Snake Tale pretty snakey around here lately

[sheepdog 10]

The other night while we were eating dinner a van pulled in and went straight down to the kennel, I didn?t recognize it at first, but finally realized it was just my hired man. I figured he?d forgotten something so didn?t think any more about it. He was here for awhile, he?d brought his wife and daughter, and the daughter wanted to show her mom a couple of her favorite dogs. The daughter had come to work with her Dad the week before and had spent the whole time making friends with all the dogs. He eventually came to the house to tell me what he was up to. Apparently, as he was leaving after work earlier in the day, one of our resident black snakes happened to be crawling by his truck. So he had caught it and taken it home with him to show his kids and was bringing it back. This was a wild black snake, and here he was playing with it, had it hanging around his neck and was letting his kids pet it. They even fed it a dead bird that their cat had killed. Said the snake just grabbed it right up when he offered it to him. I have a pretty liberal policy with snakes here, Black snakes anyway. Poisonous ones are killed due to the threat they could pose to the dogs, but since the black snakes eat mice and rats, I generally leave them alone. There are several that have lived here now for a long time, and they know we aren?t going to bother them so they are not too wild, but I still would not hang one of them around my neck. This particular snake was one of our medium size ones, he was about 6 foot long. We also have one that has been around here for years, he is huge, probably 10-12 foot long and as big around as my leg. Now tonight when I went to gather eggs, what did I find but a black snake in my nest boxes eating my eggs. Dang, I hope it wasn?t the hired man?s new pet, but that sucker had to go. Had to go get the pistol and shoot it. It?s only the second black snake I?ve killed, the first one was a couple years ago, I found it inside one of my rabbit cages and it had killed a whole litter of little bunnies. There?s no shortage of mice around the barns and stuff here, so there?s just no excuse for them eating my eggs and rabbits. I just hope the old big snake doesn?t decide to eat things he shouldn?t, he?s big enough to swallow one of my chickens whole. And my snaky story continues??Unfortunately, the snake I murdered turned out to be ?Henry? the hired man?s new buddy. Apparently, he had a scar on his snake skin that was recognized. Rotten bit of luck that was. And bad luck for snakes continues this week, we believe we lost our big boy, my better half got him with the lawn mower. Not positive it was the great big one, he was too badly sliced and diced, but hubby was pretty sure it was him. The only thing is, he got him in an area of the yard that big boy did not normally hang out in. So I am hoping it wasn?t him. When we counted up the snake causalities for the week, we were almost afraid they had all been wiped out. The dogs had even picked off a few that wiggled left when they should of wiggled right and got into the dog runs. However, finally yesterday we spotted a survivor out behind the barn. A fair sized one, probably near 6 foot long. He should grow fast now, with all the completion thinned out and all the mice to himself. And now it looks like we are regaining our snake populations even more. My better half called me into the laundry room the other day and informed me there was a small, spotted snake (he figured it was a young black snake) in the corner behind a big pile of stuff. I thought about it for awhile, and decided by the time I moved all the stuff out of the way to get him, he would just wiggle off and get behind more stuff, and I would end up moving a ton of stuff and probably still have the snake, so being rather on the lazy side, I decided the snake could just stay where he was. Maybe he would scare off some of the mice in the house, in which case, it seemed like a good idea anyway. I haven?t ever seen him, so don?t know if he?s still a house snake or not. At least for a few days the mice did a disappearing act. Well, at least I saw a Road Runner in the drive way yesterday??.a topic for another post!

[web_designer 7]

well, sheepdog, where are you living for the god sake??

in general i love animals, rabbits, birds, cats, horses, turtles,golden fishes, dogs like yours and smaller not the big size or wolf dog.....ect. but snakes!!!. oh no, how could you sleep at night where there's a possibility there's a one out there. if it was me i will move away.

[sheepdog 10]

LOL, well, actually, I didn't think there were any places in the world that didn't have snakes, so I wouldn't know where to move to. Snakes really don't bother me much. Now spiders are a different matter, I can't stand those! I generally like nearly all critters, with the exception of mice/rats, and recently I've come to a general dislike of armidillo's. I'm not sure, but I think the conservation department imported those stupd things into this country. They seemed to appear all at once. And since they seem to be pretty prolific, now we are seeing less and less other wildlife, Quail and turkeys are becoming very rare, I think the armidillo's are raiding their nests. Know why God created Armidillo's? So hillbillies could have possum on the 1/2 shell!

[web_designer 7]

LOL, well, actually, I didn't think there were any places in the world that didn't have snakes, so I wouldn't know where to move to.

 

i lived all my life in places that i never saw snakes in them, thanks god for that. it is really scary, because naturally i hate all kind of insects and mice or rats. so move to my country sheepdog .

[deadmad7 4]

i lived all my life in places that i never saw snakes in them, thanks god for that. it is really scary, because naturally i hate all kind of insects and mice or rats. so move to my country sheepdog .

 

Well, sorry to say Web_designer but your country (Turkey) has alot of dangerous and highly venomous snakes. I really doubt that you never encountered one before. Maybe its because you live in a big city, so snakes can't survive there. You may find :

-Vipera palestinae

-Vipera darevskii

-Pseudocerastes persicus

-Echis (carinatus) pyramidium (Most unlikely)

I have encountered many snakes in my life, mostly in the ZOO (). One time, I was putting my clothes in the laundry (in my grandparents house, in the country) and I looked out the window and on the railings there was a rattlesnake. Luckily, it rattled it's tail so I slowly exited the room (later my grandpa shot it with a shotgun).

[rob86 2]

Wow so many snakes. I kept expecting Rikki Tikki Tavi to make a surprise appearance and save the day.

[anwiii 17]

loved the story....but i really hate snakes. spiders too. i have experience handling snakes, but it doesn't mean i wasn't sweating inside. wether it's venomous or just a typical garden snake. they all make me nervous. i even had a 15 foot python once named jake. i think i talked about him in another thread.....not to mention all the snakes i have seen in the wild.also, there ARE snakes in the big cities too. don't anyone be fooled. they can survive and they do. there just aren't as many. i am like indiana jones when it comes to snakes. i just don't like them. i keep having reoccuring nightmares about snakes too that i am all of a sudden surounded by rattlers and i have to tip toe out of the danger zone. believe me, it is no fun haha. dreams are sometimes good to face your fears in so you aren't so insecure or afraid in real life, but these snake dreams don't help me one bit!and spiders! i hate them too. i will kill any spider except a daddy long legs that want to think they can make a home inside where i sleep at night. that isn't going to happen!

[sheepdog 10]

Well, we still have our resident house snake, I saw him this evening. It really isn't a very big snake, maybe just about 2 foot long or a bit longer. He is not nearly as fearless as our bigger snakes used to be, this one slithered off pretty quick when he saw me. He was crawling across the kitchen floor and found a lower cabinet to sneak into before I could get anywhere close to him. Not a very friendly little tyke for sure. I just hope he has a big appetite for his size. We have no shortage of mice to fatten him up on.

[web_designer 7]

Well, we still have our resident house snake, I saw him this evening. It really isn't a very big snake, maybe just about 2 foot long or a bit longer. He is not nearly as fearless as our bigger snakes used to be, this one slithered off pretty quick when he saw me. He was crawling across the kitchen floor and found a lower cabinet to sneak into before I could get anywhere close to him. Not a very friendly little tyke for sure. I just hope he has a big appetite for his size. We have no shortage of mice to fatten him up on.

now thank you for telling me this, for not thinking a bit of passing you by someday  .

really, i admire your courage, i didn't meet a girl like you before. you don't mind living with a sake!!!!

you are more strong than many i saw in my life, most of the girls i know they prefer dealing with bombs but not snacks  .

[sheepdog 10]

I really don't think it's particularly brave or couragous. After all, I do spend the majority of my time outdoors, and since there are lots of snakes (or at least there were lots of snakes) around here in the great outdoors, it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference just because there is one in the house. Does that make any sense? Bombs? Not me, I'd sure be running for cover if I knew there was one of those around!

[web_designer 7]

Bombs? Not me, I'd sure be running for cover if I knew there was one of those around!

hmmm, after deep thinking, i prefer dealing with a bomb not a snake. i can turn off bombs or throw it away, but can't even come near a snake  , so maybe i will call you then to save me sheepdog  .

Bombs? Not me, I'd sure be running for cover if I knew there was one of those around!

hmmm, after deep thinking, i prefer dealing with a bomb not a snake. i can turn off bombs or throw it away, but can't even come near a snake  , so maybe i will call you then to save me sheepdog  .