Snakes! It's that time of year

[WalkaboutTed]

Last night, my husband went out to close the window in the van (we're in AZ and for running the fridge we like to keep the van cooler).  Thankfully, we have an outside light and directly below the driver door was a 3-4 foot rattler. He was kinda sleepy, but woke up with the movement and then the flashlight.  When I grew up, we had corn snakes as pets, I like them. But, since we have lots of debris on the front porch (clearing things out for the sale of the house), adjacent to the driveway, we couldn't leave the poor venomus thing to his own devices. So he was dispatched with a shovel. 

So, please be on the lookout. Snake bites are an expensive ER visit. 
Ted

 

[dragonflyinthesky]

I'm not afraid of snakes but that would have made me pee my pants.

 

[WalkaboutTed]

We've run into rattlers often enough over the decades with lots of outdoor activities, but Hubby was quite pleased to see the guy. The ER visit costs are much more scary.

 

[dragonflyinthesky]

I just tanned a run over bull snake. If yours didn't decompose yet you may want to tan it. Just skn it, flesh it out and cover it with fifty fifty denatured alcohol and glycerin in a jar. Gently shake a few times a day for four days. Lay it out on paper towels and gently stretch by hand. That's my snake tan recipe. If you want I will give you my shortbread cookie recipe too. Lol
Dragonfly

 

[LeeRevell]

Not seeing snakes yet, but I had a small lizard in my van yesterday.

 

[lenny flank]

Poor little dude...

As a lifelong snake guy, my sympathies are always with the rattlers (especially since the majority of people who are bitten by snakes are drunk at the time and doing something really stoopid.

But alas, having one around kids or pets is bad juju, so yeh, you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

[highdesertranger]

I don't know about them being drunk. the majority of people who get bit put their hands and/or feet where they can't see. highdesertranger

 

[lenny flank]

I don't know about them being drunk.  the majority of people who get bit put their hands and/or feet where they can't see.  highdesertranger

http://www.wistv.com/story/18967546/dnr-60-of-snake-bites-are-alcohol-related

Those who've studied the numbers say while someone accidentally grabs or steps on a snake, people most often have no one to blame but themselves.
According to Steve Bennett with the Department of Natural Resources, 70 to 75 percent of those were accounted for by people trying to catch or kill that venomous snake.
"Right off the bat if you stop and you leave that snake alone you're going to eliminate 70 to 75 percent of the bites, now 60 percent of those involved alcohol, so there you go," said Bennett.

 

[highdesertranger]

that's funny, that's hardly conclusive evidence. I have never seen anybody try to catch a venomous snake drunk or not. and I have been in the outdoors for 50+ years. the article even states that it's hard to get exact numbers because of health laws. highdesertranger

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I have never seen anybody try to catch a venomous snake drunk or not.  and I have been in the outdoors for 50+ years.

Rattlesnake Roundups.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/outlawing_rattlesnake_roundups/

 

[LeeRevell]

Whigham, Georgia has their Rattlesnake Roundup every January. I attended once, and it's basically county fair with the snakes as an added draw. The same few families switch off winning each year, for "Most Snakes" and "Biggest Snake". Caught snakes are milked for their venom, to produce antivenon. Most will be released, while some are skinned, cleaned and cooked. Gator meat is available to eat to. Gotta get there early to avoid having to park on the highway and walk a long way. It's about sixty miles from my home in Florida. Takes longer to get out of the parking lot than to drive there.
June is Gator breeding season here in Florida, so can be a bit more dangerous in the swamps and wator areas. Gators eat snakes though, sl that is a good thing.
The bigger Pythons are fighting back though.
I am still waiting for the first school sports team to be called "The Pythons"!

 

[Weight]

I feel bad for the snake. There is no real reason to kill even a rattle snake.

 

[Queen]

Lived in Gila Bend AZ when I was a kid, rattlers used to sun themselves on our front walk often. There was a whole crew of young airmen who used to come around the housing area to dispatch them, they sold the skins for belts and hatbands, and had snake frys.

 

[TrainChaser]

HDR: "I have never seen anybody try to catch a venomous snake drunk or not. and I have been in the outdoors for 50+ years."

You just haven't been in the right place at the right time. I was in the desert across the smallish campground from a rowdy bunch of guys who had beer cans welded to their hands. One guy somehow caught a rattler and tossed it into the group, daring them to pick it up. One of them managed to grab its tail, but when he raised it, it hit and bit one of the other guys on the back of the wrist (holding the can). Fortunately, there was another guy (sober) in the campground who was willing to take him to the hospital, which was quite some distance. After they left, the guys got flashlights and went out to look for more rattlers "to teach them a lessson".

Never say 'never'.

 

[lenny flank]

Never say 'never'.

Back in my younger days I made my living doing live animal shows, and kept over 100 different species of animal including venomous snakes. Since I was the local "snake guy", the local cops would always call me whenever they had a snake problem of some sort.  I can remember at least two dozen incidents where dumbass teenagers, usually drunk, tried to kill or catch a rattler or copperhead and ended up getting tagged.

To be fair, though, 90% of the calls I got were for ordinary harmless milk snakes or water snakes which people were pointlessly shitting their pants over. I would walk over to them, pick them up with my bare hands, and tuck them down inside my shirt to take them away. The cops thought I was the biggest baddest MFer they ever met.  

Also to be fair, about half the time when a venomous snake bites a person, it does not actually inject any venom--a phenomenon known as a "dry bite". So a lot of people get lucky.

 

[Gunny]

Way back when I was a kid my brother and all of my cousins would help our Grandfather on his small acreage. I was getting some burlap bags off of a stack and when I grabbed one I uncovered a nest, den or herd, whatever you call a clump of baby rattlers. I know they are live birth so Mama was close. My Gramps told us to leave them be, he didn't have any rodents in his shed. He didn't have any Grandkids in there either.

Rob

 

[WalkaboutTed]

We've never harmed any snakes before, we've both had them as pets as kids. But we had all kinds of debris piled up by the front door and porch, not 4 feet from where the critter was hanging out. And it was too late at night and weekend to get someone here to relocate him. We don't need a surprise while working out there-every day right now. It would be a lovely hiding place. But it was a good impetus for hubby to clean up around the yard this morning.

So yes, we do feel guilty.

 

[LeeRevell]

In my youth, we had horses, so Dad built a tack room back of the big boathouse. Sister went out to feed her horse, and put her hand on a snake stretched out on the low tack room door. Heard her scream all tre way in the home, some distance away! I run out there, and it't just a gray ratsnake. I grab it up, holding it by the neck controlling the head, and tossed it over the fence. Didn't want to kill a good rodent control unit!
Once or twice we'd find a pygmy rattler. Once found a tiny coral snake. They all got killed. Dad didn't tolerate them.