Arrived home after work. asked hubby if he would water a few of my new spring plantings......just a few things-- cryptomeria, black dragon, and a few red hot poker and evening primrose. He had long pants on and me in the skirt was more at risk for the mosquito bites. I offered to go with him to the back side of house to point out the plants and then I'd escape to the house while he watered.
We got back there and I offered to get the hose and turn on the water...( already I had a few bites...I am a mosquito magnet) As I reached for the hose head (we have one of those large beige plastic reels that screw into the side of the house) I was yapping away and not looking at where my hand was heading....when I heard him yell "WHOA!! WHOA!! GET BACK!! GET BACK!!" I jumped back and there right on the wall just inches from my hand was a black snake....not huge maybe 3.5 feet give or take a few inches..... so far, nothing unusual......but that snake started moving and then disappeared!! It went INSIDE the reel!! It was completely hidden. Not visible from any vantage point....at first we wondered...Where did it go? Is there a HOLE BEHIND THE REEL LEADING INTO THE CRAWLSPACE??? How the heck did we get a hole in the foundation? There is only about an inch and a half depth on the interior sides of that reel....between the two shallow sides of the reel is the bar upon which the hose winds. That entire snake was coiled up in the reel sidewall NOT a bit of it visible or laying on the hose itself. I WILL NEVER AGAIN UNWIND A HOSE WITHOUT TAKING A LONG LOOK. Yesterday a copperhead was making its way across the path leading to our shed and it went under the tarp that we cover the hammock with--- What is going on?? We've lived here 11 years plus and have seen more snakes this summer than all years totaled. Look very very closely into the hose reel sidewalls - eech!
This message was edited May 31, 2011 7:06 PM
Snake Alert Crazy ( to me) Hiding Place
Snakes go where it is cool but unless your hose reel is in deep shade the water left in the hose would heat up. I don't find big snakes in my yard just small garden but when we lived in Texas we had mexican tile in our kitchen and would find them curled up there. Never did find out how they got in but after the first time was always cautious. They were only black ones but had copperheads caught in pool skimmed many times so Russ kept a machete on top of tthe fridge, just in case. I am not afraid of snakes and spiders but I do have a healthy respect for them.
missingrosie
Glad nothing happened to you.
thanks for the heads up as we moved from the north to the south and my new neighbors have warned me there are lots of snakes and there is one of those hose things here at our new house so I will make special note to be checking it good before handling it.
Jan
That is what shook me up. My first view was the snake on the house...all nice and dark against the taupe color..... but once in the reel....forget it..... I could not see it. It just was invisible. That is the north side of the house and so the sun not so bad. This was after 5 pm. If it bit -- it would have been more of a scratchy bite and a scary one but no venom etc....mostly it would be the heart attack that would get me!
How close do you have to get to hit it with a machete?? Do you sneak up from behind?
I always look very well when I grab a hose or something like that. I also shake out gloves to make sure there aren't spiders hiding in them.
I put a pair of nylon stocking knee highs over the tops of both boots. keeps all the bugs out - afraid of the spiders too. I've seen a few black widows here but not too many.
I do the nylon on the shoes as well, can't stand spiders or beetles.
Jan
What a great idea, I keep a pair of boots in the garage but are usually too afraid to use them. When I do need to put them on I use the vacuum cleaner wand in there first. Going to find some socks or knee highs today!
And just in case a deer tick gets a wild hair and tries to slip through every now and again I give the boot a squirt of cutter spray on the inside before putting the 'knee high' cap over the top of the boot.
Put your gloves in a zip bag- we learned the hard way when my son put his dad's gloves on. There was a scorpion in it and he got bit. Not deadly but very painful.
Big snakes take a few seconds to uncoil so he could catch them moving but I never-well once when it was in my hen house- kill black or garden snakes. I am not afraid of them so I just grab them behind their head and relocate them.
I just saw a snake trying to get out of the gutter or something. He was dangling - I thought he might be dead. Could only see about 5 inches of him. I would not walk under him, afraid he'd drop down on me. Got the camera to take a pic, but by the time I found it, he had disappeared. Don't know if he went back up into the gutter, on the roof, dropped to the ground or what. He had a white belly and was dark on the other side. His head was about as big as a man's thumb, so I don't suppose s/he was any threat. Wish I could have gotten a picture.
I get snakes in my grape vines from time to time, they've never been a problem and I'm not sure if they are after grapes or birds in there???
Got his picture. The gutters are sort of stopped up right now, so I don't know what he's after.
Snakes get in our gutters to get the birds nesting. Why do birds build nests in gutters??? Rain pouring off my metal roof is catastrophic for them.... maybe just looking for the protection of the eave formed by the roof metal and the house side.
The snake crawls up the gutter spout near the ground and comes back out the same way (at least our black snake does.) A neighbor told me rat snakes (they look 'kinked' when lying on the ground ...not smooth curves but a kinked look) get up there too and are often found in attics.
Cornish2175: weird! We moved from Texas to SC and brought the love of Mexican Tile with us. We have it covering the kitchen, foyer, and part of the living room. Freaked the builder out! But we never had a problem with critters anywhere (except for Black Widows, Tarantulas, and Scorpions in Texas). None were related to Mexican Tile that we could tell. But the first floor of this house is 12 ft. above ground (we're in a "so-called flood zone"), so the critters would have to REALLY want that Mexican Tile coolness. Haven't seen one yet. And hope I never do...saw enough of them in Tehas!
Our house was in League City, 3 ft. below sea level. An old house so no stilts. When it rained heavy we would have to pump out the pool so it wouldn't overflow into the house. We never did figure out how they got it the house, especially the big ones.luckily they contained themselves to the kitchen. I do not miss Texas one bit.
Black snakes are your friend , they eat copper heads.
I just like to see the snake first before I faint.
We have huge rattle snakes here at the coast the heads are the size of baseballs, and I have seen one 8 feet long when stretched out. GRRRRRRRRRR
Lavina
how they got it the house, especially the big ones
We have huge rattle snakes here at the coast the heads are the size of baseballs
oh man......... oh man............. oh man...............
Ya'll just keep them up on your section of the coast.
Forty years ago huge diamondbacks were common in the Lowcountry but you would rarely, if ever, find one like that nowadays.
Well I hope yall didn't run them over here to the Upstate.
Share your observation on Texas, Cornish! Great people, just can't figure why they stay there...
I arrived in Texas City (across the causeway from Galveston) June 4, 1985 from Philadelphia. If our things had not already been in transit I would have gone right back.
Horrible heat & humidity
No trees- flat flat land
HUGE palmetto bugs
Mosquitoes the size of bees
No good food- bbq, mexican, and shrimp were what everyone ate.
Hurricanes
etc. !!!!
So here we are all these years later- similar but at least there are trees, climate changes and better food.
LOL, I have to smile, I have always loved Charleston but when I first arrived back in the 60's there were only 3 nice restaurants in the city, no fast food as we know it today and what you could find was BBQ and shrimp.