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Pepper Gods vs. Snake
- Thread starter piscal3
- Start date
We get both King and Coral snakes (thats definitely King) here in Florida... We say red and yellow kill a fellow, red and black friend of jack.
We have a fair number of things that will kill ya here in FL as well...
A couple varieties of rattle snake, coral, moccasin... Spiders... Gators, and the Elderly.
Nothing scarier than a little patch of white hair sticking up just barely above the steering wheel...
We have a fair number of things that will kill ya here in FL as well...
A couple varieties of rattle snake, coral, moccasin... Spiders... Gators, and the Elderly.
Nothing scarier than a little patch of white hair sticking up just barely above the steering wheel...
Cuetips 
When you are driving thats all you can see....
Down here we joke that everyone elses old folks only move to Fl when their homer state threatens to take their drivers liscense away. Once they get here, we liscense them for another decade or so.
When you are driving thats all you can see....Down here we joke that everyone elses old folks only move to Fl when their homer state threatens to take their drivers liscense away. Once they get here, we liscense them for another decade or so.
we have developed a system for managing these animals, it goes something along the lines of:
1) Find a spider, it it a huntsman (very common and harmless) ?. yes, it lives, no, SQUISH.
2) Find a snake, it it alive ? yes, KILL IT NOW, no, hit it with a shovel to make sure its dead.
3) Find an insect you don't recognize, SQUISH
3) Find a platypus, look for a Canadian to feed to it.
Everywhere else, people run through the "is it something that will kill me" list. I like how you can simplify things by checking the reverse, and seeing if it's the one thing on the continent that won't kill you.
Our philosophy about snakes is that there are two catagories: Good snakes, and those still living. If in doubt chop its head off.
Cool it on your snake phobias. If a snake cannot swallow you whole, he is not interested in you and will only mess with you if you provoke him. In NC our copperheads produce the highest number of bites in N.America because their camouflage coloring is excellent and as pit vipers, they sense your warmth before they can even see you. They strike from fear! Their venom is weak and their fangs don’t normally penetrate regular denim. Their mouth bacteria are likely a greater danger than their weak venom.
They consume mice, moles and slugs and like all our snakes are beneficial to the environment.
They consume mice, moles and slugs and like all our snakes are beneficial to the environment.
In stark contrast, we have the eastern diamond back rattler, a species which is known for being agressive, can grow to 8' long, and is the most venemous snake in north america. It is also the heaviest by weight, and the Longest rattlesnake variety. They have been known to climb as high as 30' off the ground, and on occassion, attack from above.
Even WITH anti-venom, they have a 30% mortality rate.
We also have Moccasins, a type of viper, semi-aquatic, and easily mistaken by some for its harmless doppleganger the black snake. Specimens have been captured that reached 74 inches in length (IE easily as large or larger than many men). The Moccasin produces more (and more potent) venom than the copperhead. while not as deadly as a rattlesnake, it still has had its share of victims (usually, the old, or young, or alergic). I personally know of someone who died from encountering a nest of small moccasins in a lake. jumped off the boat into their midst, and was attacked in defense. He was bitten over 100 times. His friends who were with him used the anchor rope to snag him by the leg, and drag him back to shore. He was dead within hours. Unfortunately this is not completely rare, the guy that takes care of my parents horses feet had a similar experience as a teen.
Any way, I don't have a phobia. But when it comes to black snakes, or rattlesnakes, or anything else that I know to be poisonous, (and considering I live on the water), I kill indescriminately.
The only snake I've seen and ignore are red ratsnakes. But I seldom see those. Its much more likely I'll encounter a pygmy, or eastern diamondback rattlesnake.
Even WITH anti-venom, they have a 30% mortality rate.
We also have Moccasins, a type of viper, semi-aquatic, and easily mistaken by some for its harmless doppleganger the black snake. Specimens have been captured that reached 74 inches in length (IE easily as large or larger than many men). The Moccasin produces more (and more potent) venom than the copperhead. while not as deadly as a rattlesnake, it still has had its share of victims (usually, the old, or young, or alergic). I personally know of someone who died from encountering a nest of small moccasins in a lake. jumped off the boat into their midst, and was attacked in defense. He was bitten over 100 times. His friends who were with him used the anchor rope to snag him by the leg, and drag him back to shore. He was dead within hours. Unfortunately this is not completely rare, the guy that takes care of my parents horses feet had a similar experience as a teen.
Any way, I don't have a phobia. But when it comes to black snakes, or rattlesnakes, or anything else that I know to be poisonous, (and considering I live on the water), I kill indescriminately.
The only snake I've seen and ignore are red ratsnakes. But I seldom see those. Its much more likely I'll encounter a pygmy, or eastern diamondback rattlesnake.
We have a few black racers here, always seems to be at least one in the yard somewhere... Also have occassionally seen some ring necks - usually babies that end up in our pool somehow.
And we also have the eastern diamondbacks, moccasins, pygmy rattlers, coral snakes and more. I keep a stick handy for "shooing" the snakes away, or if it turns out to be one of the poisonous ones, to thoroughly bash it into the ground. If I was out in the middle of nowhere, I might think differently, but all our neighbors have little kids, and everyone around has dogs. The last thing I would want to hear, is that I chased a rattlesnake out of my yard and it ended up biting one of the neighbors' kids.
Oh, and Ken - we've also had a few folks meet up with the moccasins during mating season. I still remember a girl dying in high school when she was water skiing and dropped off into where a bunch were. Think her bite count was similar as well...
Between the snakes and the gators, I'm surprised anyone ever settled down here in the first place... LOL
And we also have the eastern diamondbacks, moccasins, pygmy rattlers, coral snakes and more. I keep a stick handy for "shooing" the snakes away, or if it turns out to be one of the poisonous ones, to thoroughly bash it into the ground. If I was out in the middle of nowhere, I might think differently, but all our neighbors have little kids, and everyone around has dogs. The last thing I would want to hear, is that I chased a rattlesnake out of my yard and it ended up biting one of the neighbors' kids.
Oh, and Ken - we've also had a few folks meet up with the moccasins during mating season. I still remember a girl dying in high school when she was water skiing and dropped off into where a bunch were. Think her bite count was similar as well...
Between the snakes and the gators, I'm surprised anyone ever settled down here in the first place... LOL
makes it easier.
Of the 4 snakes commonly found around where i live, 2 of them (Red belly black and copperhead) will usually do there best to flee. The Tiger snakes (what we get the most of) may flee or try to fight. Then we get the Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis ), this guy is not nice. One 1/14,000 of an ounce of this vemon is enough to kill a person. The Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis) is the world’s second most venomous land snake. Eastern Brown Snakes are very fast moving and highly aggressive.
With the snakes in my area it is easy to work out which ones are bad for your health, ALL OF THEM.
Right? The King of spain gave most of Florida to my family (when spain owned it the first time) for "acts of valor" whatever that means. They must have been a hardy breed to see the giant swamp that was FL, and think... "yep... This is where I want to raise my kids".
lol