How bout a rat snake?

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It’s a misdemeanor to kill a snake in SC. I’m told the baby (juvenile) venomous snakes are more dangerous than adult ones. The adult ones can ration the amount of venom they release and the young ones let it all go with one bite. I don’t like them either and I’m more worried about my dog getting bit by one.

I'd heard the same thing about baby snakes for years. When we moved here, I joined a "Texas Snakes" group on facebook as well as a "National Snakebite Support" group. It turns out that is a fallacy.

The National Snakebite Support group covers bites to people AND pets.
It's very well moderated and is essentially ONLY for recipients of snakebites to get advice from doctors and/or veterinarians. There is a lot of great information there.

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Rattlesnakes always warn you you're getting too close. Don't reach under rocks or bushes without looking first.

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This guy showed up on our back porch. A right angle snake!

Our male dachshund, Ruben was barking and in full alert mode. Fortunately the snake just wanted to get away, so it went up the wall. We locked the dogs out of the back yard, and the snake was gone an hour later. I try very hard to keep the mouse population at zero. Reuben does help with that. He got a bunny earlier this spring. He chases off all the polar bears, giraffes, buffalo, and alligators as well. I have not seen a polar bear around here since we got Reuben.


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He really likes mice.

I've always assumed that was an old wive's tale. Didn't stop my niece from saying it with full conviction after her husband got bit last year.

Be kind to Garter snakes. They love to eat slugs.

Years ago at the Armadillo Ranch, my son and nephews accidentally killed a copperhead while mowing one of the fields. They thought this would be a great educational moment for my youngest nephew. They picked it up by the tail and showed it to the toddler lecturing him on its dangers. A few hours later the little guy shows up at the back door holding a small, live copperhead by the tail. Fortunately he was not bitten.

Major pucker moment!

Kid's are something!

I'm OK witih snakes. They're part of the local environment, & I relocate them when I find them. When I used to work in the mountains as a young guy, I would stop at a place on the way up run by a bartender & ex boxer named Sully. The local ranchers would kill rattlers, skin & clean them & bring them to Sully who would put them in the freezer & make a snake salad (like tuna or chicken salad) and put a big bowl on the bar surrounded with crackers. It was delicious, & I always enjoyed it. Some other people who came in thought it was good too until they found out it was rattler.

Wife got bit by a copperhead. 2 years before she wore a regular shoe.


Nasty, aggressive little bastards

In 6th grade....I brought a jar of small garter snakes into school and placed them in my teachers desk.
She opened her desk and turned to me and said..."stay after class..I need to talk to you"

She was a farm girl and didn't get too upset....I was thankful.

Massasauga Rattlers live in MI and are venomous though not lethal to humans usually. Two known deaths in Ontario per wiki.

My biased opinion is influenced by seeing mongooses tear up a few big beautiful cobras in my youth a few times in India. It was sad to watch it but that is life.

Played with stinky garters (the snake) a few times in the back yard, but have not seen them around this area for many decades.

Small critters react to only food or defense or communication. Usually. Only time I encountered an aggressive snake was wading in a lake outlet pond with three feet of muck with an inch on top. A water moccasin who was being territorial. I slapped the water between us dunked it's head once or twice, and it turned back around. Scary moment but that was about it.

There's a Sir Mixalot lyric in here somewhere....

I don't do anything when I see the non-venomous snakes (except that one time MattDavis came to visit and one was chilling between the front door and screen door. I don't know if the snake was surprised, but I was.)

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But when I find a copperhead too near the house...

the most recent, he was a tiny fella hanging out in the driveway near the house one morning, so I took him across the street.
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This was the previous one that I stepped on.
Sorry for the vertical video. I was trying to watch the snake that I was carrying, watch the ground for other snakes, and keep the phone/camera pointed at the snake.

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Your wife really doesn’t like it when she goes to the frig to look for something for dinner and finds a frozen rattlesnake

Was that one of your belts?

I remember seeing an interview with a guy that worked in the movie industry. He said that they would collect road kill if it was in good shape, so that it could be used in movies for realistic looking critters.

King Snakes and Rat Snakes, as well as anything in the Rat Snake family like Chicken Snakes, being constrictors, will kill and eat Rattlesnakes.