Well better safe than sorry for his 2 year old playing in the garage. Thanks for the help though.
Snake Thread 2017
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Last: 6 yr ago by Sean98
I want to post that I wish a plague of rats upon the dolts that kill snakes that aren't doing anything but good, then I remember who I'm dealing with a lot of the time..ttha_aggie_09 said:
Your BIL needs to stop being a little girl and afraid of 12" harmless snakes. His rodent populations thanks him.
/half kidding
Haha!
I'll never question people when they are doing what they think is protecting their family.
The problem is people failing to EVER learn the types of snakes that are actually harmful. In most cases, we are talking 2-4 venomous snakes in the region.
1.) Coral - black and yellow... (you're colored blind if you don't know what they look like)
2.) Copperhead - pretty easy to tell given color and size but can see confusion with a hognose and possibly broadband water snake (just bc of the bright colors - despite being mostly black)
3.) Rattlesnake - does it have a rattle?
4.) water moccasin - tricky, but a little education can eliminate species like a rat snake from the possible imposters.
I'm not advocating for people playing with non-venomous snakes but it's important, especially with children, to teach that snakes can be very bad but also serve a purpose in nature.
I'll never question people when they are doing what they think is protecting their family.
The problem is people failing to EVER learn the types of snakes that are actually harmful. In most cases, we are talking 2-4 venomous snakes in the region.
1.) Coral - black and yellow... (you're colored blind if you don't know what they look like)
2.) Copperhead - pretty easy to tell given color and size but can see confusion with a hognose and possibly broadband water snake (just bc of the bright colors - despite being mostly black)
3.) Rattlesnake - does it have a rattle?
4.) water moccasin - tricky, but a little education can eliminate species like a rat snake from the possible imposters.
I'm not advocating for people playing with non-venomous snakes but it's important, especially with children, to teach that snakes can be very bad but also serve a purpose in nature.
Oh, I get it.
You pull posts of mine just a few years ago and I was turrible at IDing, but I recognized my blindspot, and got better at it.
Blindspots are funny things, you can't see'em.
You pull posts of mine just a few years ago and I was turrible at IDing, but I recognized my blindspot, and got better at it.
Blindspots are funny things, you can't see'em.
carpe vinum said:I want to post that I wish a plague of rats upon the dolts that kill snakes that aren't doing anything but good, then I remember who I'm dealing with a lot of the time..ttha_aggie_09 said:
Your BIL needs to stop being a little girl and afraid of 12" harmless snakes. His rodent populations thanks him.
/half kidding
Stupid and unable to identify 100's of species of snakes at a glance are hardly the same thing....
Here ya go, slappy.Tx-Ag2010 said:carpe vinum said:I want to post that I wish a plague of rats upon the dolts that kill snakes that aren't doing anything but good, then I remember who I'm dealing with a lot of the time..ttha_aggie_09 said:
Your BIL needs to stop being a little girl and afraid of 12" harmless snakes. His rodent populations thanks him.
/half kidding
Stupid and unable to identify 100's of species of snakes at a glance are hardly the same thing....
I was bad at it too.
Quote:
Oh, I get it.
You pull posts of mine just a few years ago and I was turrible at IDing, but I recognized my blindspot, and got better at it.
Blindspots are funny things, you can't see'em.
You're not stupid... but your approach is a common mistake. Don't think about it as learning hundreds of species. Learn the dangerous ones first, which should only be a handful, and then you can slowly accumulate knowledge on the others.
And it's hard. You have to remember that nature is very good at disguising itself as something it's not. There is a reason most water snakes flatten out their head to make it look triangular when provoked.
And it's hard. You have to remember that nature is very good at disguising itself as something it's not. There is a reason most water snakes flatten out their head to make it look triangular when provoked.
carpe vinum said:Here ya go, slappy.Tx-Ag2010 said:carpe vinum said:I want to post that I wish a plague of rats upon the dolts that kill snakes that aren't doing anything but good, then I remember who I'm dealing with a lot of the time..ttha_aggie_09 said:
Your BIL needs to stop being a little girl and afraid of 12" harmless snakes. His rodent populations thanks him.
/half kidding
Stupid and unable to identify 100's of species of snakes at a glance are hardly the same thing....
I was bad at it too.Quote:
Oh, I get it.
You pull posts of mine just a few years ago and I was turrible at IDing, but I recognized my blindspot, and got better at it.
Blindspots are funny things, you can't see'em.
like I said being terrible at ID'ing snakes does not equate to intelligence... Only a willingness to learn about snakes.
ttha_aggie_09 said:
You're not stupid... but your approach is a common mistake. Don't think about it as learning hundreds of species. Learn the dangerous ones first, which should only be a handful, and then you can slowly accumulate knowledge on the others.
And it's hard. You have to remember that nature is very good at disguising itself as something it's not. There is a reason most water snakes flatten out their head to make it look triangular when provoked.
Every time I think I have a rat snake figured out... It turns out it was just a juvenile water moccasin...
ttha_aggie_09
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Son killed a young coral snake in the front yard last night. About 8-10 nches. We are in Fall Creek in Humble.
12th Man Ag said:
Son killed a young coral snake in the front yard last night. About 8-10 nches. We are in Fall Creek in Humble.
just keep them in your yard!!!
I want to see a wild coral snake so bad. I grew up in the piney woods and was always outside and never saw one.
This is the third one we have killed in 7 years. I guess I should capture them and take them to the zoo or something, but we haven't done that yet. I get nervous because the 2nd one we found was when our dogs were "playing" with it. Dogs and barefoot kiddos seem like a bad combination with coral snakes, but maybe I am over reacting.BCO07 said:
I want to see a wild coral snake so bad. I grew up in the piney woods and was always outside and never saw one.
the only one I have ever seen in the wild was in Nacogdoches in the woods behind our house
THIS particular one seems harmless enough.
You can see there is no arrowhead shaped head here to be scared of!!
You can see there is no arrowhead shaped head here to be scared of!!
So with coral snakes, what is myth from truth? I've always heard they are rear-fanged and have to "gnaw" on you to inject venom so the chances of an envenomation are pretty low with them. True/false?
False. Low chance of being injected because they are relatively docile and just rarely bite.
They actually have a pair of small fixed front fangs and they're relatively docile, but they'll definitely bite if you mess with them enough. One of my dumb friends found that out the hard way a few years ago, but luckily didn't suffer any permanent damage from the bite.
So he was handling it?
Yup! His head was already removed and in the woods by the time the kids came and told us.1990AG said:
THIS particular one seems harmless enough.
You can see there is no arrowhead shaped head here to be scared of!!
Yep. He and another buddy of mine found one in his backyard and, apparently never having heard the old rhyme that everyone knows, thought it was a milk snake.
They handled it for about five minutes before it tagged him on his hand. People say they can only get you on the webbing between your fingers because they're mouths are too small. Yeah, that ain't true either.
The ambulance got him to a hospital in Houston and they started calling around trying to find anyone who carried the antivenom. Eventually they contacted the Houston zoo, which did have some but by that time it was too late to administer it. They were also afraid of giving him too much pain medication, so my friend had to ride the pain train for about 12 hours while the docs monitored his symptoms.
In the end he came through it all in good shape. They determined that he was pretty lucky, in that the snake only injected a tiny amount of venom and didn't "walk" it's fangs up my friend's hand.
tl;dr I know a lot of stupid people. Don't mess with coral snakes.
They handled it for about five minutes before it tagged him on his hand. People say they can only get you on the webbing between your fingers because they're mouths are too small. Yeah, that ain't true either.
The ambulance got him to a hospital in Houston and they started calling around trying to find anyone who carried the antivenom. Eventually they contacted the Houston zoo, which did have some but by that time it was too late to administer it. They were also afraid of giving him too much pain medication, so my friend had to ride the pain train for about 12 hours while the docs monitored his symptoms.
In the end he came through it all in good shape. They determined that he was pretty lucky, in that the snake only injected a tiny amount of venom and didn't "walk" it's fangs up my friend's hand.
tl;dr I know a lot of stupid people. Don't mess with coral snakes.
So he thought it was red on yellow is a friendly fellow, black on red, you'll be dead?
Knowing my friend, it was probably more like "Red and yell- squirrel!!"
Actually now that I think about it, I believe the other guy who was there (who grew up in east Texas and damned sure shoulda known better) told my friend that it wasn't a coral snake. Dumbassery begets dumbassery.
Actually now that I think about it, I believe the other guy who was there (who grew up in east Texas and damned sure shoulda known better) told my friend that it wasn't a coral snake. Dumbassery begets dumbassery.
Quote:
They handled it for about five minutes before it tagged him on his hand.
So the moral of the story is, if you're going to play with a coral snake, keep it under 5 minutes
Moral of the story about ID-ing snakes -
Rattlesnakes - easy.
Coral snakes - easy.
Copperheads - pretty easy, only a couple of others look similar.
Moccasins - most difficult.
Anything else is harmless. Not really that difficult if you want to learn. I used to teach elementary students, and they learned very quickly.
Rattlesnakes - easy.
Coral snakes - easy.
Copperheads - pretty easy, only a couple of others look similar.
Moccasins - most difficult.
Anything else is harmless. Not really that difficult if you want to learn. I used to teach elementary students, and they learned very quickly.
zooguy96 said:
Moral of the story about ID-ing snakes -
Rattlesnakes - easy.
Coral snakes - easy.
Copperheads - pretty easy, only a couple of others look similar.
Moccasins - most difficult.
Anything else is harmless. Not really that difficult if you want to learn. I used to teach elementary students, and they learned very quickly.
Unless it's an escaped cobra in your Houston apartment building...but those should be an easy ID as well...
Hognose.
IS THERE A MONGOOSE IN THE BUILDING?!
Exactly. There are three things you should always have on you when you go out looking for snakes: protective boots, tongs or hooks, and a damn good stopwatch.
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I grew up in Woodville and had two in my front yard several years apart. We had a shady front area with pine bark mulch that they seemed to like.BCO07 said:
I want to see a wild coral snake so bad. I grew up in the piney woods and was always outside and never saw one.
Where's Ricky-Ticky-Tavi when you need him most?!
I stopped by the zoo yesterday with the kids. These two are still in love.
Uhh, threesome.CowtownAg06 said:
I stopped by the zoo yesterday with the kids. These two are still in love.
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