Not a snake story but in Viet Nam we had an out house and while visiting one nite just as I sat down there was a majoe rumbling under me . Yes I got up very quickly as there was a rat coming out of there the size of a small dog . Changed my mind about what needed to be done .
I'll bet you wouldn't want to vist this place >Narcisse Snake pits :grin: Home of the worlds largets concentration of garter snakes. It's just about an hour north of me.
We have garter snakes around here, however, I rarely see them in the city. Garter snakes are rather small, and non poisonous.
Plenty of cottonmouths on my "farm" in and around the creek. I play Joe Dangerous and walk around in sandals, mainly because my gout has one big toe so swollen up it's hard to get into shoes. So I wear socks and sandals a lot. Back at my main house on the reservoir, there's about a five foot alligator that's been around a lot lately. He was out there today about sunset so I did some casting out to him with a bobber and hook. He ate the bobber, in fact he crushed it with his teeth so it no longer bobs, it sinks. During the "harvest" this year on the reservoir ending last week they caught quite a few alligators, largest was 480 lbs. He was missing two feet of tail, maybe run over by a car at one point or another. Otherwise he'd have been 500 lbs or more. They reckon there are around 2500 alligators in the reservoir now, and increasing in numbers. It's best not to go wading or swimming in the shallow waters.
I had a good time one summer here, I came in to my house and found a 5 ft. black snake in the utility room. I got my handy dandy snake catcher and grabbed him and put him in a 5 gal. bucket to present to the wife when she came home. We looked him over when she came in and I took him away from the house and turned him loose.
went on a fishing/camping trip in central washington a few years ago.i had been to the lake before & seen rattlesnakes so on this trip i had my taurus p22 loaded with .22 shotshells.we were drinking the last of the beer(you know,that lukewarm stuff in a cooler full of water that used to be ice) loading the truck to leave.i opened the drivers door to put something in the front & a snake came out of nowere(under my truck)and stopped partly on my foot & ankle.so i pulled the gun & aimed...and realized i would literally be shooting myself in the foot:error: so my next instinct was to run like hell...so i did...right into the open door,bounced off,stumbled backwards a few feet(gun still in hand)and fell on my butt.:moonu: the snake went back under my truck into the shade.my buddy who was watching all this was rolling on the ground howling & screaming "its a blacksnake,it wont hurt you!" NOW he tells me! took another few beers to calm down.:beers2: and i still have the full box of shotshells.
Besides Buicks snakes are my favorite subject. Danger from venomous snakes is way overated. If you see one just walk around it. You do not have to kill it. It is not out to get you or your kids. In order to get bitten you almost have to step on it or do something stupid. Most bites are from mistakes or stupid acts. I have been at rattlesnake and copperhead dens wih 6-10 copperheads and timber rattesnakes around with no problems. The key thing to look at is markings on the head. Copperheads ahve a bar copper colored head with no markings on the head. They have hourglass markings on the body and markings wrap around the body unlike snakes in pictures. The snake in the picture as said before most likely a rat snake but tough to tell what kind when young. Very likely could be a black rat snake also as when they are young they have same pattern and turn dark when they age but pattern still usually visible. Corn(red rat snake) and young racers also have similair patterns. No problem picking that guy and they make great pets as well
Best way to catch a snake you are not sure about is use a large plastic trash can and lay it down behind snake. Use broom to push snake in and then with broom lift can to upright. Then put on lid. Maybe put tape on lid to keep from opening if can falls. You can now release snake in woods.
I used a large rubbermaid tote. I can see where a larger container (taller) would be better for a larger snake.
