Snakes

Bmyers

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In our area the snakes, snapping turtles, and frogs are out in full force. I was at church this morning and my friend showed me pictures of three large copperheads all just over 3ft mark, which is large for copperheads in our area, that they had killed (one on his property and two on the neighbors all in close proximity to the houses. He said it had been a few years since they had such a large influx, but the last time they had this many in the area, they lost a cat and the neighbor lost a dog.

So far, all I have seen on the farm is one large black snake and one little garter snake.
 
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Daren Todd

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I removed a baby copper head from the shop a couple weeks ago.
 
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mcfarmall

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Ick....I'm glad our only poisonous snake (Massasaugua rattle snake) is extremely rare and very passive...would much rather run than fight. Never seen one in my half century in Michigan.
 
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Drifthopper

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Here in WNY... seen 4-5 garder snakes and one 4' black snake. Seen him this morning, slow going, it was chilly out, their good to have around, hope he eats the mice.
 
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NCL4701

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I’ve always been good with snakes but not copperheads. They’re not very big and they’re well camouflaged in leaf litter so they’re not easily seen and they can be anywhere here. At least with cotton mouths, you know they aren’t going to be up a ridge somewhere hunkered down under a log. Thankfully we haven’t had a population increase so our danger level is pretty low.

A few years ago a business associate/friend visited from Los Angeles, CA and wanted to do some deer hunting and clay shooting. He had handguns he could shoot at a range and long guns he had nowhere to shoot. He was amazed we could just walk out the front door and shoot or hunt so we agreed he’d visit for a few days next time business brought him nearby and see life outside of the concrete jungle.

For some reason, he researched all the deadly animals and bugs here as part of his prep. This ain’t the Australian Outback; the list here is pretty short. He was so terrified of copperheads, cotton mouths, and black widows he demanded instruction on how to deal with them if he ran across one of them. Not like we’re eat up with them so I sort of seriously told him he wouldn’t see any around the house and if he was in the woods he’d have a gun so just shoot it if he saw one and it was bothering him. He says, “So if I see a black widow, shoot it?” In an effort to end the topic and knowing I hadn’t seen a black widow here in probably three years, I said, “Well that should take care of it.” I assumed any reasonable person seeing one would know a well placed shoe is a more appropriate weapon.

Next morning we’re planning to deer hunt from a two man elevated box blind. We walk down before dawn. I climb up first, unlock the door, and take a seat. He comes in and as he’s swinging his light around sees a small black spider in the corner. He freezes with his light on it and asks, “Is that a black widow?” It was so I said, “Yep” as I smacked it into the next world with the back of my hand. He didn’t see all that because as soon as he heard “Yep” he lost his cookies, dropped his light, and was flailing around with his gun in way too small a space to get it aimed at anything inside the blind. I grabbed the barrel of his .300 Win Mag to make sure it never pointed at me or him and yelled at him to stop, it was dead. He stopped. Asked him what the heck he was doing and he says he was going to shoot it before it killed us both. I thought he was crazy for trying to shoot a tiny spider 2’ away in a box blind with a .300 Win Mag that’s well over 2’ long. He thought I was crazy for flippantly killing a black widow by backhanding it with my bare hand. We still talk on the phone once in a while but he hasn’t been back.

Poisonous snakes and poisonous other stuff: it’s the ones you don’t see that are a problem.
 
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imnukensc

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I've killed a couple copperheads here in the yard the past 16 years, but these guys (black rat snakes) are always around. Never even had one of these guys hiss at me. Quite docile.
20220506_093718.jpg
 
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lynnmor

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I have a stone fence around my property that usually has a couple of black snakes living in it. There is a rental house on the property that was rented by an idiot that thought all things living should be killed. I liked the black snakes because they patrolled the perimeter and kept the mice to a minimum, but this idiot killed a big one and left it in the grass for me to mow over. The LAST renter just moved out and it will never be rented again.
 
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jyoutz

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We get prairie rattlers where I live; some years I kill several around the place, and some years I don’t see any. This year I’ve seen a few bull snakes and a baby garter snake. I think keeping the mouse population low discourages snakes. I keep several Tom cat mouse bait stations outside of the house, and around the barn. Since doing this I’ve seen less of both bull and rattlesnakes. Not to mention less mice damage.
 
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LFP57

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Ick....I'm glad our only poisonous snake (Massasaugua rattle snake) is extremely rare and very passive...would much rather run than fight. Never seen one in my half century in Michigan.
That's the good thing about living here in Michigan, we don't have to deal with all of the poisonous snakes/spiders, the only thing we have are mosquitos that are as large as birds.
 
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Ridelght

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I have a stone fence around my property that usually has a couple of black snakes living in it. There is a rental house on the property that was rented by an idiot that thought all things living should be killed. I liked the black snakes because they patrolled the perimeter and kept the mice to a minimum, but this idiot killed a big one and left it in the grass for me to mow over. The LAST renter just moved out and it will never be rented again.
I have a Neighbor who shoots at anything. We dont have many copperheads in this part of Ohio, but growing up in the southern portion as a kid saw them all the time. Never bit though. I hate killing anything other than insects. Rather learn to get critters discouraged about being close to the house. I leave Blacksnakes and garter snakes alone.
 
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DustyRusty

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It is the 2 legged snakes that I dislike the most! Those that slither across the ground are less likely to harm you unless you approach them. My neighbor's dog tangled with a black snake last week, and it was coiled around his snout and neck. The neighbor pulled the snake off, and when the snake was free from the dog, he struck at the dog's snout and gave it a couple of puncture wounds. Lucky for the dog it wasn't a poisonous snake.
 
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Old_Paint

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Those Yankee snakes finally woke up, did they? We've been finding shed snake skins since March and listening to the frogs in our frog pond since then as well. Where I grew up, a 7-foot rattler was not uncommon, along with 14-foot alligators and 6-foot water moccasins. That's a lotta Nope-Rope and reptilian attitude. We usually had a king snake (black with small green/yellow specks) about 5 feet long hanging around the house. That was enough to keep the copperheads at bay. King snakes feed on other snakes.

Strangely enough, I haven't seen a single snake this year other than a sail snake that my granddaughter brought home. For those less experienced, a sail snake is one that has been run over a few times and dessicated on hot pavement. They're flat, and sail very nicely, like sail cats that used up life #9 on a busy road. The worst problem we have at the moment is a coyote has taken up residence nearby and is raiding the pet rabbits at a popular venue across the road from us. Guess I better call up Acme and order a road runner.
 
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Ridelght

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Those Yankee snakes finally woke up, did they? We've been finding shed snake skins since March and listening to the frogs in our frog pond since then as well. Where I grew up, a 7-foot rattler was not uncommon, along with 14-foot alligators and 6-foot water moccasins. That's a lotta Nope-Rope and reptilian attitude. We usually had a king snake (black with small green/yellow specks) about 5 feet long hanging around the house. That was enough to keep the copperheads at bay. King snakes feed on other snakes.

Strangely enough, I haven't seen a single snake this year other than a sail snake that my granddaughter brought home. For those less experienced, a sail snake is one that has been run over a few times and dessicated on hot pavement. They're flat, and sail very nicely, like sail cats that used up life #9 on a busy road. The worst problem we have at the moment is a coyote has taken up residence nearby and is raiding the pet rabbits at a popular venue across the road from us. Guess I better call up Acme and order a road runner.
You can have your alligators. Good luck on a roadrunner. Ole Wily probably pretty sneaky.
I always rooted for him !!
 
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DaTow'd

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A few years ago I had our `13 y.o. grandson driving our Kubota tractor tilling up the garden when it looked like he fell off the tractor on to the stacked hay pile.
I rushed over just as he was getting up with a 3 ft.+ gardner snake in his hands.
I gave him a bit of $hit for pulling that stunt.
A few years later he bought a white snake from a pet store which did not make his mother very happy.
The snake got away or did it.
I told him he was a freak.
 

William1

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I've seen quite a few black rat snakes this year, harmless except to mice! A few years back we had mountain rattlers here, probably captured by some one and then let go. One was about 3~4' and the rest all 12" babies. I've 'might of' eliminated all the rattlers as it is illegal to do so. The few copperheads I see bolt ASAP when I've gotten within ten feet of them and off into the lake.Due to how many snakes I've seen this year (way more than normal) I am extra wary walking in the brush.

BTW, I really do not like any snakes!
 
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Ridelght

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A few years ago I had our `13 y.o. grandson driving our Kubota tractor tilling up the garden when it looked like he fell off the tractor on to the stacked hay pile.
I rushed over just as he was getting up with a 3 ft.+ gardner snake in his hands.
I gave him a bit of $hit for pulling that stunt.
A few years later he bought a white snake from a pet store which did not make his mother very happy.
The snake got away or did it.
I told him he was a freak.
You gave me flashback of dating my ex wife back the early 80's. My mom said she was cold and lacked the ability to care about anyone else too.
Should have listened ;)
 
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jyoutz

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You can have your alligators. Good luck on a roadrunner. Ole Wily probably pretty sneaky.
I always rooted for him !!
I saw a roadrunner a few days ago… on our road
 
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