposite wall of the tackroom getting away from that snake. He came out fighting mad but there wasn't much he could do to three of us at once.

 

[Dave]

Back in my rodeo days we caught a bull snake out behind the chutes at a rodeo. Some bull riders have a little bag that they roll up their bull rope and put it in. Well we added this bull snake in with a guys bull rope and zipped it shut. The rodeo is going on and we are all keeping one eye on this guy. During the bronc riding he decided it was time to get his gear out and get ready. He reached into the bag to get his rope and grabbed a hand full of snake. I think the scream was heard several states away. As he pulled his hand out he flung that snake into the air. I think it is probably still in orbit of the earth along with the satilites. We were all rolling on the ground laughing. The head conspirator was out in the arena on a pick up horse and he was cackling so hard I though he would fall off is horse. We were all threatened with sure and painful death. But after he settled down he realize it was all just good ol cowboy humor. He probably needed clean underwear but heck he probably needed clean underwear before the snake.....

I talk to him later he said all he could think of was how did it get in there. He live in an area with plenty of rattlers. Well that was all he though until he heard all of us laughing.

 

[CKC1586]

I saw an ad for a snake repellent product. Anyone use it before????