View Full Version : Snake in the grass
bananimal
03-16-2008, 07:48 PM
The rat snake I threw over the fence a while ago is back - hiding in the dead male flowers of the goldfinger. Waved my finger and he popped out about 6" and took a snap at me. Waved a stick and no response - neat huh? Yanked him out and threw him over the fence again.
The beady little eye is looking at you.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=8688&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=8688&ppuser=820)
After a couple of pokes.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=8689&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=8689&ppuser=820)
No more messin' around!
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=8690&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=8690&ppuser=820)
On his way to the field next door.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=8691&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=8691&ppuser=820)
chong
03-16-2008, 08:01 PM
Very nice pictures! What a colorful snake. But that'll just do it. One sneak peek at that thing, and my wife is all freaked out! We had a garter snake outside by the driveway that one of my kids used to feed with raw hamburger. When my wife discovered what he was doing, she freaked out and had him try to get rid of it. So every time my son went by the area, he would beat a stick on the ground. After a couple of weeks, we didn't see him again.
STEELVIPER
03-16-2008, 08:05 PM
Nice! Very cool.
CookieCows
03-16-2008, 08:47 PM
Your snake is going to come back. A snake will travel great distances to go back to it's home. We learned that both the hard way and from local farmers around us.
We had to live in the old farmhouse on the property when we first moved here. Try finding a 5 footer curled up in your frying pan in the kitchen cabinet!! My husband killed that one. My daughter and her husband live there now and are still battling the snakes.
Old houses in the country .... the unpleasent side!
bananimal
03-16-2008, 08:56 PM
Samantha, a.k.a. mskitty,
You don't need to freak out about harmless little snakes like the rat snake. If they bite, just use an antiseptic wipe and some bacitracin and a bandaid -- some folks are allergic to neosporin as I have so painfully found out recently.
You got to recognize the poisonous ones. When I lived in Charlotte, NC, I used to run my bass boat by Copperhead Island on the SC side of Lake Wylie. Let me tell you, that area is overrun with poisonous copperheads and it got it's name for a good reason!! I fished elsewhere, and right away!
Here in S Fla we have Pigmy Rattlers, Coral Snakes, Alligators and very, very aggresive sharks - which I fish for regularly. I always keep a sharp knife nearby to cut the line if I don't feel I can get the hook out by myself - or even with help. It's funny as heck when I hook one on the beach and the swimmers bail out like crazy when they see it in the surf. And I mean 50 feet from shore!!! They just don't know.
To answer your question about the pic, the snake was wound up in the dead male flowers beneath the fruit stalk. Some varieties don't shed the male flowers and they provide hiding places for snakes, as I have just found out, to hang out. You must love your non-poisonous snakes - without them, all kinds of critts would attack your plants, your house with abandon - and you too!
Dan the B'mal
bananimal
03-16-2008, 09:30 PM
CC,
What kind of snake was in the frying pan? If it was a rattler, it would have been half way there - that is, to the fryin' pan. Had rattlesnake scampi once, goooooood!
Love the good snakes, eat the bad ones!
Dan
mskitty38583
03-16-2008, 09:45 PM
i use old fashioned mothballs for the posioness ones, and i have outside cats for the non venomus ones. i dont like snakes. i had a tramatic experience when i was 5 yrs old in middleburg fl at my grammies house. so to me a dead snake is a good snake. they sneak up on you, and i cant stand that. id feel better w/ the sharks and the gators.
microfarmer
03-16-2008, 10:33 PM
You must love your non-poisonous snakes - without them, all kinds of critts would attack your plants, your house with abandon - and you too!
Dan the B'mal
I bring snakes (and frogs) to my house (in a snake free suburb).
CC,
What kind of snake was in the frying pan? If it was a rattler, it would have been half way there - that is, to the fryin' pan. Had rattlesnake scampi once, goooooood!
Love the good snakes, eat the bad ones!
Dan
Love the good snakes, eat the bad ones! :chefnaner:
Love the good snakes, eat the bad ones! :chefnaner:
Love the good snakes, eat the bad ones! :chefnaner:
CookieCows
03-16-2008, 11:05 PM
It was a cow snake, non venomous but neither my husband nor I are very good at identifying snakes, especially in a new area so we were unsure whether it was a copperhead or cow snake as they have those same kind of markings down them. This was the third time he'd manhandled a snake from the house since moving there and I was the one that gave him doubts about what it was. He grabbed the snake and out to the back porch we go. He lets it go as it's squeezing his arm, I grab a shovel and he grabs the tail as it's racing away and it's fast. We almost loose it but I slow it down with the shovel and then he finishes it off. Then we are examining the head trying to remember how to tell, poisenous or non poisenous... round eyes or slanted? Shape of head maybe? Open the mouth.. fangs? yes... do they all have fangs? We discuss that for abit... we figure.. yeah they probably all have teeth. He took it to a neighbor ... Cow Snake. Then there was the time I was weeding the strawberries....... another shovel experience. I killed that bad boy myself. That was a black rat snake and hubby wasn't proud of me at all. Said I should have left it.
Yeah right
I don't like snakes either.
tlturbo
03-17-2008, 07:53 AM
Just because you have a fear of things doesn't mean you should go around and kill them all. At least learn what poisonous ones are in your area and how to identify them. Killing the poisonous ones in your area I suppose is OK since it is hard to remove them. But PLEASE leave the safe ones alone. Corn and rat shakes here in FL are usually pretty tame. And be glad that black snake wasn't an Indigo (hard to tell all the black snakes apart). They are a protected species in FL. and against the law to bother them.
And snakes do not SNEAK up on you, They are more afraid of you then you are of them. Given any chance and unless cornered, they will slither away.
Dan - we need to do some snook or shark fishing.
"Greenie" on the board lives in Miami area and is a snook fanatic under the bridges, etc
Terry
island cassie
03-17-2008, 08:24 AM
Great pictures Dan and a lovely snake - I like 'em too. No poisonous snakes here on the island, just nice constrictors and some little skinny black ones that must eat lizards. Difficult to stop the Dominicans from killing them!
Cassie
bigdog
03-17-2008, 11:57 AM
Sure is a beauty of a snake! Are you sure that's a rat snake? Looks a lot like the patterns on a corn snake to me. A colubrid nonetheless. Thanks for those great pics!
Frank
NanaNut2
03-17-2008, 08:50 PM
What a beautiful snake! All we have here are garter snakes, and wandering garter snakes. I have to go to the local pet shop to get my snake fix ... lol. I'm jealous.
Bch Grl
03-17-2008, 11:13 PM
Here's one I found in my garden last year!
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=8714&size=1
chong
03-18-2008, 01:17 AM
Here's one I found in my garden last year!
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=8714&size=1
Pretty coloration! Timely for St.Patrick's Day! Probably descendant of one of those St. Patty drove out of Ireland!
Arachnid
03-18-2008, 07:54 AM
A corn snake is a rat snake. It is known as a red rat snake.
All snakes have teeth ...4 rows on the top and 2 on the bottom. Some venemous snakes have 2 fangs(rattlesnakes, copper heads, cottonmouths etc) others like coral snakes have somewhat of a grooved tooth and have to chew on your to get the venom into the bite.
Just some clarification for a few things mentioned.
tlturbo
03-18-2008, 10:48 AM
BUT not all rat snakes are corn snakes - there is a yellow rat snake too.
We have both of them here in S FL.
Arachnid
03-18-2008, 11:14 AM
Agreed ... I said a corn snake was a rat snake. Not the other way around. There are black, red, yellow, gray ...just to name a few.
bananimal
03-19-2008, 08:09 PM
Senor Excessivo,
Love your mantra of "Love the good snakes, eat the bad ones." Seriously though, I had rattlesnake scampi at "Lilly Langtree's, Law west of the Pecos" in some burg in the boondocks in NJ a long tiime ago - it was great! Followed by bison steak done med rare - best off-the-beaten-path dinner I ever had. Today I bought a Havaheart trap for the friggin wabbits that ate my pepper seedlings awile back. I'll get those wascally wabbits yet.
We're gonna have woast wabbit!
We're gonna have woast wabbit!
We're gonna have woast wabbit!
Dan
bananimal
03-19-2008, 08:14 PM
Terry,
Let's go fishin sounds good! You're in the middle between me and Greenie. See what he thinks. My boat is too small to go offshore so let's see what we can come up with.
Dan
MediaHound
03-19-2008, 11:32 PM
Awesome pictures Dan!
We find these every now and then, Southern Ringneck:
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=1213&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1213&si=snake&what=allfields)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=1214&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1214&si=snake&what=allfields)
shopgirl2
05-21-2008, 03:38 PM
i am with Ms.Kitty, only good snake is a dead snake.
Sailfish
05-21-2008, 08:32 PM
That was a gorgeous red rat. One of the prettiest I have seen.
The ring-necks are fun and neat the second time you pick them up.
The first time they stink your hand but good! :2729:
island cassie
11-27-2008, 12:07 PM
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=14659&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=14659&ppuser=628)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=14660&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=14660&ppuser=628)
Found this little (2ft) chap last night coiled on the gate. Men clearing an empty lot must have chased him out - but he was fierce and when he struck - the inside of his mouth was dark purplish. The interesting thing is how thin he is behind the head, and how his tail doesn't taper much at the end. Do you have anything similar in the USA? I asked the locals but they assured me that all snakes are deadly as they tried to reach for their machetes, but I think he got away unscathed.
That red rat snake is a real beauty Dan - so pretty!
lt_eggbeater
11-27-2008, 12:23 PM
Cassie,
I'm not sure but, given the frail body and large and triangular head there is a good chance that snake was in fact venomous.
Tog Tan
11-27-2008, 01:05 PM
Hi Island Cassie,
From your pix, I am quite pretty sure it is a Blunt Headed Tree Snake, Imantodes spp. These are small snakes which feed primarily on small lizards of the anolis family. They are mildly poisonous as the toxin is used to imobilize the lizards which they catch. The adults rarely attain 4ft in length. They are classified as Ophisthoglyphous or rear fanged snakes. The mild venom is introduced by grooves in the enlarged upper rear teeth. These guys are common in your region.
Unless a person is particularly allergic to the toxin, there will be no major side effect from its bite except slight swelling and itching. Anyway, their mouth is so small and unless they get your little finger, there is no way it can use the rear fang to effect.
The tail? Looks like the lil fella got a beating before he came to you! It's broken!
No worries about this lil guy. :ha:
lorax
11-27-2008, 01:16 PM
Cassie - the easy way to distinguish between toxic tropical snakes and friendlies is to have a look at the eyes. Slit eyes = bad news and don't touch it, round eyes = friendly and won't cause you problems if it strikes you.
I have to know this, because I occasionally find things like Fer-de-Lance in my nanner patch, which are really toxic, and then I've also got totally harmless grass snakes with the same colouration. Wheee! I also have to be careful in my leaf-mulch, since Andean Coral snakes like to hang out there.
Personally, I don't mind snakes at all, I just want them to stay in the forest where they belong. If I have to kill one, it's usually a Fer-de-Lance. At least they are really good eatin'
Mark Hall
11-28-2008, 09:19 AM
Hope your not short sighted Carol , You would have to get up pretty close using Lorax's method:ha:
Nice looking fella though.
island cassie
11-28-2008, 10:54 AM
Thanks for your input everybody - really helpful but I am not sure I have him identified so I have sent off for some snake books which should be here in a decade or two!!! His head didn't seem to be as rounded as the blunt headed tree snake Tog, and not such a sweet expression, more python or viper shaped and he had attitude!! Which is why I kept my distance! haha! LT - I tend to agree with you and Tog that he was venomous to some degree, and Lorax - yep - slit eyes! With the numbers of lizards around of all shapes and sizes - probably a lizard eater.
Tog Tan
11-28-2008, 12:03 PM
Hey Island Cassie,
If the head is not very rounded as I thought, it should belong to the neotropical tree boa complex, probably one of the many confusing subspecies of the Corallus enhydris group. I remember these guys being very scrawny when young and I must admit I misidentified it at my first go. Sorry! If you look at the head closely in your pix, there are heat sensing pits or grooves near its mouth. These guys are very irascible and will strike at anything. Other than that they are harmless. They can attain an adult size of 6-7ft. One more thing, they are viviparous, ie., they don't lay eggs but reproduce miniatures of themselves. The thing about this complex is that their color morphs are extremely variable. Some have intricate patterns while others are just plain colored even if they are from the same litter. So, they are not easy to identify when in juvenile form. The Germans have a nice name for it, "Hundskopfboa" or "Dog headed Boa".
Coming to vipers, they are easy to identify. They have a pointed triangular head and their body is stocky even when young.
Sometimes I look at it as finding such critters in the garden is a good thing as you have a balanced environment. I am often asked at my talks on reptiles on how to avoid snakes in the garden. The answer is to use pesticide to get rid of the insects. No insects, no lizards will come and no snakes will turn up to eat the lizards! Break the ecology and there will be no top line predators.
We use to have quite a problem in the state of Malacca where there are many King Cobras, Ophiophagus hannah, in the suburbs. The Malays here love cats, even stray ones. So they put out alot of food for them which attracts rats. The cats won't bother the rats, so snakes come for them. With a big snake population, the King Cobra turns up to eat them. We were often asked to remove these big monsters which average at 16ft to 18ft long and weighing 20+lbs.
At my nursery, we do not use any chemicals at all. The main reason is, I want my rare palms to set seed after they flower. So we have many, many agamid lizards running around and the occasional snake visiting. I have instructed my worker not to harm them, just chase it away with a stick. I like to see the agamids all over the place, I think they are kinda cute besides knocking down the pest population. Rats, I have gone on too long.....
Cheers!:drum:
island cassie
11-28-2008, 01:23 PM
Thanks Tog for your excellent input - I have looked up the corallus enhydris group and that is just how it looked, the huge colour variations are very interesting. People locally have mentioned that they have killed large boas in their gardens which is a terrible shame. Presumably rats and mice would be included in their diet when they are big enough, and we are always waging war on them. Now that you mention vipers having thick bodies, I remember puffadders in Africa being very thick. 18ft is huge for a cobra - I thought only pythons etc grew to that size, but am I right in thinking that some snakes will keep growing in size as long as food is plentiful? Like you I don't spray and the garden is swarming with tarantulas, lizards, birds, butterflies and now I hope snakes too!! Thanks for the help.
Cassie
Tog Tan
11-28-2008, 02:06 PM
Yo Cassie,
You are welcome and you are right in the area that snakes can keep on growing but it depends on the limit of the species. The Reticulated Python, Pyhton reticulatus, from here is the longest snake in the world with a record of 36ft. Now this size is very rare as they are over hunted for their skin. The longest I have encountered is 26ft. I have seen an 18+ft one tipping the scales at 118lbs. Can you imagine what a 36 footer weighs! Only females get this big. In the past, I am often asked to remove Retics from people's houses. They average about 8-12ft in the suburbs. You know, chicken coop raiders!:ha: By the way, the Anaconda is the heaviest snake but not the longest.
For the King Cobra, it is the biggest/longest venomous snake in the world, 16ft is common and anything above that is exceptional. Remember they are snake eaters and they need the body length to 'keep' the victim in their body! To me, this is the most confident reptile I have ever met. They will take you on a bluff without moving with their body raised to 1/3 of their length which means an 18 footer can be 6ft in height from the ground! Whoa! Quite an amazing sight! On top of that the sound effect is fantastic with pretty loud 'grunts'. They will make a couple of quick charges and if they still can't scare you away, they drop back to ground level and slither off. Now this is interesting, there was a record of an elephant being killed by a King Cobra... because the elephant stepped on it and the snake retaliated by biting!
If you get snakes in your garden, just use a long stick and tap on them till they go away. It is good to do this so that they will through their instinct know that meeting humans means being hit by a stick. Serious! If I see a snake, I will make a point to catch it, let it struggle for a while then let it go. This way, they learn to avoid people and possible death.
Cheers!
Tog:drum:
island cassie
11-28-2008, 02:20 PM
Walking through long grass in Africa, we had a black mamba come from behind us and sail between us going in the same direction, and his head was nearly shoulder height - good job we didn't see him coming or I think heart failure would have occurred.
I like the idea of tapping them with a stick to make them afraid of humans - if it saves one of these beauties..... Of course, I will have to draw the line when they start eating the pets!
chong
11-28-2008, 02:34 PM
Yo Cassie,
You are welcome and you are right in the area that snakes can keep on growing but it depends on the limit of the species. The Reticulated Python, Pyhton reticulatus, from here is the longest snake in the world with a record of 36ft. Now this size is very rare as they are over hunted for their skin. The longest I have encountered is 26ft. I have seen an 18+ft one tipping the scales at 118lbs. Can you imagine what a 36 footer weighs! Only females get this big. In the past, I am often asked to remove Retics from people's houses. They average about 8-12ft in the suburbs. You know, chicken coop raiders!:ha: By the way, the Anaconda is the heaviest snake but not the longest.
. . . . . . . . . . . . This way, they learn to avoid people and possible death.
Cheers!
Tog:drum:
Burmese python in the Everglades!
Battle of the giants: python bursts eating gator - Science - Specials (http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/battle-of-the-giants-python-bursts-eating-gator/2005/10/06/1128191820927.html)
island cassie
11-28-2008, 02:41 PM
Haha! Yes I saw that one - imagine what that indigestion must have felt like!!
Tog Tan
11-28-2008, 03:08 PM
Yea Chong...
Saw that one too! Them people just don't learn about cute chubby lil baby pythons, do they, ha... What they are doing is atrocious dumping them off in the Everglades. Florida is so diversified with an overwhelming load of alien species. Not to speak of the diseases they will pass off to the endemic species.
Finally, I love this about venomous snakes. There are only 2 types of people who keep them... One who has been bitten and the other who is going to get bitten.
Many people keep venomous stuff because they think it is really cool, well, so is a dead body!!!:ha::ha::ha:
Cheers!
Tog
Mark Hall
11-28-2008, 03:52 PM
..... Of course, I will have to draw the line when they start eating the pets!
Carol, I can't see anything eating Zuki. I thought it looked like a Boa.
island cassie
11-28-2008, 04:33 PM
Haha! Mark that would be one BIG snake!!
CookieCows
11-29-2008, 11:29 AM
[quote=island cassie;57773]Walking through long grass in Africa, we had a black mamba come from behind us and sail between us going in the same direction, and his head was nearly shoulder height - good job we didn't see him coming or I think heart failure would have occurred.
Wow!!! I think would have needed to get out of there before I thought it through too much :ha:
island cassie
11-29-2008, 11:52 AM
Deb - we just froze and he was moving so fast that he was gone before we could do anything.
CookieCows
11-29-2008, 12:02 PM
As scary as that was... what an experience!! You guys have done some pretty cool stuff!
Deb
Chironex
11-29-2008, 04:48 PM
I would have needed a change of drawers had I seen that!!! Yikes!!!
dablo93
11-30-2008, 06:08 AM
thats quite a large one cassie!
we dont have snakes here, only in some lakes , when i was swimming i suddenly saw a little snake in front of me in the water (cute:P)
when we were in poland there were a lot of little snakes in the woods.
island cassie
11-30-2008, 12:07 PM
It is surprising how many there are around us - mostly they hide!
lorax
11-30-2008, 04:02 PM
LOL, ya'll. I don't get very close to the snakes; when I notice one I get the camera out and examine the eyes that way. Then, if it's a pit viper, I go out to the tree with a 10 foot pole and poke it until it goes away.
Tog Tan
11-30-2008, 04:36 PM
Yo Lorax,
Good for ya! Giving them a chance to coexist is a nice thing to do. After all, all they want to do is to feed on vermins and live. Fyi, the neotropical pit vipers from your place cost a bomb in the live reptile trade cos they are extremely hard to keep alive out of their environment. This is a good thing too, cos of their delicate nature in maintenance not many are hunted due to their low demand by zoos. :drum:
lorax
11-30-2008, 06:50 PM
Right, their extreme toxicity has nothing to do with it... EEE. Can't even imagine handling those guys; for most of them antivenin doesn't exist. I've got no problem picking up grass snakes, and even Corals are calm, but Fer-de-lance are vindictive.
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