Oh no! Could Someone Please Come And Remove This?

Scutler you still make me laugh so hard that I'm having to wipe tears off my face (again ;).

Personally I'd look at British Columbia too except they have lots and lots of spiders (including the black widow and recluse) and 9 months of overcast skies. Non-posionous snakes don't bother me.....I'll hold a python or a boa (up to a certain size).......should note tho none have ever been discovered in the plumbing in SK. I'll still take my winter (and 360 days of the year prairie sunshine) over living with nasty spiders and overcast skies.

p.s. I kinda figured the cold would be a bit too much for you too (it's bite can be just as deadly as the cottonmouth) but proper clothing, insulated houses and cars with heaters and block heaters make it much more bearable). As do ice scrapers and snow shovels/blowers. Our nasty winter however doesn't lurk under the brush.....it tends to hit you in the face when it arrives. ;)

I should note it was in SW Oklahoma that trois ran into the ornery copperhead......I'm guessing tho that Oklahoma's snakes aren't much different than Texas?



This message was edited Jun 2, 2006 1:14 AM

LILY,
NOT different!!?? Someone get a ROPE!! Everyone KNOWS that snakes are 4 times bigger and TWICE as MEAN in Texas.

Best;
bluelytes

Price of bulldozer..$_____ , Price of mothballs..$____ , Description of results..Priceless!!!
Pati

(I tease him that next time I'm going to get a rotweiller so I don't have to "protect" the dog.)

Scutler, take it from me, a rottweiler is going to do *diddly* for you if it runs into a copperhead. At least mine wouldn't.
On a walk one day, we found a snake *skin*, and the second Athena got a whiff of it, she couldn't run away fast enough. To this day, everytime we walk past that area, Athena slinks past, terrified that the mean ol' snake skin's going to come after her.

Who would have guessed that I would get so much enjoyment out of titmice and copperheads?! I can't wait for the next saga.....
CJ

You and me both, CJ,
I laughed for hours when I read the titmouse saga.

I was a journalism major and might still be if I could write this funny.

Yeah, Bubba. I'll be sitting at the computer and start hooting, and my DH has to know why, so I read him the posts, and then he's right beside me reading, and we're both laughing until we cry. Life is good when you have scutler to read.
CJ

Wow! I am...well...speechless! (And that does not happen often)
What wonderful compliments CJ, Bubba. Thank you very, very much!!!

Here, while we "wait" to see what happens with Mr. Copperhead, are a few of my more memorable moments living in snake country:

Many - too, too many - moons ago, a friend and I stopped by a local greenhouse to browse for houseplants. As this was an impromtu stop on our way home from some other event, we were a bit over dressed. I was wearing stilleto heels. As we walked along the greenhouse aisle, our eyes as wide as those of children in a candy shop,I felt something under the plastic sheet "flooring" move from beneath my spike-like heels. I jumped and shrieked and told the owner I thought there was a snake under there. She laughed, pointed to the far side of the greenhouse where an ordinary garden hose could be seen "exitiing" beneath the plastic sheeting, and explained that the hose, which she'd placed beneath the plastic to avoid tripping over it, had undoubtably shifted under my high heels.

Although something just didn't seem right to me, I tried to believe her very plausible explanation. We resumed shopping. I took another step or so. The bulge beneth my feet moved again, this time more "violently". This time the thing beneath my feet would not be denied. It was alive. Even through my high heel shoes I could feel the "squshiness" of something very, very live under that plastic. I jumped back and screamed "it's a SNAKE!!!" and ran back a few feet.

This time the lady was clearly getting frustrated with me. This time her laugh had a mocking tone. She grabbed the edge of the plastic and jerked it up to show me once and for all that there was nothing under there but.....
a big, fat cottonmouth!
At that point we all ran screaming from the greenhouse, having lost all interest in houseplants.

While I was looking for a house, I moved into an apartment. My bed is this behemoth thing that must be disassembled and reassembled for moving. The process takes an hour or so. By the time we got everything into the apartment, I did NOT have the energy to move much less put that thing together. I grabbed my feather bed, pillow, and comforter and decided to camp out on the living room floor in front of the TV. It was kind of liberating and "fun".

Over the next few days, I had lots to do putting things away so I didn't rush to put the bed back together. Just continued camping out in the living room. One morning, as I climbed to my feet, rubbed my sleepy eyes, and stepped from feather bed to carpet, the small serpentine form silhouetted against the floor beside me tripped my brains snake filter waking me in an instant. I rubbed my eyes again in disbelief, but, yes, it WAS a snake - in the apartment - on the floor - only inches from the "bed" where I had been "camping".

I didn't know WHAT to do. I don't kill snakes. I run from them. But this one was INSIDE. Running wouldn't work. I called the apartment office. They sent the maintenance guy who took forever to get there, and then insisted that he couldn't find the snake.NOW what? How could I live in an apartment with a snake? Well, I put the bed together for sure, but, still unable to get beyond the fear of him slithering up the bedpost to climb in with me, I spent the next few nights at a friends house.

Eventually, I realized that this could go on forever, so I went back home to my apartment and actually slept there. The snake, BTW, was a very young, small snake, not that it matters much, because venomous snakes are born with all the venom they need to kill you - and the venom of a baby snake is the same strength as that of an adult. He was a dark mottled color which could have been a rattle snake or a cottonmouth - or just a clever mimic. I never learned his true identity.

Weeks went by. I had all but forgotten that I was living with a snake. Then one Saturday morning as I was grooming an African violet, holding the little 4" pot close to my face, lovingly removing the faded blooms, pouring in some water, preparing to test the soil with my finger, again my brain was running that background "snake" filter and AAAHHH@@#$! There in the pot, curled and nestled around the base of the plant, tucked safely under the leaves was the snake - only inches from my face!!!

I wanted to throw the pot down and run. But this was my chance. I had to get him out of the apartment. So I held the pot, walked to the door, opened it, and then, still holding a pot full of snake, I bent down and placed it ever so gently on the patio -- because I just couldn't bear to damage my favorite African Violet by tossing it across the yard.

While I was a poor college student, I moved out to the country - way out, beyond the boundaries of civilization, alone, to live in a home that belonged to my family. As I had become accustomed to life's little luxuries (like food I didn't have to grow and heat that did not involve splitting wood and building fires), the whole thing was quite the experience! So one night around midnight I returned home from an evening class, pulled my car into the garage, got out, walked up the steps to the door, and then as I stood there fumbling with my key I realized that beside me, just about 2 feet away, was a snake, nicely coiled. I had just walked right past him on my way to the door. He was another of those non-descript mottled brown deals.

I opened the door and ran inside. Then I realized that I had to get rid of him, otherwise I would always be terrified to think that he might be in my garage. I went and got my hand gun and loaded it with bullets small shot, rat shot, whatever you want to call it. He was still there. But I didn't want to hit my car. He was too close to the car, and I knew the shot would scatter and possibly even ricochet off the cement. So I gathered all of my nerve and went back out there, walked past him again, and moved the car out of the garage.

By that time he had run for cover. But I was on a mission, a woman possessed. I was determined that that snake was going to die! He had to. I could not be coming home alone late at night, out in the middle of no where, miles from civilization to a garage with a snake in it! In one corner of the garage was a garbage bag with my English saddle stored in it temporarily. He had sought shelter in the bag with my saddle. He had to come out of there! By that point, I had pretty much lost my mind. I went into the kitchen, grabbed the broom, went back out and wailed heck out of the bag until he finally came back out - and let me tell you he resisted considerably - and then I shot him.

Whew! Finally, I could sleep.

Thank you, scutler... Another bedtime story tomorrow night?
Good night now,
CJ

And if all those stories aren't bad enough:

One night last summer, I put my Roomba to work cleaning the MBR floor and then hopped into bed. Just as I was about to put out the light - again, that snake filter - I saw something over by the baseboard that did not look right. I have white carpet and white baseboards so the tiny dark thing stood out. It was a tiny, baby snake, only about 10" long and 1/2" wide or less, but it was a snake, and it was in my bedroom! The Roomba had upset the snake. It was in a defensive posture against the baseboard, and the Roomba was going back and forth against the snake.

Like I told you. I don't kill snakes; I run from them. But, remembering the apartment experience, he had to go. I was not about to let him get out of my site. I was not about to spend weeks living with a snake, again...but I am a coward when it comes to these things. I have to be way, way back across the room when I do this.

As it happened, at the time I was building (well, more like assembling) an arbor for my garden, and because I am basically lazy, I was putting the sides together in the comforts of my bedroom before I took them outside to finish - hey, it's hot outside, ok. Anyhow, there's a tv in the bedroom. So I grabbed one of the 8ft boards and squished him against the baseboard. In case you've never tried this method, turns out, snakes, even ity-bity baby snakes are tough. They don't squish easily, but, again, I was a woman on a mission. I was not about to let him get away so he could hide out in my bedroom. The rest is kinda messy, so let's just say he didn't make it.

Hey, CJ, I just had to walk the dog outside in the backyard in the dark - after recounting these stories. I heard and saw and imagined snakes everywhere. Ick!

Well, as you can see, I wasn't actually speechless for that long after all.

BTW, you just won't BELIEVE this. I came home Friday and took the dog out into the backyard - where as always I have lots of work to do.

Yes, maybe we'd better lay off of these stories at bedtime. It's kind of like being near a dog with fleas. You're gonna start scratching, whether you got 'em or not!
You're a hoot!
CJ

See that garden hose? Here is a closer look.

Aaaahhhhhh!!! It's another snake! Ok, this one isn't venomous, but what is this reptile central? This is quite unnerving!

Ok, CJ, no more snake stories.

It's time to construct that ticket booth!!

OMG!! Its the DREADED CANADIAN HOSER SNAKE!! hehe LOLROF

Best;
bluelytes

I want to thank you all again for another round of good wholesome fun. My MIL is coming over today and I will sit her in front of the computer and let her read this thread. It will make her day. She looks forward to reading what we now refer to as "scutler stories".

Yep, Equil .. for sure. Some genuine 'entertainment' thru & thru …

Ahh, a talented jewel, Scutler: a multi-faceted marquis, you are!

CJ .. Looks like a new sign is in order: Scut’s crawly carnivale' extraordinaire’

((huggerooners))

- Magpye

(Pssst!! .. yer feller DGers get 20% discount – right?)

Yep, it's reptile central for sure!

scutler, Was "she" laying eggs???

They usually lay their eggs in sandy areas so this one was probably just passing through. Herp Haven I tell you!

I've had them come over from a near-by pond (after travelling across the golf course - the pond is a water hazard) and lay eggs in my yard. Not sandy at all, so I'm sure it depends on where you live. They've always been dug up and eaten by something.

That looks an awful lot like an Eastern Box Turtle to me and I've always noticed them laying their eggs in moist soils that are very sandy so it probably does vary from area to area. You are really lucky to get turtles laying eggs in your yard. Any way you can fence off the area where your turtles are laying eggs until they hatch to try to protect them from raccoons and birds? All I ever seem to get here is Snapping Turtles laying their eggs. I'd really like a few more types of turtles but so far no go other than one turtle my girlfriend found and couldn't unload on anyone so she stuck it in my front decorative pond. That turtle hung out for a while until it was fat and sassy and healthy and took off for bluer waters so to speak. Bummer.

Hear it has a lot to do with whether it's a turtle or a tortoise, also .. as to what type of ground a female will look for, to lay her eggs.

Scutler .. it's gotta be that you've got some ideal garden soil .. and perhaps the plants you've got also. Apparently, an ideal 'natural habitat' - and a magnet.

- Magpye

EQUI,
My sisters, years ago, in south central PENN, while visiting cousins/aunties/uncles/granny, etc., carved their initials in a box turtle.

Three years after, we were visiting, and they found the SAME turtle bearing their marks.

Regards;
bluelytes

I grew up in western diamondback country, but was never too worried about them. If you make lots of noise, they make lots of noise, they don't like you anymore than you like them, and we understand each other.

At some point I took it into my head to study snakes, and, spending lots of summers running around in the woods, I had plenty of opportunity to catch and identify them. One day while walking down by the Columbia river I saw a small bull snake in the grass, and without even thinking about it I picked it up behind the head like I always did. At this point it opened its mouth wide (they all do this, even garter snakes pretend they are going to bite you with their fangless mouths), showing me two large, hollow fangs. No, this was not a bull snake. There is nothing like holding a pit viper in your hands while it desperately tries to twist it's widely hinged mouth around to bite you. Baby rattlesnakes have very similar markings to baby bull snakes. I walked around with it for a while trying to figure out how to safely get rid of it. My hand was cramping by the time I carefully flicked it over the river bank and ran the other way. I have never since picked up a snake.

My children lived with me on the Olympic Peninsula for a while and they think all snakes are wonderful. We encouraged the garter snakes on the property since they were the primary consumers of slugs (but they secrete nasty smelling stuff when threatened, so you don't really want to pick them up with your hands). Now that we're back in rattler country, we probably need to have some discussion on the subject.

TROP;
Woods?? You have WOODS in the tri-cities?? The desert must be doing amazing things over there, lol.

From the Coast, (obviously),
bluelytes

Naw, lots of cover along the rivers, but no woods here. I used to spend a lot of time hiking and camping throughout the state, though, in the Cascades, and even up north of Spokane.

Yep, I've spent time all over the state. I do love the Tri-Cities, but I miss the ocean. I'm still trying to convince my DW that once the kids grow up and are all out of the house we need to move up by Neah Bay.

:)

bluelytes- kids do the darndest things don't they! I often thought of carving initials in a turtle shell but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was too afraid I'd hurt the turtle. That was really neat that they ran into the same turtle a few years later.

tropicalaria- Oh pain! Please make the hurt from laughing stop!

The only thing that even comes close to that was when I was volunteering at a pet shop on adoption day for an animal shelter many many years ago and spotted a nice pet mouse and picked it up by the tail and brought it to the lady at the cash register so she could put it back where it belonged. It wasn't an escaped pet. It was a baby Norway rat. I dropped it and it took off. I was not happy. You, take the boobie prize though. I have no idea what I would have done if I had been in your shoes holding on to a venemous snake. I have got to let my husband read what you did. It makes some of my follies look like a walk in the park.

Hi All,
Wisconsin Winters, the snow, ice and cold never looked better!!!!!!!!!!
One snake and all my flowers, etc. would be mowed flat!!!!!!!!!!

Plantzoo, I know exactly where Crivitz is. Lucky you! Beautiful little town.

Scutler, I'm awfully late getting in on this thread and hope your copperhead has moved on.....but did want to share what I learned just last week while researching snakes (trying to id the one on our front porch). It said the copperhead's self defense is to be very still rather than leave the area as most any snake in it's right mind should do. They blend into the background so well that, if they don't move, you do not see them. It also said copperhead bites are the most common in this area for that same reason - people don't see them and step on them or reach down too close to them. Maybe that's why yours didn't want to leave! Take care and keep an eye out for him!

Debra

P.S. - speaking of snakes.......see my thread titled "Do you have a funny gardening story?" There's a photo of a moccasin I killed in our back yard - and the frog it urped up. Yuck!
Debra

Sculter,
I'm convinced the bird and the snake are in cahoots....
My DH was once chased out of our garage (when we lived in San Clemente, CA) by a momma alligator lizard sitting on her eggs. A few weeks later, the baby lizards surfaced in our newborn daughter's room. Being a new mom, I was a tad hysterical. DH grabbed the vacuum cleaner, vacuumed up the babies, open the vacuum bag outside the front door and watched them scoot. Needless to say, momma and her brood moved out of our garage... thank heavens.

You need an animal exorcist at this point. Animal control won't do it.