Nightmare in the garage tonite.....

[scooter123]

Back when I worked for the phone company in the Sierra Nevada foothills we wern't allowed to carry a gun. But we had shovels & used them for snakes. We had both Timber rattlers & Pacific rattlers. Found out to stay away from blackerry patches as rattlers love to hide in them.

Gotta wonder what the bears do about timber rattlers, because they do love blackbearries.

When I was a kid the neighbor lady across the street opened up the closet door in the master bedroom and there was a small rat or large mouse in the corner. Clipped to that same door was her husbands 30-06. You got it, she grabbed that 30-06, jacked a round into the chamber and blasted whatever it was into something that sort of resembled blood pudding. Also blew a hole through the house from the second floor into the basement. After her husband came home and fixed all the holes, he took her to a gunshop and bought his wife her very own 22 magnum Colt Frontier and loaded it with snake shot. It was a bit comical to watch the reaction of the door to door salemen because for at least 10 years she aways had that Colt on her hip anytime she was doing any housework. BTW, during that 10 years she never did encounter another rat or mouse, so that Colt never did get used, however I sort of suspect that she enjoyed the Annie Oakley role a bit when the Fuller Brush men came around.

 

[sipowicz]

Just curious, why do people hate snakes so? There are very, very few poisonous ones. They are scared of people and eat rodents and bugs. I'd rather have a few snakes around then mice and rats.

Blame the bible...if a golden retriever handed Adam the apple...we'd be smashing those loveable lugs on the head.

 

[cp1969]

No poisonous snake in the US has a round pupil in their eye. Colors, markings, etc can fool the best of us but it will have a slit pupil, like a cat, if it's poisonous.

 

[LVSteve]

I do not envy you folk in the mid-West and South with Copperheads and Cottonmouths. Out here it is pretty simple as nothing large without a rattle is venomous. That said, six foot of Great Basin Gopher snake will give a lot of folk dirty underwear when it decides to move quickly.

IIRC, the Pine Snake is a form of Gopher Snake. You may have just dispatched a good mouser and something that would keep the rattlers away. Snakes are quite territorial.

 

[ElToro]

OP is in Tennessee.. they got nasty poisonous snakes tehre.

out here in PRK we got rattlers. squared blade spade shovel does wonders.

yes tehy are lovely creatures, but not near me.

i have an insane black widow problem at my house. chickens havnt discoverd them yet becasue tehy come out at night when the birds are asleep. so i go around with the mag light and can of raid about every 3 nights.

 

[srgvaz]

Henceforth, you shall be known as Snakeslayer, Hero of the Homestead.

Or.. the OLD COKE box Trapper

 

[srgvaz]

Just curious, why do people hate snakes so?

I think it all started when satan was depicted as a snake in the bible. I lost my buddy- dam good hunting dog to a rattle snake. rip-2002

 

[2000Z-71]

Just curious, why do people hate snakes so? There are very, very few poisonous ones. They are scared of people and eat rodents and bugs. I'd rather have a few snakes around then mice and rats.

Why do I hate them so much, it's when I have these that show up in the yard.



That's a 5' long Mojave Rattler coiled up in my front yard. The Mojave is the most poisonous snake in North America injecting both a hemotoxic and neurotoxic venom when it bits. Yeah, I also live in the typical cookie cutter suburban Phoenix neighborhood. I've got 2 dogs and a 5 year old daughter. Snakes really aren't welcome here.

 

[LVSteve]

OP is in Tennessee.. they got nasty poisonous snakes tehre.

out here in PRK we got rattlers. squared blade spade shovel does wonders.

yes tehy are lovely creatures, but not near me.

i have an insane black widow problem at my house. chickens havnt discoverd them yet becasue tehy come out at night when the birds are asleep. so i go around with the mag light and can of raid about every 3 nights.

I play that game here anytime after it has been windy. I reckon the little buggers parasail in. Sunday night I found one and killed her then got into it with the roaches hiding in the water meter boxes under the sidewalk. After the Raid ran out I went and got the big sprayer and really laid down a barrage. Came out Monday morning and inspected the area and it looked like an after action photo from Stalingrad. The worrying thing is that most of the roaches have been the American Cockroach that can fly.

 

[srgvaz]

Cockroach that can fly.

The worst try boric acid (powder) it will last longer than raid.

 

[darmtn1917]

Who the hell gets close enough to see "the slit pupil".
As too there "good mousers,etc" I always offer town folk the opportunity to save the rattlesnakes as I will drop them off in their back yard and their kids,pets can "discover" them. Letting poisonous snakes wander about seems a good idea until it's your family and pets that may die. A lot of the "old timers" that ranch in the Sierra foothills are seen to have one or more cut off fingers that can be traced to snake bites.

 

[MO_mule]

gerhard,

Are you sure it wasn't a spitting Coke-bra?

Chris

 

[mike from st pete]

Beemer-mark, I'm in total agreement with you. Every time I see a dead snake I get so mad. That just means there is another family of rats getting a free ride.
And watch out what species you are killing, some are protected. Do you know how to tell a Black Racer from an Indigo Racer?

 

[DOEBOY1]

what you killed was probably a non poisonus snake if it had been a cooper head it would have layed still til you stepped on it or put your hand in the box then would have let you know it was there. we just found a rattle snake in the middle of the road in sapphire valley. it was about 4 feet long and was very friendly. even when we poked it with a stick it would not rattle it just coiled up and tucked it's head. after it got tired of us it took off for the ditch. i thought when we pressed it's head down with a stick it would try to strike but no rattle no strike. scary to think how many time i probably walked by one in the woods a no rattle because this one was not scared of us at all. Doeboy

 

[LVSteve]

Who the hell gets close enough to see "the slit pupil".
As too there "good mousers,etc" I always offer town folk the opportunity to save the rattlesnakes as I will drop them off in their back yard and their kids,pets can "discover" them. Letting poisonous snakes wander about seems a good idea until it's your family and pets that may die. A lot of the "old timers" that ranch in the Sierra foothills are seen to have one or more cut off fingers that can be traced to snake bites.

I was suggesting that IF it was a Pine Snake as believed post mortem, it would have been a good mouser. I know I can be crass sometimes, but even I would not advocate a rattler or copperhead for pest control in the garage.

 

[Bullseye Smith]

The only good snake is a dead one for sure.

 

[Jswiney9]

Who the hell gets close enough to see "the slit pupil".
As too there "good mousers,etc" I always offer town folk the opportunity to save the rattlesnakes as I will drop them off in their back yard and their kids,pets can "discover" them. Letting poisonous snakes wander about seems a good idea until it's your family and pets that may die. A lot of the "old timers" that ranch in the Sierra foothills are seen to have one or more cut off fingers that can be traced to snake bites.

family or pets that may DIE? where do you live australia? there arent any north american snakes that can bite you that are going to kill you on site, or kill your pets. i understand the fear of snakes for most people, but i think a lot of it comes from being uneducated with them. i live in southwestern virginia and grew up with them in my backyard/crawlspace so i guess its a little different for me. The only snake i kill is a rattlesnake i plan on eating.

 

[Herknav]

Blame the bible...if a golden retriever handed Adam the apple...we'd be smashing those loveable lugs on the head.

Actually, it was Eve that handed Adam the apple... How does this change your theory?

Jswiney9--I have a buddy in west Texas whose daughter was about 8 when she got bit by a baby rattler in the backyard. Baby rattlers can't regulate their venom, so the little girl got everything the snake could give her. She was in pretty bad shape, but she pulled through.

 

[c3006]

Just curious, why do people hate snakes so? There are very, very few poisonous ones. They are scared of people and eat rodents and bugs. I'd rather have a few snakes around then mice and rats.

Roger That!!!

 

[Jswiney9]

Actually, it was Eve that handed Adam the apple... How does this change your theory?

Jswiney9--I have a buddy in west Texas whose daughter was about 8 when she got bit by a baby rattler in the backyard. Baby rattlers can't regulate their venom, so the little girl got everything the snake could give her. She was in pretty bad shape, but she pulled through.

exactly, its hard to die from a snake bite from any of the North American species. they still hurt, can make you sick, but a lot of people have this instant death phobia that is just nonsense. Like i said, i dont blame people for being afraid of snakes but if you take the time to learn more about them you can keep your family safer than just killing every one you see. if we didnt have snakes our rodent problems would be horrible.