OT: need snake advice

[Jim Bailey]

Yes it's OT, but you all seem to have such a broad base of knowledge here, thought you wouldn't mind helping a fellow woodworker out.

(Central Fl area)

Walked out on our pool/screened patio area this morning with my Golden Retriever and found a little baby snake had gotten into the area, and was trying to get back out. I see black snakes and garter (sic?) snakes quite often around the house. I don't have any fear of snakes, and just pick them up and take them out behind our house to a retention pond area and set them loose. But this one looked different and started shaking his tail (amazing how fast it was going) when I approached. I used a broom to direct him out the screen door into the back yard, paying close attention to his coloring, head, tail etc.

A quick search on the internet turned up his twin brother:

'd heard about rattlesnakes in FL before, but in almost 30 years living here, I'd never seen one. Of course what comes to mind, is if there is a baby then there must be a mother too. I have no desire to hunt down and kill the snakes, but I can't let my dog, wife, son, ME! out there doing yard work and, well, you know what I mean.

Any advice ?

JimInFl

[Lew Hodgett]

"Jim Bailey" wrote

Call animal control.

After you call A/C, give them their space.

They mean you no harm unless provoked.

We have are share of R/S here in SoCal, usually responsible for killing a couple of pet dogs during the season.

Good luck.

Lew

[Lee]

[Leon]

Kill the snake and be especially careful of the baby ones.

[Lew Hodgett]

"Scott Cox" wrote

You pay for professional services, that's why they exist.

If you screw up and end up in the E/R, then what have you saved?

Here in SoCal, we coexist with a number of wild animals including brown bears, mountain lions, coyotes as well as rattlesnakes.

They were here first, it is basically our problem to get along.

There is a type of rattlesnake here in SoCal that is confined to only one area which has an unusual venom which does not respond to the usual serums.

The hospital in that area is the only one that has the necessary serum to treat the bite.

Go to the wrong hospital and you die before they can get the correct serum.

Animal control and the medics are aware of the local requirements, and train to respond to these situations on a regular basis.

The cost of actually going out on a call gets lost in the wash.

Of course, you want to be a cowboy, that's your business.

Lew

[Scott Cox]

"Jim Bailey" wrote

Then "Lew Hodgett" wrote...

That's ridiculous and the reason our taxes are so high. DON'T look for help from the govt. and get the rake out. Sheesh!

[J. Clarke]

When I lived in Florida we used to see two or three a year, generally just passing through. Always killed them on general principle, but they never actually did any damage except to a cat who thought he was a mongoose.

Yeah, you can get bitten--they don't always warn you--but generally if you leave them alone they'll leave you alone. Learn their habits and don't reach where snake is likely to be resting unless you're sure there's no snake there and you shouldn't have a problem with them.

The kid and the dog are the real worries because they'll try to mess with the snake and the snake will defend itself.

[tom]

brother:

> I'd heard about rattlesnakes in FL before, but in almost 30 years living

There are others who'll shake their tail at you. The snake's "twin" you've searched out isn't a rattler. I think. Tom

[Swingman]

Quick way to tell if its poisonous (although you want to do this on a dead or otherwise incapacitated specimen) is to look at an eye. With the exception of the coral snake, which has red and yellow bands touching, all other poisonous snakes in the US will have a vertical slit for the pupil.

[Lew Hodgett]

Make that mistake her in SoCal and you can be in deep trouble.

It is the baby of the family that is the biggest problem with the snake that is confined to one area.

After spending some time in San Angelo, learned a healthy respect for cowboy boots, turns out they actually have a purpose.

Goodyear had built some oval test tracks and left the infeld untouched.

As a diversion, the drivers would run over the rattlesnakes that came out of the infield, then stop and cut off the rattle.

When they got back to the start house, there was a 4x8 sheet of plywood, a box of 16d nails and a hammer which was used to nail up the trophy rattles.

They were working on the 3rd-4th board when I was there.

There was a time in my life when snake hunting was an interesting way to spend an afternoon with friends.

When you are 16, you we surprised how good you get snap shooting from the hip with a .22 when you're after snakes, but that was then and this is now.

These days, probably couoldn't hit a bull in the ass with a barn door, much less a .22.

Bottom line...................................

Time marches on and don't let the size of the snake fool you.

Lew

.

[John B]

Just my 2 bobs worth. "the only good snake is a dead snake" We have plenty in Oz, and any that find their way into my yard end up coming to grief with the harp end of a spade.

John

[Scott Cox]

"Lew Hodgett" wrote.....

.....

It was a baby snake. If you relate that to a trip to the ER then it's time to face some fears. .......

That's how we do things here in Texas. You must be one of those "metro men" I've heard about. Maybe you should get outdoors more? :-)

Scott (who doesn't need govt. agency to kill baby snake for me)

[Jim Bailey]

Good ideas from all. Tom made me think a little, so I researched a bit more and found this link.

describe the regular blacksnake babies as being slate grey with blotches, and shaking their tails when trapped, and often mistaken for rattlers. I know for a fact I've got a big blacksnake living around my neighbor's house because I see it every other day or so. I think I'll give it a few days, look around some more (carefully) before I jump to any conclusions. Meanwhile the dog can poop on the other side of the yard :)

Thanks to all.

[Lee]

We have Pine snakes that look like our Timber rattlers. They even coil and buzz there tail. Tried the eye thing but decided fast retreat was better choice :) When I go near my fire wood I wear them cow poke boots(Heavy sided ones). Ounce of prevention thing

[Lew Hodgett]

If in fact it is a black snake, they are known to keep the rat population under control.

Black sankes are very useful.

Lew

[tom]

All snakes are useful. And, Mr. Cox, it's not a bad idea to treat a baby rattler with a little more respect than you might a mature one. The "folk wisdom" (I know, I know) talks about the babies not knowing the difference between a casual encounter with a non-threat like cat, dog or what have you, and a real threat. So they just give _all_ the venom that they're born with. An older, wiser rattler is more likely to give a dry bite, and that does the job at hand. At least it worked on my cat that way. He was bitten in the face, twice, over a two year period, and it was probably the same snake. Yep, Clem's a little smarter now. A little, anyway. Tom

[no spam]

Just saw the msg.

My advice, get a 5 gallon bucket and relocate them. I just moved to south GA and so far have caught 2 baby rattlers. In TN we had more of a problem with copperheads. I kill neither, just moved them to an area w/o people. Do a goggle search and see how many people in the US die from snake bites. I think you will find that MAYBE 5 people a year die from them and 4.5 of those people were 'playing' with the snake at the time.

I have found most people have an irrational fear of snakes and firearms. It comes from ignorance, do a little research on the subject and you'll realize that a snake, even a 4 foot rattler, isn't really that dangerous as long as you don't do anything stupid.

[no spam]

And rattle snakes are vegetarians? One of the reasons I don't kill snakes is because the are very good at keeping the rat and mouse population down. I do move the venomous ones deeper into the woods but its more to protect the dogs than me.

[Joe AutoDrill]

Snakes will move on to other places if there is no food source. Remove the food source...

Small snakes - Bugs.

Large snakes - rodents, etc.

Otherwise, consider them scenery and don't touch.

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. [phone]

[mac davis]

Jim.. Along with the other info here, I'd add food source..

We never had much in the way of snakes or varmints here in our area of Baja until our neighbor put up a bunch of bird feeders... He has his own ecology over there now, spilling into our lot.

The bird seed attracted chip monks or ground squirrels, the birds eating the feed attracted bigger varmints, the ground squirrels attracted snakes, etc...

mac

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