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Tina was down at the old barn, cleaning up around the outside and preparing to move the shelving unit to the feed room in the new barn. She had three or four rolls of heavy rubberized belt that came off a conveyer at the gravel pit she had been cutting to length and using in the stalls as stall mat stacked along the outside wall. When she went to roll the first away from the wall, part of the inside of the roll moved. Turned out that part of the rubberized roll was a five foot long three inch thick cottonmouth water moccasin hiding from the heat. It crawled thru the rolls and under the edge of the barn wall, she ran around into the barn and trapped it, so it couldn't hide and surprise her later. (More importantly, one of the grandkids.) When she put it down, babies, live babies spilled out. She put them all in the pond, food for the turtles and panfish and bass. The water boiled.

We don't put down the regular snakes, they keep down the rat, mice, and vermin population. But just last week we had grandchildren here. They aren't allowed to play in the barns, but the older one had ducked in a stall to ... ... um .. Tinkle? A cotton mouth attached to your butt would put a damper on your day. It's dark in the stalls at various points in the day... not smart.

Tina has talked to the Granddaughter ...

She went online and checked, she didn't know Cottonmouths gave birth to live babies. Yup.
It's also copperhead birthing season... Oh No... Keep a sharp eye out. They are like Snipers, masters at camoflauge.

I've lived in snake country (meaning rattlesnake country) most of my life and we were taught early the basic rules of how to avoid being bitten. Can't start too early with the kids.

No poisonous snakes up here in the north woods, but I did see a water snake out on the road this week. Water snakes are often mis-identified as cottonmouths.

When I was walking the property with the (city) son in law and six year old Granddaughter last week, she started up the side of the berm (pond dam) and I told her "No." Her daddy doesn't like for his Little Cutie to be told no, and made a princess face. He asked me why, he had walked all around it the day before. I started to give the standard dad answer of, "Because I told her NO."

But... I told him the top of the dam was filled with holes made by turtles and other things, and she could trip and fall in the pond. More importantly, copperheads liked to sun themselves on the top of the berm, and their camo was really good, making them hard to see. He looked a little green, but he was good after that.

Yes, there really IS a copperhead in the picture.

BrokenolMarine wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 13, 2022 11:56 am

Keep a sharp eye out. They are like Snipers, masters at camoflauge.

copperhead.jpg

I guess so. I don't see it.

markiver54 wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 13, 2022 1:10 pm

BrokenolMarine wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 13, 2022 11:56 am

Keep a sharp eye out. They are like Snipers, masters at camoflauge.

copperhead.jpg

I guess so. I don't see it.

I put this up every couple years as a PSA... they really are GREAT at hiding....
His tail is at the bottom of the pic, follow the line to the top and the head is just below the top of the red line. You'll see the wrinkles where the neck is bunched up.

Ah ha! Now I see that sneaky #%$@.

50 some years ago I was bitten by a large black snake .... I haven't forgotten it and still hold a grudge .... in short, when it comes to snakes I take no prisoners

Tina leaves the non poisonous snakes as they eat vermin, but if they crawl into the coop to eat chicks or eggs, present a striking posture... So sorry.

Glad she didn't get bit. The copperheads are the hardest to see for sure. Any poisonous snake has to be taken care of. My son almost didn't make it when bit by rattlesnake as a teenager. He also was bit later while working by a moccasin, but it wasn't as bad as the rattlesnake bite. I got bit by a baby rattler on top of my foot, but luckily it didn't break the skin. I had on flip flops. Do you see very many moccasins around your pond?

We haven't seen many moccasins. Shortly after I broke my wrist, I went to recoil a rope Tina had left in the bed of the Polaris and hang it on the rack in the garage and a pygmy rattler who was tangled in the coils already on the rack struck at me. Tangled is the key here, he was stopped short. Crows ate his corpse.

There are plenty of copperheads in the mondograss around Tinas workshop, but they stay hidden. If the westie sees one, she's on it in a flash, and shakes it until it's dead.

Years ago, living on our farm in VA, Tina was working barefoot in her flower garden while I was working a 3-11 patrol shift several counties away. She stepped on a baby copperhead. It bit her four times in her foot. She stomped it into copperhead paste. She spent the night in tye ER, he did not survive her attention. Two weeks later, farm girl is back working the garden. Barefoot.

What? Yes... I beat the ambulance to the ER...

Yep. I had same reaction. When I looked down and saw it repeating striking my foot I commenced to stomping, jumping, dancing, you name it. Don’t know what all I may have done. When I was done though, that snake didn’t look much like a snake. I’m glad though, we don’t see many copperheads around here.

Given Aus has 9 of the 10 most deadly snakes in the world it doest really matter what part of the country you live 3 or 4 will be present. Funny the way lots of us dismiss the danger because it is only the 5th or 6th deadliest. I usually leave them alone but if they enter the house yard they are fair game. I do need to beat the little terrier to them he will attack and kill them, I have found a few he has left at the back door. Hopefully he leaves them alone as he is 17 now and slowed down considerably in the last year. Not sure he would still have the speed and agility to avoid strikes and get a killing bite

220 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 14, 2022 11:49 pm

Given Aus has 9 of the 10 most deadly snakes in the world it doest really matter what part of the country you live 3 or 4 will be present. Funny the way lots of us dismiss the danger because it is only the 5th or 6th deadliest. I usually leave them alone but if they enter the house yard they are fair game. I do need to beat the little terrier to them he will attack and kill them, I have found a few he has left at the back door. Hopefully he leaves them alone as he is 17 now and slowed down considerably in the last year. Not sure he would still have the speed and agility to avoid strikes and get a killing bite

I thought everything in Australia wanted to kill you? Kevin Hart has a whole standup about his Aussie buddy telling him just that. Leaping spiders, small biting bugs, snakes, roos will kick box you. I always wanted to visit down under in our travels in the Corps, but it was one of my bucket list places we never stopped. (Ireland, Scotland were a couple others.) My buddy married an Aussie lass... sweet, unless you made her mad, but then, aren't they all?

Yeah plenty of things that will bite sting and kill you but apart from the salt water crocs nothing that will really eat you.
No bears, big cats even the dingo isnt much bigger than a coyote so unless you are facing a pack you have a fighting chance.

Spiders are a bit like snakes we have a few, funnel web spiders killed a few until a antivenom was developed in the 80's. Highly aggressive and fangs longer than some snakes. A bit like snakes everyone just dismisses the redback, they are everywhere people stand on them squash them with fingers or thumbs, most treat them just like a insect that can sting. They are the same family and a bit more venomous than the black widow. I know a few people that have been bitten and didnt even worry about seeking medical attention. Felt a bit sick for a day and that was about it.
Lots of stories about redbacks on the dunny seat, not so much now but when outside toilets and old long drops were common it always payed to lift the seat before sitting down. More than a few suffered bites in particularly sensitive areas

Funny thing here... Up north, the Moose can be as dangerous or more dangerous than any other animal we have. They get really tall, are heavy, and get an attitude and stomp a puddle in your butt. Worse than deer, or Roos... You hit the long legged moose he falls ON your Mini Cooper... Pancake. The worst thing the uneducated can do is try and pet a moose baby, or get between the moose mom and her cute baby when they wander into town. I've seen the videos. Not pretty.

Oh, spiders? I don't like spiders. I don't go out of my way to kill them, but stay out of my space, yah eight legged freak. We have black widows and brown recluse here in Oklahoma, and Tarantulas so big you can see them run across the road in front of your car. Teacup size maybe.

I got bit on the back of my thigh by some small spider when we first got here. The bite swelled, and came to a head, drained, then took six weeks to heal. Still have a scar. Yeah, not the spider for a pet guy.

As far as I know, we don't have poisonous snakes around. I have noticed many around the yard and barn this year. I live and let live unless hunting usually. Garden pests and snakes around the house are another story. .22 shot shells and a S&W model 63 are pretty handy on the snakes and meadow mice.

Only poisonous snakes around here are rattlesnakes. They can be numerous in some areas but in 35 years on my property I've only seen a few, I stepped on one once and that was pretty exciting. Bull snakes are pretty common, they will hiss at you but mostly they just want to get away from you. I leave them alone as they help keep the rodent population down.