Can we even talk snakes here?!

[crtreedude]

  That is the plan!

Imagine what we could get away with.  :


From another time, I took this picture:



This was one sneaking up behind Amy, on a foot bridge. I wanted till she was across before telling her.

:D

[crtreedude]

Oh, we did go ahead and buy the place - working through the paperwork now. All I have to do now is keep Harolds saw off some of the big trees - there is a Guancaste tree on it that is very big, you don't see a lot of them anymore.



The diameter is more than 4' if I am correct.

[Texas Ranger]

Jeff, I guess I will have to rethink your gift. :

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Been bitten 3 times and I am still here but they all died. (2 rattlers, 1 copper)  Mowed the yard last weekend and killed just one snake. (water moc)  Get about 5 or 6 a year out of the chicken house and about as many out of the pond in front of the house.  We have had them in the house before.   When I mow the whole yard I often get one or two and most are copper heads.  Life in the country. 
  When I was in the Jungle I worried about them "step and a half" snakes.  Glad we do not have them here.  A bag of ice and car keys will get you through here, but with them "step and a halfs" you would never get to the truck.
  Rattlers do not always rattle before they strike and a cotton mouth will come after you.

[crtreedude]

Many years ago when I was about 14 I was visiting relatives in Missouri when my cousin asked if I would like to spend the week bailing hay and make some money.  Sure enough I said.

Well, the next day we are heading out to fields and I see my cousin strap on a pistol.  Didn't exactly know what to think. I had lived in NY since I was 7 so I figured perhaps there was some hay rustlers we had to worry about.  :D

The day went on and I wasn't paying any real attention when all of a sudden I heard a shot! Boy, I was ready to hide behind the nearest bail of hay!

I looked over to see what it was, it was my cousin shooting at a bail of hay. It seems that when you are bailing hay in Missouri, occassionally you will pickup a snake - rattler or cooperhead. They tend to be pretty mad too after being half bailed into the hay. 

So far in Costa Rica I have only seen one poisonous snake - and that was in the road. If you are careful here, you don't normally have any problem.

However, the fer-de-lance is consider one of the most dangerous snakes in the world. And the Bushmaster is a really mean snake - and very large. Imagine a pit viper 3+ meters long.

[Teri]

Thats one reason why I never liked hauling hay. You never knew when something would be looking back at ya. 

Luckily it only happened to me once.

[pigman]

When I was on vacaton in Southeast Asia we had the  two step vipers.  They must of been a weaker verson of Arky's step and a half snakes. ;) The snakes liked to crawl up real close at nights to keep warm. Since I was real thin and didn't give off much heat I never had a problem. Some of the bigger guys would wake with a snake under the poncho with them.   No one in my unit ever got bit. I suppose the snakes knew that a dead person wouldn't be very warm to sleep with.  ;D

[crtreedude]

Interesting how snakes are described in different cultures. Here they are described by how far away you are supposed to stay from them.

For example: Fer-de-lance (terciopelo - velvet) - 3 step snake. Stay at least 3 steps away at all times. It is aggressive, but usually will leave you alone if you leave it alone.

Bushmaster - 3 Kilometer snake (this one is called Ox Killer - matabuey) - Mean snake, will come after you with no provocation and it is big - imagine a viper more than 11' long!  It is the largest pit viper in the world and also bears its young alive. 3 - Klicks means, you see it, you start moving away, quickly!

By the way, the young fer-de-lance are considered much more dangerous than the older ones - they say the venom is more potent and they are a lot faster.

Fred's cure for poisonous snakes - Chopperos - these are they guys with machetes who chop the grass. They work with a stick in one hand (to hold the grass) and a machete in the other - usually the long machetes (almost a meter). Those machetes are really sharp and not many snakes get a chance with them.

One thing about the fer-de-lance, if you see one, don't let down your guard - there is usually another one nearby. The big ones tend to go in pairs for some reason.

[tnlogger]

When i got sick we rented an old house down by the river that had been closed up for a couple of yrs. well Pat is like jeff when it come to them crawling reptiles. when she sees one she is gone and i do mean gone :D in fact if you tried ta shoot her when she sees one that there bullet an't got a chance way too slow.
well we got moved in and Pat was making supper i as outside talking to my son and all we saw was a flash and a scream. we thought she done hurt herself. well i'll tell ya when she got her voice back she done let inta both of us and said she wer'nt living in no house that had snacks in it. Now me being a little on the slow side was confused so she said go look in the oven. wal paul and i went in and in the draw were ya put the pots was a nest of about 6 little copperheads about 3or4 inchs long but no mama snake.
well now paul dont like um himself ans wanted to shoot um right in the DanG stove but i talked him outa it and dispatched um with a set of them big BBQ forks. Before pat would go back in the house we had to show her them little bitty snakes.  :D The whole time we lived there i had to check the stove every time she cooks. ;D ;D

[sprucebunny]

 :D :D :D :D :D
Good story, Gene :D
I would be having you check the whole house for 'snacks' every hour ;D
:D :D :D

[Fla._Deadheader]

 
  Almost done did it, today  : :

  We was out Log huntin, with the Guvner of Palatka. Remember him, Greg??

  Anyways, we had a couple logs stashed in the Bonnets and we pulled on one for about a hour, before breakin it loose. Found a BIG hole in the side and bout a 10# Catfish came swimmin outta the hole.  ;D 

  We put the log in a patch of Bonnets, and headed off to pull on another.

  Had to chunk off about 10' of that one, both ends was bad.  :

  Decided to head over to the stash and load the boat.  Got to the stash and Ed bails off the deck to hook a chain around log #1. I went to the back of the boat and dropped one end of the chain down along side the log, and then laid out over the log to reach around and grab the chain, so I could hook it to the beam, securing the log.

  Next log went equally as well, until I had to lean over the END of said log. Bout the time I grabbed the chain, this 3½' Cotton mouth crawled outta the end of the log, not 8 " from my face.    He was under water, but, not by much.  Has this puzzled look on his face, and I left him RAT THERE.   I'm not afraid of them guys, but, that was a susprise.     ;D ;D

[pigman]

Interesting how snakes are described in different cultures. Here they are described by how far away you are supposed to stay from them.

The two step viper is called that because if you are bitten you are dead buy the time you take two steps.

[Cedarman]

Spent the last two weeks moving a lot of old dead cedars off pasture land in central Oklahoma.  Kept waiting for a rattlesnake to come out of hiding, but only had one non-poisonous snake show up. See a few copperheads here in So In, but snakes usually head for other country when they feel the tractor vibrations going over the ground.

If we could think of anything bad to say about da Boss, he might never see it this far down this snake thread.

[Texas Ranger]

Yeah, I think I should send his gift anyway.

[tnlogger]

TR if ya do wait till after the pig roast  :D he just might leave the country  ;D

[etat]

I had a interesting evening.  My mom and dad had told me about this 'giant' snake that was hiding out in their chicken house.  Ok, I 'told' em, it was just a chicken snake and probably wouldn't bite em.  (I didn't mind doing this since it was 'THEIR' chicken house and not mine) .   Of course I knew that argument wasn't going to work.  My dad had attacked it a couple of times with a hoe but he said it was too fast for him.  And my mom told me she was afraid it would cause her to have a heart attack. 

SO, today, this evening to be exact, I get recruited to go 'SNAKE HUNTING' , allmost against my will.

I was told it was last seen in one of the old horse stalls.  I went in well armed.  I had a hoe, a bush blade, a shotgun, and a chainsaw.  I was determined to outfox that snake.  Actually I wouldn't have minded having some grenades or dynamite in my arsenal but that kind of stuff is just plain unavailable.

I entered the stall, with my backup close behind me.  (My wife, my mom, and my dad)

A quick look around, NO SIGN OF A SNAKE!  I told em I bet it was gone.  Didn't work.

MY dad said he bet it was behind that there wall and handed me a chainsaw.  I cut a few of the lower boards so I could see, and.............NO SNAKE!

I TOLD EM, I bet it's gone.  Heck, I bet it heard me crank that chainsaw and left eh country.

Didn't work.  My dad pointed at another wall and he said he bet it was behind 'that' wall.

I cut out a board.  I went to move it, and that's when I got the heck scared out of me.  THERE IT WAS, AND IT WAS ON THE MOVE.

I YELLED for the gun.  The dang wife handed me the bush blade.  I handed it back and DEMANDED THE GUN.  I ain't taking no knife to a snake fight when there's a gun available, nope, not me.

It was moving fast, but I managed to just about cut it in two with that four ten.

As it move around it showed it's head, and I made the killing shot. 

Now, most of it is still tangled up inside that wall.  I told my dad, it was ok, the snake was dead.  NOPE he told me, I want that snake, dead or alive, OUT OF MY BARN.  I FINALLY wormed it out of there and carried it and disposed of it.

IT was a chicken snake alright, almost 6 foot long, and FAT.  I reckon it won't be eating any more eggs in that barn and that's a fact.

I sure do hope it doesn't have a mate.  I've had enough snake hunting for a while.

[Teri]

 :D :D :D :D :D :D

CK... You must have looked like Rambo going in there!!!

Glad ya go it!

[bitternut]

So just exactly what kind of snake is a "chicken snake" ?  We don't have a whole lot of different kinds of snakes in NY, especially ones that you have to fear. Most of our snakes are pretty small compared to the one you are describing. A 3 or 4 footer would be a pretty big one.

[etat]

So just exactly what kind of snake is a "chicken snake" ?

 

They're MEAN ones and that's a fact.  Well fed ones eat eggs, rats, mice, and small chickens. I haven't really heard of em eating any humans or children lately but when you run up on one unexpectedly it's just real hard to convince yourself that that ain't possible.  The worst thing is, at first glance, especially when your heart is beating fast and your brain ain't working right they sorta remind you of a copperhead.

Some people actually LIKE haveing em in their barn.  They've got a better heart that I do and that's a fact.

The one I got yesterday looked almost exactly like this.

http://www.houstonherp.com/TxRat.html

[crtreedude]

CK,

That is a cute little feller.  They only get 6 feet long? Boas are commonly known around here to get bigger than 12 feet - and very thick in the middle.  Imagine if you had seen on of those!

The one at the start of the thread a swear was trying to decide if I was too big to eat....

[Teri]

Fred.. He may be cute in the picture but they look a lot better far away!! 

[bitternut]

Well ck, now I know what a chicken snake is. I thought maybe these chicken snakes were like snow snakes. They do look kind of nasty looking even though your link says they are harmless. Can't say I would want one slithering around the house at night. Geez, snakes,bugs, hurricanes, heat. Now I know why I am still a Yankee.

[Teri]

If we get another hurricane this year I'll become a yankee real fast!!!  :D :D

[crtreedude]

Teri,

You know they are predicting a worse hurricane year than normal - again?  :-\

[Teri]

I know   :(

This time I'm not staying!