Big Fat Daddy

Join Date 12/2006

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A Snake in the Grass

Another

TW's recent post about her little green snake brought a lot of snakey memories back to me. I have written at least one article and some different comments about snakes in the last few months. I just don't like snakes, I don't care what they eat, how much you love them for a pet; if they come around here they will become a belt or pair of boots. Here's one example of why:

Missouri summers get dark before they get cool. Most of the tack rooms at the saddle club didn't have electricity and absolutely no candles or flame producing lamps allowed in the horse area. The irony is that after we left there, they did have a really bad fire and the whole stable area burned down. So if you are duking and feeding and currying and whatever after dark, it is still warm and you can't see in the buildings. Got the picture?

I was just wrapping up the duking, feeding, currying process when one of the newer members came up to me. I still don't react well to people approaching me unannounced in the dark, especially when they are carrying a shovel. He had something in the shovel and asked me if I knew if this was a poisonous snake or not. I got out a flashlight and examined the corpse. It was a copperhead about three to four feet long and as thick as my wrist. A large snake for a copperhead. I pointed out the triangle shaped head and the pits in front of his eyes...the markings on his face that kinda look like he is smiling at you. They also have a unique attribute, they stink...mildly as individuals but in groups it can be most unpleasant...sort of a snakey cucumber smell...ick. About six inches back from the head the neck was almost completely severed...and there was still a little twitch left in him. After my excellent block of instruction on copperhead snakes, I looked up and my clubmate was looking a little woozy. He told me that he was putting his shovel away after duking out his corral when he heard a ding on his shovel, before he could figure out what it was, it happened again. Some primal instinct took over and he jabbed out with the shovel and apparently caught the snake by the neck on its third attempt. He had no idea how dangerous the snake was.

But Ginger the wonder-horse did, she danced around and snorted and generally acted a fool until we deposited the carcass out in the grassy field behind my corral (heheheee...snake in the grass). In this case, my clubmate created a happy ending and a good snake in one fell swoop.

If you google copperheads, there are a lot of articles about how misunderstood these snakes are, they are really not that dangerous, etc, etc. One of my soldiers was stupid enough to play with a baby...no more that six inches long. It hit him four or five times before he realized it and it cost him a night in the hospital and a struggle to keep his finger. Unhappy ending. Snake in the "grass" or soldier in the hospital? My vote goes for putting dead, smelly, half-severed, "good" snakes in the grass every time.

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I don't know what is going on, I tried to edit out that bold gap, didn't work.

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Great story and an excellent example of why identifying a snake before you do something to it is probably the best idea. Unlike you, though, I do like snakes, although I can understand why you don't, given stories such as this.

About the only poisonous snake I've encountered here in Australia is the Red-Bellied Black Snake. But they're pretty shy and if you stamp your feet, they'll take off.

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I only like pretty ones that eat things I don't like.

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"I only like pretty ones that eat things I don't like."

I only like dead ones

"About the only poisonous snake I've encountered here in Australia is the Red-Bellied Black Snake. But they're pretty shy and if you stamp your feet, they'll take off."

I have met several varieties and some of the most aggressive ones aren't even poisonous, they just act like it. But so what...if ya kill 'em, it don't matter if they are bitey or squeezey snakes.

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if ya kill 'em, it don't matter if they are bitey or squeezey snakes.

Too true...

Hope you don't mind the hijack, but I have to tell this story: I spent part of my first 8 years of life on a farm in tropical North Queensland. We used to have all sorts of wonderful wildlife around us: goannas, lizards, birds, possums, wallabys and, of course, snakes. Occasionally a snake would get into the hen house but most encounters were purely in passing.

One evening, some relatives were visiting. It had been a particularly hot day and we were all relaxing on the veranda. My Aunt went to the toilet and was gone for a very short time before we heard a blood-curdling scream. We rushed into the house to find my Aunt, still with her knickers around her ankles, running up the hallway screaming "snake!" A red-bellied black snake had crawled in the toilet window to have a drink from the cistern tank and decided to have a bit of look round. Thankfully, it took off out the window, probably wondering what the hell the noise was. Suffice to say, this story has become a bit of a family legend.

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I lived in Brisbane for a few years when I was a kid, and we used to have brown snakes around the place all the time. They're a nasty piece of work - a bite could easily mess you up very badly or kill you, especially for a kid.
One time I remember going for a swim in a neighbour's pool. When I climbed the ladder to get out I saw a brown snake had taken up station about two metres from the edge of the pool. I'm not ashamed to say I freaked out big time and refused to get out of the water until my mate's dad shooed it away with the pool net.

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I was mowing my mother's grass way back when (she lived next to a farm at the time - now that house is in the middle of suburbia!). I kicked over a log (cause I hate trimming and figured it would be easier to move it than trim around it) and startled a copperhead. He reared up like a python, but I was really too far away for him to strike (he was probably 4 feet long). I stopped the mower, went to the shed and got a hoe, and made a good snake out of him! Sushi style!

I dont mind snakes, but if they are going to get up in my face, they are going to lose!

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About the only poisonous snake I've encountered here in Australia is the Red-Bellied Black Snake.

We have those here as well - except they are called red racers and are not poisonous. But you will never convince my mother of that!

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I don't know what is going on, I replied to your comments this morning and now my grateful reply has vanished. Hmmmm....

Doc: Why turn off the mower? Snakeburger !

Cacto: I am with you, brother...I'd still be in the pool.

Dynoman: No worries ( as you all say down under...I'm told) it is a great story, flesh it out and post it!

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Just been googling snakes, Doc. The red bellied black snake is a very poisonous native of Australia and the Red Racer is a constrictor which is the "most common snake in the Mojave Desert area". Learn sumpfin new ever day. Spent lots of day and nights in the Mojave and I don't think I have ever seen one...blue and black racers, now, seen lots o' them.

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Doc: Why turn off the mower? Snakeburger !

I was actually trying to kill it humanely - one chop to the neck. I just missed a couple of times.

Red Racer is a constrictor which is the "most common snake in the Mojave Desert area". Learn sumpfin new ever day.

A constrictor? This one was no more than 12 inches long. I dont think it could have constricted anything bigger than a small mouse.

We were in Lakeside at the time - close enough to the Mojave I guess.

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They eat bugs and worms and small rodents etc.

I like your avatar, by the way. I was always a big ALF fan. Is it a secret code to tell us you eat.....cats?

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Is it a secret code to tell us you eat.....cats?

It better not be - or my wife will kill me!

Actually, it was the show that I use to watch with my daughter when she was about 7. It was the only show she could stay up late for, and we watched it together every week. So I am kind of attached to the fellow myself.

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