May have saved a life today

[Venom]

I was barreling down a backcountry road today and nearly ran over this guy... had to make a sharp swerve and only missed him by less than a foot. I pulled over and stood near him so the next car coming wouldn’t smash him, then I went to my car and got my shovel out and got him moved over to the side of the road... He didn’t like it at all! He’s a Prairie Rattler. Second snake I’ve saved from a likely roadway death so far in less than a month. The other was a Bull Snake. Hate to see any animal smashed on the road.

 

[NOBLNG]

Nice guy you are. You sure wouldn’t get any praise from my wife though. She can’t even look at a picture of a snake in a book without freaking out! ?

[Venom]

It’s amazing how much you can prod at a rattlesnake with a stick or whatever, and they won’t strike. I think they have to sense heat. Reguardless, it was a bit unnerving having him at the end of a 4ft shovel even though I knew he couldn’t get me from that far.

[Chillyb1]

Good for you, Venom. Cool snake encounter story. 

[Venom]

Thanks...I just realized how fitting this is for my avatar...LOL???

[TonyK]

Really? Good for you but I wouldn't have stepped out of the car being it's a rattler. I like snakes but not venomous ones!

[youpey]

My wife has an annoying fear of snakes. I say annoying because she wont watch movies if it has a snake in it. She wont go into pet stores on the off chance it has a snake and it escapes. 

I dont remember when it got to this point but its where it is. 

I used to go camping when I was a kid. No chance...there might a snake. 

Edited June 1, 2021 by youpey

[Tom Geiger]

This guy!  When I was on Sanibel Island back in 2009 I encountered this guy in the middle of the road. There were Turtle Crossing signs but cars were just whizzing by!

I stopped and coaxed / protected him to the side he was headed. He was way too heavy to move! And would’ve done damage to a car! 

[vamach1]

1 hour ago, youpey said:

My wife has an annoying fear of snakes. I say annoying because she wont watch movies if it has a snake in it. She wont go into pet stores on the off chance it has a snake and it escapes. 

I dont remember when it got to this point but its where it is. 

I used to go camping when I was a kid. No chance...there might a snake. 

I just corralled a three foot black snake out of my shed and let him go into the woods.  He was not aggressive and I was easily able to use a pole to carry him.  Sure he might come back but the mice will not miss him if he doesn’t.

[Venom]

On 6/1/2021 at 10:47 AM, vamach1 said:

I just corralled a three foot black snake out of my shed and let him go into the woods.  He was not aggressive and I was easily able to use a pole to carry him.  Sure he might come back but the mice will not miss him if he doesn’t.

Sounds like that one was a pretty nice snake!... Garter snakes seem pretty docile like that. Around here it’s the Bullsnakes that have a bad attitude, and it’s best to just leave them be because they eat a lot of pests and also rattlers.

[NOBLNG]

On 6/1/2021 at 10:02 AM, youpey said:

My wife has an annoying fear of snakes. I say annoying because she wont watch movies if it has a snake in it. She wont go into pet stores on the off chance it has a snake and it escapes. 

I dont remember when it got to this point but its where it is. 

I used to go camping when I was a kid. No chance...there might a snake. 

I too find it annoying. I can understand the fear of a real snake, but the terror elicited from a picture of a snake is irrational. I tried to get her to slowly de-sensitize herself, but she will have no part of it.?

[youpey]

8 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

I too find it annoying. I can understand the fear of a real snake, but the terror elicited from a picture of a snake is irrational. I tried to get her to slowly de-sensitize herself, but she will have no part of it.?

unfortunately for me, my brother in law will feed into the irrational behavior. any movie that we want to see, he offers to "pre-watch" it. Just to see if there are any snakes in it. if there are, he will tell her, and she wont watch it. 

we were watching a movie over the weekend, and in the last 15 minutes of the movie, a snake popped on the screen for just a minute. she wouldnt watch the end of the movie. she told me to finish watching it to let her know how it ended. 

 

i have a fear of rats,  but i dont let that affect my everyday life. sure, if i saw one in the streets or something i would not go near it, but i dont let it control me

[JollySipper]

We have what is called a King Snake here.... They're not poisonous, and eat other snakes. The Garter snakes, you can just pick them up...... The only ones you really have to watch out for are the Rattle snakes and Cotton Mouths.....

[Tom Geiger]

43 minutes ago, JollySipper said:

 The Garter snakes, you can just pick them up...... 

Yup, I occasionally find one in a handful of leaves when I do garden cleanup.  I just put them back down and send them on their way!  

About a month ago on the Next Door local app, a lady was panicking that suddenly there were 100s of tiny snakes in her front yard.

The responses were that they must’ve recently hatched, with people responding that they’d come pick some up for their gardens!

[TonyK]

Our female Westie (her brother isn't interested) hunts for garter snakes every day. For several years she would be in double digits with kills. She grabs and shakes them which usually results in a horrible broken body. I'm not in favor of it and sometimes am able to save the snake if I'm working in the yard near her.

Snakes are good I tell her but she is quite the hunter.

[Venom]

2 hours ago, JollySipper said:

We have what is called a King Snake here.... They're not poisonous, and eat other snakes. The Garter snakes, you can just pick them up...... The only ones you really have to watch out for are the Rattle snakes and Cotton Mouths.....

More than 20 years ago I had a few different pet snakes I got at pet stores. I had each one at different times. One was a Speckled King Snake... one time I let it out to crawl around on the floor for awhile. When I went to put him back he was so aggressive and intimidating that I was basically terrified of him. I think it took me a good 45 minutes before I got him contained again. He went back to the pet store.

[StevenGuthmiller]

My back yard is full of garter snakes. I have absolutely no problem with them as I see them as a benefit, but my wife won’t even walk across the back lawn! ?

 

 

Steve

[Tom Geiger]

I never had a pet snake. I was a turtle kind of guy!  When I was eight years old I got Peter the tortoise.  
 

We lived in Turkey at the time. When we moved back to the USA and again when we went to Germany, we managed to smuggle him through in the bottom of my father’s camera case. Peter died when I was 13 in Germany.

When I had my first apartment I had two box turtles,  Fluffy and Arthur. They had free run of the place and would sit and watch me when I was home, especially when I was cooking and would toss them vegetable bits. I liberated them when I moved, returned them to the field where I got them.   

[Venom]

54 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

I never had a pet snake. I was a turtle kind of guy!  When I was eight years old I got Peter the tortoise.  
 

We lived in Turkey at the time. When we moved back to the USA and again when we went to Germany, we managed to smuggle him through in the bottom of my father’s camera case. Peter died when I was 13 in Germany.

When I had my first apartment I had two box turtles,  Fluffy and Arthur. They had free run of the place and would sit and watch me when I was home, especially when I was cooking and would toss them vegetable bits. I liberated them when I moved, returned them to the field where I got them.   

Makes me wonder which is worse, snake poop or turtle poop. Snake poop is very bad smelling!

[Tom Geiger]

19 minutes ago, Venom said:

Makes me wonder which is worse, snake poop or turtle poop. Snake poop is very bad smelling!

Turtle poop ? looks like an olive pit, is hard and odorless. 
 

(man, the discussions we have on this board! ? )

Edited June 3, 2021 by Tom Geiger

[JollySipper]

1 hour ago, Tom Geiger said:

I never had a pet snake. I was a turtle kind of guy!

Me either... I always liked Hamsters! Having a snake and a hamster wouldn't have been a good idea.

My buddy Goose.... I had him for 2 1/2 years.

and he was a very tidy pooper.... he even recycled some of it! ?

[Tom Geiger]

24 minutes ago, JollySipper said:

Me either... I always liked Hamsters! Having a snake and a hamster wouldn't have been a good idea.

My buddy Goose.... I had him for 2 1/2 years.

and he was a very tidy pooper.... he even recycled some of it! ?

This was Sammy. My daughter won him at the fair and brought him home in a plastic bag.  We kept him in a small bowl.. then a bigger bowl, and he survived and kept getting bigger.

Eventually I put him in a 10 gallon tank with a friend. We had him TEN years!

(Note- I forgot his name. I texted the photo to my daughter and she immediately responded with his name!)

[stitchdup]

While I've never had a pet snake I did transport one to the islands for a friend of mine. Its original owner was in jail so his girlfriend did nothing to look after it. I found out my friend was looking for a snake so got in touch with him to see if it was what he wanted. He spent a load of cash getting everything he needed shipped up to arrive in time and was very happy with it. I can agree their leavings stink, which was part of the reason i took it away cos the tank it was in was near an inch deep in it. I got a laugh on the way back on the boat too. I was sitting in the quietest part of the boat so the snake didn't get stressed out and took it out to show one of the crew on the boat. This was about 3 in the morning and he had experience with snakes so he was showing me how to exercise it on the floor when some kid came jumping down the stairs and slipped across the floor. The kid looked up ready to cry only to fine himself face to face with a snake. The kid stopped running about after that. I dont know what kind of snake it was, only that it wasn't dangerous (to humans)

[Venom]

5 hours ago, JollySipper said:

Me either... I always liked Hamsters! Having a snake and a hamster wouldn't have been a good idea.

My buddy Goose.... I had him for 2 1/2 years.

and he was a very tidy pooper.... he even recycled some of it! ?

To be honest, when I had pet snakes they seemed like more of something to just marvel at rather than actually gain joy or even a remote sense of companionship from. I’m sure many snake lovers would disagree. I can see where hamsters would be more enjoyable and entertaining. I mean, the most entertaining thing a snake does is catch and eat it’s prey, and it’s a bit weird to watch if not actually slightly sad. But, that’s just what they do.

[Venom]

5 hours ago, stitchdup said:

While I've never had a pet snake I did transport one to the islands for a friend of mine. Its original owner was in jail so his girlfriend did nothing to look after it. I found out my friend was looking for a snake so got in touch with him to see if it was what he wanted. He spent a load of cash getting everything he needed shipped up to arrive in time and was very happy with it. I can agree their leavings stink, which was part of the reason i took it away cos the tank it was in was near an inch deep in it. I got a laugh on the way back on the boat too. I was sitting in the quietest part of the boat so the snake didn't get stressed out and took it out to show one of the crew on the boat. This was about 3 in the morning and he had experience with snakes so he was showing me how to exercise it on the floor when some kid came jumping down the stairs and slipped across the floor. The kid looked up ready to cry only to fine himself face to face with a snake. The kid stopped running about after that. I dont know what kind of snake it was, only that it wasn't dangerous (to humans)

Haha!.... I bet that kid can still picture that snake crystal clearly to this day?