Wildguzzi.com

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: LowRyter on September 11, 2021, 06:17:28 PM

Title: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 11, 2021, 06:17:28 PM
I saw this in one of my tomato pots. I thought it was a stick or something and touched it.  It didn't move but then I realized it was a snake.   When I took the photo it started to bury  itself.

OK, will this guy kill me?


(https://i.ibb.co/HCNR4bx/P1060718-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/HCNR4bx)
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: ozarquebus on September 11, 2021, 06:32:07 PM
I'm no snake expert, but it looks like a black snake. Doesn't look like a copperhead. I can only identify a copperhead or a rattlesnake. If it has a heart shaped head it is supposed to be poisonous.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Ncdan on September 11, 2021, 06:47:40 PM
I think it’s a common RAT snake. Not positive but that’s as close as I can call it.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: yogidozer on September 11, 2021, 06:54:47 PM
Northern Watersnake. Some call them Blacksnakes, often confused with copperheads.
Won't kill you. When I come across them I pick them up by the tail, toss them into a pond or tall grass, just so my dogs don't mess with them.
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Nerodia_sipedon/

Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Ncdan on September 11, 2021, 06:57:30 PM

(https://i.ibb.co/BZFzxvc/0941972-F-D9-E8-4954-8828-EF66-F427720-E.png) (https://ibb.co/BZFzxvc)
Northern Watersnake. Some call them Blacksnakes, often confused with copperheads.
Won't kill you. When I come across them I pick them up by the tail, toss them into a pond or tall grass, just so my dogs don't mess with them.
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Nerodia_sipedon/
Our black snakes in NC are black only, no other colors.
This is a picture of a Rat Snake.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: yogidozer on September 11, 2021, 07:02:17 PM
Our black snakes in NC are black only, no other colors.
actually black snakes and northern watersnakes are different, just that some people call them the same.
At least the people I've come across.
A true black snake is all black.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: yogidozer on September 11, 2021, 07:06:48 PM
Northern watersnake

(https://i.ibb.co/mRrqc2s/48862035682-c51a640a25-b.jpg) (https://ibb.co/mRrqc2s)

In either case, good eatin'  :grin:
seems like different locations, or time of the year they can look different.

(https://i.ibb.co/Qr4n4J6/Northern-Water-Snake.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Qr4n4J6)
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Ncdan on September 11, 2021, 08:11:13 PM
Thanks guys.  Assume it ain't poisonous.   A worry for another day.




👍 hope your Mom gets well ASAP.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 11, 2021, 08:30:57 PM
Thanks Dan-0.  Maybe the snake will get my gopher/mole/vole.   But I ran him out to the back yard. 
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 11, 2021, 08:41:09 PM
thanks guys..... good to go.  If it bites I'll let you know.   We can move on.   :police:
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: cliffrod on September 11, 2021, 09:12:08 PM
If it is a northern banded water snake, know they are hyper territorial.  They like to bite & when they do, they have an anticoagulant in their saliva that will make you bleed &bleed & bleed like it's never going to stop.  But they are not venomous.    that looks more like a rat snake to me, which is an asset to have around imho.

Neither snake aren't poisonous, either.  If you eat them one, you will not be poisoned.... 
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Ncdan on September 11, 2021, 09:19:34 PM
If it is a northern banded water snake, know they are hyper territorial.  They like to bite & when they do, they have an anticoagulant in their saliva that will make you bleed &bleed & bleed like it's never going to stop.  But they are not venomous.    that looks more like a rat snake to me, which is an asset to have around imho.

Neither snake aren't poisonous, either.  If you eat them one, you will not be poisoned....
Great minds think alike Clint🤔👍
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 11, 2021, 09:30:29 PM
If it is a northern banded water snake, know they are hyper territorial.  They like to bite & when they do, they have an anticoagulant in their saliva that will make you bleed &bleed & bleed like it's never going to stop.  But they are not venomous.    that looks more like a rat snake to me, which is an asset to have around imho.

Neither snake aren't poisonous, either.  If you eat them one, you will not be poisoned....

OH SHIT!
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: cliffrod on September 11, 2021, 09:54:21 PM
The last go-round that i had with one was a few yrs ago.  I was fishing at a favorite spot, where a creek feeds a nearby state park lake.  Just worms and usually panfish, sitting in the shade & relaxing.   Got a bream on the line. Didn't look too big.  But then it fought like crazy, so,thought maybe a different fish had grabbed my hook instead.  Nope.  Got it near the bank and there was a water snake going after my fish.  !!! Very cool.

So I reeled the fish up onto the bank.  First the snake let go.  Then it came out of water after the fish. !!!  I was sitting about 10' from the water's edge in the shade.  Reeled in fish to me.  snake came after it/me, head raised & wanting that fish...  I unhooked the fish asap, threw it down just past my boot.  Snake grabbed the fish by the mouth, wrapped all around it, then carried it back to the water and disappeared.

Happened pretty quick.  Kinda hard to believe but it sure did happen. 
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: yogidozer on September 11, 2021, 10:13:13 PM
The last go-round that i had with one was a few yrs ago.  I was fishing at a favorite spot, where a creek feeds a nearby state park lake.  Just worms and usually panfish, sitting in the shade & relaxing.   Got a bream on the line. Didn't look too big.  But then it fought like crazy, so,thought maybe a different fish had grabbed my hook instead.  Nope.  Got it near the bank and there was a water snake going after my fish.  !!! Very cool.

So I reeled the fish up onto the bank.  First the snake let go.  Then it came out of water after the fish. !!!  I was sitting about 10' from the water's edge in the shade.  Reeled in fish to me.  snake came after it/me, head raised & wanting that fish...  I unhooked the fish asap, threw it down just past my boot.  Snake grabbed the fish by the mouth, wrapped all around it, then carried it back to the water and disappeared.

Happened pretty quick.  Kinda hard to believe but it sure did happen.
Shoulda kept them both.
Two course dinner.  :food:
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Vagrant on September 12, 2021, 06:56:08 AM
Would that have been Surf and Turf?
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Stratodisaster on September 12, 2021, 07:47:20 AM

(https://i.ibb.co/5sQR7XF/20-F68-E8-B-61-B6-453-F-B703-3575-D45-F90-DE.jpg) (https://ibb.co/5sQR7XF)
                    With the exception of the coral snake all venomous snakes in North America have a blunt tail, triangle shape head, blunt nose and slit shaped pupils.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: cliffrod on September 12, 2021, 08:20:53 AM
Shoulda kept them both.
Two course dinner.  :food:

Would that have been Surf and Turf?

That snake was PiSSED!  he had his own surf & turf plans and it looked like i could either leave the chef  alone or become part of the menu...
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: yogidozer on September 12, 2021, 09:04:13 AM
Next time, step n his neck, pick him up.
Cut off his head (chances are he'll still be snapping his jaws)
Peel his skin back towards his tail.
Guts will fall away with the skin.
Wrap the meat around a stick, roast him over a fire.
If you want him moist, you can use a pan over the coals.
Better than a Big Mac for sure!
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: cliffrod on September 12, 2021, 09:42:16 AM
Grabbing and dressing a snake is small potatoes.  When we met, my future wife had a non-releasable rehab 42lb snapping turtle in the nature center that she managed.  His name was Roy.  His head was nearly as big as my fist.   As a result of the damage to his shell and bad floral fiberglass boat patch repair, he had air in his body cavity and developed persistent pneumonia.  so we had to reach in to his enclosure, snatch him up by his tail and stick him into a the corner of a cooler so she could give him shots in his front leg/shoulder.   It was apparently a good way for her to screen potential suitors. Then there was the meds that required we stick a plastic drinking glass over his head instead of using the cooler....   I like eating turtle.  But wife likes turtles, so I haven't cleaned & cooked any snapping turtle for years. 

We try to encourage some black snakes around here to keep the other undesirable animals away.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: yogidozer on September 12, 2021, 09:49:26 AM
I like turtles too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRCe5L1imxg
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 12, 2021, 10:06:17 AM
I think it's a Western Rat Snake.  Thanks for the advice

http://www.oksnakes.org/western-ratsnake.html
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: yogidozer on September 12, 2021, 10:27:07 AM
I think it's a Western Rat Snake.  Thanks for the advice

http://www.oksnakes.org/western-ratsnake.html
Sure look similar in pictures to a Norther water snake.
https://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/nersip.htm
In person it would be easier to tell
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 12, 2021, 10:33:22 AM
Since I'm in Okla and it's quite hot and dry now, and since I'm a block away from the creek, I'm thinking it's a Rat snake.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: yogidozer on September 12, 2021, 10:44:28 AM
Since I'm in Okla and it's quite hot and dry now, and since I'm a block away from the creek, I'm thinking it's a Rat snake.
Good news is, they all taste good!
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 12, 2021, 10:47:24 AM
Good news is, they all taste good!

Better to go after moles, voles and gophers.  Perhaps those rodents are tasty too?  But the issue is ever finding one.  Probably a better job for a snake.  I'm no fan of rats either.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: yogidozer on September 12, 2021, 10:58:20 AM
Rabbits are my favorite, but the coyotes pretty much wiped them out in my area.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: cliffrod on September 12, 2021, 12:52:58 PM
Rabbits are top of my list as well.  In between the plentiful coyotes, we only have small rabbits down here in SC versus the bigger hares up in VT that are actually worth the effort to hunt & eat.  Of course, they're all kinda skimpy after years of high quality farm-raised rabbit in the professional kitchen.

When I started my apprenticeship, one of the first big events was our annual Oktoberfest.  I was tasked with the Sauerbraten and the Hassenpheffor.  Never had a farm-raised rabbit before then.  Great eating, but it was even more luxurious to not spend all that time picking shot.

It's hard to beat the saddle from a nice big rabbit.  Really great eating.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Guzzistajohn on September 12, 2021, 01:10:22 PM
Can’t tell from your picture, but I can say this is a big ‘ol Ozarks cottonmouth. Saw him hangin’ out on Bull creek in Taney County, Mo.
(https://i.ibb.co/kDVbZJj/F0-E34-AB8-E45-E-4-A5-A-9473-A8-C7990481-C6.jpg) (https://ibb.co/kDVbZJj)
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: twowings on September 12, 2021, 02:24:18 PM
FWIW Amazon sells snake handling sticks and bags. When the rattlers are too close to human pathways, I pick them up and move them a couple of hundred yards away. Of course, they are territorial and will come back, but the stick makes it handy to move them out of my way.  YMMV
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Stratodisaster on September 12, 2021, 06:08:24 PM
I’ve heard rattlesnake taste like chicken!
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: twowings on September 12, 2021, 06:21:39 PM
I’ve heard rattlesnake taste like chicken!

Have not been that hungry quite yet 😎

They actually don't seek confrontation but withdraw into the coiling pose with a trick of the tail so to speak, to make you think they are a lot closer than they are.

If I can't step around them, I move them.  Thank goodness I adopted a mature New Mexican dog who instictively knows to keep his distance since the nearest anti-venom is 73 miles away!

One of the evenomation guidelines for medical professionals is "Time is tissue".

I'll spare you the ER envenomation photos.  :wink:
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Guzzi Gal on September 12, 2021, 06:24:01 PM
I’ve heard rattlesnake taste like chicken!
Eh, not so much, it isn't bad though.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: cliffrod on September 12, 2021, 06:47:15 PM
We've had two dogs bitten here in SC, most likely by copperheads.  One almost died. She later survived a second bite & both bites were to the face.  The other one died after the first bite.

Most recently, my wife had a opossum here for a brief stay during rehab about a year ago. Among other injuries, It had a fresh vet-confirmed two fang snake bite, likely a copperhead. Opossums are immune to pit viper venom.  The two puncture wounds each swelled to the approx size of a pencil eraser, scabbed over and fell off within 2-3 days.  No issues whatsoever.  Pretty amazing.  Opossums are not very proactive in terms of aggressive action towards other animals or prey beyond small stuff but will engage, kill and eat pit vipers. 
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 12, 2021, 07:01:16 PM

I've had squirrel and rabbit, chicken fried, on many occasions.  Most were gotten by me and hunting buddies or relatives with .410. .22 or a light load 12 ga.

I'm not sure why you want to use this thread for something more provocative than it really is.  This was simply a discussion about a photo I took of a snake.  I wanted some confirmation that it wasn't particularly dangerous and the snake's identity. 

I'd like to keep it around to patrol moles, voles and gophers that have burrowed in my front yard.  I wonder if some of the chemicals I've used might've chased into my backyard?   

So go ahead and mention guns since I have.  Just don't break the thread.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: twowings on September 12, 2021, 07:05:06 PM
Perhaps I need to investigate what's involved with keeping a  pet mongoose around?


In the driveway several days ago:


(https://i.ibb.co/jkjvLjV/20210731-103830.jpg) (https://ibb.co/jkjvLjV)
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: yogidozer on September 12, 2021, 09:58:23 PM


I'm not sure why you want to use this thread for something more provocative than it really is.  This was simply a discussion about a photo I took of a snake.  I wanted some confirmation that it wasn't particularly dangerous and the snake's identity. 

I'd like to keep it around to patrol moles, voles and gophers that have burrowed in my front yard.  I wonder if some of the chemicals I've used might've chased into my backyard?   

So go ahead and mention guns since I have.  Just don't break the thread.
Maybe you should read Luap's UPDATED RULE post
https://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=112240.0
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 12, 2021, 10:10:55 PM
 :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Ncdan on September 13, 2021, 07:20:10 AM
****update****
As a member posted, there has been an update in #2 of the MG Forum rules and I advise all of the WG forum members revisit those regulations as they will be applied here.

Thanks
Dan
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 13, 2021, 07:48:59 AM
Now I'm agreeing with Kev m.   :police:   I expect frost tonight in Okla.   :wink:
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Kev m on September 13, 2021, 08:09:37 AM
Now I'm agreeing with Kev m.   :police:   I expect frost tonight in Okla.   :wink:


 :evil:

Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Chuck in Indiana on September 13, 2021, 08:17:25 AM
Dang! I've agreed with him lately, too.. <scratching head>  :smiley:
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 13, 2021, 05:13:12 PM
Dang! I've agreed with him lately, too.. <scratching head>  :smiley:

Luckily I still have some Ice Melt left from winter two years ago.  In the mean time, you get the geo thermal fluid fixed in your Indiana air conditioner.   :undecided:
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Iron Cross Junction on September 13, 2021, 05:45:55 PM
Perhaps I need to investigate what's involved with keeping a  pet mongoose around?


In the driveway several days ago:


(https://i.ibb.co/jkjvLjV/20210731-103830.jpg) (https://ibb.co/jkjvLjV)


This said hello to me a few weeks ago at the door to the Moto Grappa.


(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-VRMhFKq/0/ccbfa6f3/L/i-VRMhFKq-L.jpg)


A juvie, so I've worried about siblings since.  :shocked:


Bill
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Ncdan on September 13, 2021, 08:10:00 PM
We have never had rattlesnakes in central NC, until now!
Wife just showed a picture a picture of an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, just across the way from our house. I’ve lived here all my 68 years and this is the first. I’m lost for an explanation??
(https://i.ibb.co/yBRYWDf/D65-F6201-814-F-487-A-B3-C2-1441775-C97-F2.png) (https://ibb.co/yBRYWDf)

free photo sharing websites (https://imgbb.com/)
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 13, 2021, 08:19:11 PM
If a Rattlesnake is on your driveway.   Eazy peezy.


RUN OVER IT!     :blank:




 :weiner:
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: twowings on September 13, 2021, 08:28:34 PM
No, I appreciate the rodent control!
 :cool:
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: cliffrod on September 13, 2021, 08:42:04 PM
We have never had rattlesnakes in central NC, until now!
Wife just showed a picture a picture of an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, just across the way from our house. I’ve lived here all my 68 years and this is the first. I’m lost for an explanation??
(https://i.ibb.co/yBRYWDf/D65-F6201-814-F-487-A-B3-C2-1441775-C97-F2.png) (https://ibb.co/yBRYWDf)

free photo sharing websites (https://imgbb.com/)


I thought that's within their range, even though theyre not common. We're just south of the SC/NC border and they're supposedly around here.  Go a little further south and they're much more common.

But things keep changing.  I saw the first dead armadillo dead on the old I-85 in Spartanburg about a week ago...
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Ncdan on September 13, 2021, 09:16:26 PM
I thought that's within their range, even though theyre not common. We're just south of the SC/NC border and they're supposedly around here.  Go a little further south and they're much more common.

But things keep changing.  I saw the first dead armadillo dead on the old I-85 in Spartanburg about a week ago...
No, it’s scary kind of strange. They are common 50-75 miles north/west and 50/75 miles south/east of us but not the the Piedmont triad area. At least I’ve never saw one and I’ve spent a lot of time in the woods and fields. This is a first in my lifetime 🤔
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: nc43bsa on September 13, 2021, 09:55:24 PM
But things keep changing.  I saw the first dead armadillo dead on the old I-85 in Spartanburg about a week ago...

I haven't seen an armadillo in NC yet, but I saw several dead ones in the Chattanooga TN area two summers ago.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: cliffrod on September 14, 2021, 06:24:53 AM
No, it’s scary kind of strange. They are common 50-75 miles north/west and 50/75 miles south/east of us but not the the Piedmont triad area. At least I’ve never saw one and I’ve spent a lot of time in the woods and fields. This is a first in my lifetime 🤔

I thought everybody wanted to move to the Triad area?

 Just so you won't be surprised again, Danny...    Something was mentioned about scorpions around here a couple of years ago.  "Nope, not around here.."  It was casually mentioned to a friend and he said "They sure are." He brought one to my wife for the nature center within 1-2 days.  She's got in alcohol for the collection. It was the first one he found, so isn't very big.  but he said you'll know it if stings you when you reach under that log/rock/board. 
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: bigbikerrick on September 14, 2021, 12:56:54 PM
Grabbing and dressing a snake is small potatoes.  When we met, my future wife had a non-releasable rehab 42lb snapping turtle in the nature center that she managed.  His name was Roy.  His head was nearly as big as my fist.   As a result of the damage to his shell and bad floral fiberglass boat patch repair, he had air in his body cavity and developed persistent pneumonia.  so we had to reach in to his enclosure, snatch him up by his tail and stick him into a the corner of a cooler so she could give him shots in his front leg/shoulder.   It was apparently a good way for her to screen potential suitors. Then there was the meds that required we stick a plastic drinking glass over his head instead of using the cooler....   I like eating turtle.  But wife likes turtles, so I haven't cleaned & cooked any snapping turtle for years. 

We try to encourage some black snakes around here to keep the other undesirable animals away.
Cool story, Cliffrod! Thanks for sharing it,
Rick.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: twowings on September 14, 2021, 03:27:09 PM
Further reading for anyone interested:

By changing the frequency of its rattling, these venomous snakes let intruders know when they’re too close.

 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/rattlesnakes-farther-away-than-they-sound
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Motormike on September 14, 2021, 07:22:50 PM
Perhaps I need to investigate what's involved with keeping a  pet mongoose around?


In the driveway several days ago:


(https://i.ibb.co/jkjvLjV/20210731-103830.jpg) (https://ibb.co/jkjvLjV)

That one looks like he means business.

Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: SteveRivet on September 15, 2021, 10:40:35 AM
Northern Watersnake. Some call them Blacksnakes, often confused with copperheads.
Won't kill you. When I come across them I pick them up by the tail, toss them into a pond or tall grass, just so my dogs don't mess with them.
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Nerodia_sipedon/

They seem to be the nastiest non-venomous snake I run across.  Territorial, mean, and with the anticoagulant in their saliva the bites are nasty.  You're ballsier than I am if you pick them up.

I normally just leave snakes alone, cause they do a good job keeping the population down on animals I like less.   

-Steve
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: bad Chad on September 15, 2021, 11:48:03 AM
We have never had rattlesnakes in central NC, until now!
Wife just showed a picture a picture of an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, just across the way from our house. I’ve lived here all my 68 years and this is the first. I’m lost for an explanation??
(https://i.ibb.co/yBRYWDf/D65-F6201-814-F-487-A-B3-C2-1441775-C97-F2.png) (https://ibb.co/yBRYWDf)

free photo sharing websites (https://imgbb.com/)


Snakes, like all life move around geographically over time. Wildlife migration is a natural phenomenon. It can be precipitated by changes in food supply or predation, geophysical or climate changes or even something as basic as sea level changes.  Plants do it too, by succeeding generations marching along one way or another, they go where the living is good.  Just like humans, why do you think CA wound up with almost 40 million residents? :grin:
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Kev m on September 15, 2021, 12:00:10 PM
, they go where the living is good.  Just like humans, why do you think CA wound up with almost 40 million residents? :grin:

And here I thought it was because all the fruit-cakes needed a place to feel at home?!?  :boozing:
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: LowRyter on September 15, 2021, 12:24:44 PM
I'd move to Cali if I could afford to and didn't have some family responsibilities.   Great weather, scenic vistas, great good, great riding roads. 

No wonder I can't afford to move there.
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: cliffrod on September 15, 2021, 12:30:52 PM
They seem to be the nastiest non-venomous snake I run across.  Territorial, mean, and with the anticoagulant in their saliva the bites are nasty.  You're ballsier than I am if you pick them up.

I normally just leave snakes alone, cause they do a good job keeping the population down on animals I like less.   

-Steve

Yup.  Just like foraging mushrooms, someone who doesn't clearly know the differences between species shouldn't be fooling with any of them.  An actual black snake is a very docile animal and the complete opposite of an actual banded water snake.  Banded water snakes can be mistaken for a copperhead (although they don't look too much alike if you're knowledgable)  but even a copperhead isn't as proactively terrotorial as a northern banded water snake. 

During a later camping trip at the same state park, we were leaving the nighttime stories & games event after dark with our daughter. While walking out of the small amplitheater, she nearly stepped on a very large copperhead as it crossed the dirt path. It stopped and froze immediately as soon as it moved off dirt and into grass & leaves beside the path- extremely well camouflaged and essentially invisible.  Very cool.   We were glad to both not get bit and to see it.  Gorgeous snake that wasn't bothering anyone.

But for some reason, the park's event guy (not sure he was a full-fledged ranger) called everyone over as he kneels down directly over it and vigorously patted the ground on either side of the copperhead with his face barely a foot above the snake.  And he wouldn't quit.  What an idiot, both for what he was doing and the example he was providing on bothering the wildlife.  We went on the the truck before he got bit and we had obligation to assist. 

Now, If that had been a water snake, he would have been immediately wearing it....
Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: Kev m on September 15, 2021, 12:34:51 PM
I'd move to Cali if I could afford to and didn't have some family responsibilities.   Great weather, scenic vistas, great good, great riding roads. 

No wonder I can't afford to move there.

Ok, jokes aside, you're not wrong.

But it's also got wild fires, mudslides, earthquakes, taxes as bad as NJ and property costs that are even worse.

I love the diversity of culture and cuisine there though.

And if we're being completely honest, I was pleasantly surprised at another seemingly small but potentially very significant cultural difference - food portions in restaurants.

It seems they are much more likely to offer realistic or smaller sized entrees in restaurants. It was really noticeable last time I visited (at least in Northern CA from San Fran to Tahoe). And it's probably a much healthier way to eat. You can finish a dish and not feel like you overindulged.

Title: Re: Snake Help !!!
Post by: twowings on September 15, 2021, 01:32:32 PM
That one looks like he means business.

Actually, they sense the vibrations in the earth from footsteps and that's a natural defensive posture, not an agressive one.  It's quite simple to just walk around them unless they are in the way.  A human presence is quite overwhelming to them since our heat signature is hundreds of times larger than the rodents they prey on.  They give you plenty of warning unless you both blunder into each other and even then, they would rather de-escalate the situation if possible despite all the cowboy and horror movies you grew up on.

Still, no one here wanders around outside barefoot or in sandals!