Stepped on a fatboy copperhead today....

You wanna see snow? You're kidding right? If you really want to see snow, come on out my way and we'll take you sledding, snow mobiling, and skiing. Heck, I'll even have one of the kids teach you how to make a snow angel. You're never too old for those. It does blanket the ground and gives you warm and fuzzy Currier and Ives feelings for a few weeks but after that... spring is a long way away if you know what I mean. Bulbs can be touchy in this area too. I've found that if I plant them a few inches lower than the recommended depth that they do considerably better. Keeps them cooler throughout summer.

Glad you turned to natives no matter what the reason. Funny, the longer I am a member here... the more I start edabbling a little bit here and there with non-natives. You people are corrupting me.

ok tiger. Re: your snake encounter. Here are some solutions that may or may not work. I worked at a house museum infested with copperheads. My boss said feed the stray cats. Our grounds keeper though said start up a gas push-mower and put it down in the kitchen where the snakes live. Then get some friends with clubs and beat on the snakes when they leave. He said the snakes don't like the vibrations of the lawn mower and they will move out.

Many years ago, I worked at Vandenberg AFB. The airforce imported Arkansas razorbacks to deal with the rattlesnake population on the base. The pigs didn't mind attacking the boys when they were standing at attention for roll call though.

If Copperheads kill roaming cats please send them to me!!!! Don't kill these native snakes that kill non-native pests! At least they can kill wild cats until a Michigan winter - please ship in spring.

Where's Mitch? I miss Mitch!

Tigger, I'm wiggling in chair and raising hand... if these snakes can can make a dent in feral cat populations, send some to me too. Not just one, a whole box full. Please oh please oh pretty please with sugar and a cherry on top.

I'll second them being shipped in spring.

lol I thought Gloria meant " feed the cats so they stay around to eat the snakes"....which is it Gloria? We (or me!) are confused!

Equil...the day that I catch a bunch of copperheads and actually put them in a box to ship to you is a day that we will never see!!! I promise you....my son ( my brave copperhead killer) said that he doesn't like to kill them and the next one, he's going to catch ( like he's handled snakes before, let alone poisousness ones) and let go somewhere else....that idea freaks me out-it means that I have to start killing them-I don;t want him bit.

Cats eat Copperheads just like they eat rats- not. Tee he. I was sort of hoping the other way around based on your comments- "My son pointed out that we used to have a cat population of about 6 cats that has declined over the years. In twenty years of living here, before last summer, we only saw one." I was thinking to myself that maybe Copperheads DO serve a greater purpopse just like some of the hawks around here that will lift off with an assortment of prey. Jist in case Copperheads did... I wanted to make sure that Mark didn't make off with all of them and that I got my fair share.

No, the cats didn't disappear that way, I know the way they went- but I am still not going to catch these things and put them in a box and mail them to you-.....who would put the box in the car and drive to the post office???? lol ain't gonna be me! And can you see one of your family members opening the box w/out knowing what it was?? Thinking your oldest-what a setback that would be...

Hmmm, maybe the box would accidentally end up by my one neighbor who has all the Japanese Barberry by their path to their front door... the PO does make mistakes from time to time. Now there's a thought.

I have got to get out of here to go to work. Have a nice day sweetie. How are the pansies coming along?

Oh!!! how nice that you asked!! We just started transplanting today....the roots are beautiful and the weather looks fairly mild for the next few days.

Are you subliminally suggesting that I change a number on your address???? lol

tiger, tiger: this is getting crazy. First of all, for you yankees (and I used to be one) copper heads are very poisonous sneaky snakes. I have had some very sick dogs who were bitten by them. A person (especially a tourist at an historic site) could be killed. The cats either harass or kill the snakes and can make a dent in the population. Ive never heard of a cat being bitten by a snake although it may have happened and no one would know. Im all for a balance in nature, but these snakes can go balance somewhere else!

Gloria...lol....sorry for the appearing to be wacked outness that my dear friend Equil has started ( she is such an instigator-isn't she??? lol). Equil knows good and well the dangers of copperheads and she never intended on me mailing her some!! Believe me-she would be doing something with bricks if I ever did-if you catch my meaning! And it ain't building something!!!

So...I was right in my theory that cats kept the population down all these years....well time to get some more kittens...cause I'll take those little sweetums any day over copperheads! Thanks so much Gloria for reenvorcing (sp) my brillance ...as I misspell my way through this post!

Miss tiger and Miss Equil: Or, you could get some razorback piglets. They are cute, too.

I don't think so, I know razorbacks...they are one mean pig....probably more aggressive than a copperhead

Naa, don't change a number. I like the neighbors who planted all the Japanese Barberry that's offspring is plaguing me these days. I don't like their plants but I like the people. Are you insinuating that those wunnerful wunnerful little copperheads wouldn't live long once I opened the box? Ha! You're right! I think I'm less afraid of a razorback piggie than I am of a Cottonmouth although the snake is more attractive by a long shot. I'm too young to die. Keep your Cottonmouths. We may not have the greatest weather up here with basically two seasons which are construction and winter but we don't have poisonous snakes lurking in the shadows of foliage to worry about when we garden.

Equil...show us my new gardening outfit again!! I just love that...it would work if I got charged by a razorback too, wouldn't it??? lol I probably couldn't get up again....but I do think I could roll around and try to escape

You could get gored for several hours by razorbacks in that goofy get up. I can't find it to show it goshdarnitall or I would. We have to stop now. I am holding a pillow in front of my ribs to try to buffer them while laughing. No, I didn't break any this time but I did bruise a few. Threads like this need to be off limits to me for a while so I can heal and laugh again with out wanting to use duct tape on my body.

Duct tape, not just for ordinary gardeners.

http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/topten/index.html
http://204.255.212.10/~jthorsse/duct.html
http://www.ducttapenews.com/

Enter if you dare-
http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/

What's all this talk about razorbacks????? I'm from Arkansas - we know Razorbacks!
Debra

You know razorbacks Debra ;) Better you than me! I think I like them best in picture books. Either than or with their mouths stuffed with an apple or something on a platter of wild rice pilaf or something else gamey. Come to think of it, I bet they'd look just great going round and round and round at a pig roast.

Equi, you are DANGEROUS! Oh my bladder (ribs nothing!).
Tiger, a mongoose, that's what you need. They eat cobras in India, why not a copperhead in the US of A?
DH recommends steel-toed boots- won't get bit and can step on the thang. No more poking under wood piles by hand though. Kick with them boots!

No bbinnj, I need that outfit that Equil found for me...its an armor suit from the middle ages...lol you have to see it to believe it.

I lived with both mongoose and razorbacks in Hawaii, the mongoose were ok-but they always tried to steal your eggs.

How they got there is kind of funny. In Jamaica, they had big problems with rats so they brought in snakes to kill the rats, but then had a bigger problem so they brought in the mongoose to kill the snake.
So when Hawaii had the problem with the rats, they didn't want the snakes so they skipped them ( to this day, no snakes in Hawaii) and went to the mongoose. I don;t even know if the mongoose would have hunted the rats down-the bigger problem was that the mongoose is active during the day and sleeps at night and the rats are nocturnal-so they never see each other!! How stupid is that?? There are no mongoose on Kauai, there were a bunch of cages with them at the harbor on Oahu set to ship out to Kauai, and some sailors decided that they didn't want them there ( they are a pest) and kicked the cages into the ocean.

Tiger, just the boots, you'll exhaust yourself in the 50 lbs of that stuff, not to mention suffocate!! And the mongoose wouldn't hurt neither.....