I hate snakes and this is why!
 

Almost stepped on this 3+ ft. Rattlesnake tonight while in the parking lot by Redrocks amphitheater! Thank god he rattled to warn us. I never was a fan of snakes and this just reinforces my haterid of them. I was about 2 ft. away when my wife and I heard the tail rattle. My wife jumped first and yelled "snake", and I was right behind her in the running department!

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That little guy is keeping swarms of rats from chewing your wiring harness.

I hate snakes also, but...
This is why I sort of give rattlers a pass.

You don't like snakes and don't want to stumble on one.
The rattler doesn't like people and doesn't want to be stumbled on.
You got close to stumbling on him.
He communicated, using his tail, "Hello, snake here, lets do our own separate directions!"
Sounds like you and your bride accepted his offer.

I like snakes.




They are delicious sautéed in butter and a bit of wine

Hugh would say "That's a belt."

(S)he's beautiful!!!

Picked up some debris behind my house the other day, and a baby snake "rattled" at me.
Almost crapped myself until I saw it was a brown snake and not a rattler.
Little fucher's tail was rubbing on dried leaves, costing me a pair of under wear!
Picked it up and put in a bug/worm tank i keep for turtle and lizard food.
Kids studied it for a few days then we let it go to "live free and in the wild!" (Wild kratts)

The heck they are. They are tough and chewy, and have more bones than a carp.

I'm OK with snakes. I prefer them to be non-venomous and away from the house. Unfortunately, we have snakes on our property, and while we do have several species of non-venomous, most of the snakes that I see are copperheads. The two bits of info about copperheads that I take as positive are 1 they tend to be small and 2 they have all seemed very timid and just want to be left alone.

I know that #1 is probably not much of a benefit. I assume smaller fangs and a smaller mouth has got to be a bit of a benefit, and even more so, if the whole snake is only 12-18" long, the strike distance most be greatly reduced. The only con about them is that a small snake is potentially harder to see.

But, I've run into several of them, and 99% of time they freeze if you see them. The other 1% of the time they slither away. I've never seen a copperhead act defensive. I've poked and prodded and moved them and not one has ever opened its mouth or done anything to indicate that it was going to be defensive. For that I'm thankful.

Many years ago, I was driving around in the hills above Santa Barbara and saw a snake crossing the road towards the uphill side. I stopped the car and got out to get a closer look. As I approached the snake, it turned around, acted as menacing as it could and started shaking it's tail like it was a rattler. It was a California King snake. I got a good look and then left him alone since I was clearly stressing him out.

I've been bitten, Fer de Lance, in the jungle in S. America, it was a scary experience. I didn't like snakes before, liked them less after being bitten, a good snake is a dead one IMO.

Finn

yup. no like.
had to bunny hop a few, when living in the interior of BC. first encounter scared the bejesus outta me. :)
no like the gopher snakes either. they get big - really big, and viper-like. buddy lost a small chunk of his arm - the snake had been hidden under a tarp. it was an ugly wound, yessir.

Heading out to a project at the Boton Wharf at Subic. All kinds of snakes, but when you see a King Cobra crossing the road and it is over one lane width long, well . . . that was a snake. Our training told us if you see one, there is another close by.

The vipers that hung in the trees were the really ugly demons.

Can't count how many rattlers and king snakes I encountered trail running in the Santa Monica Mountains and the mountains behind Simi Valley and Moorpark.

Clearly you have never had rattlesnake prepared well.

We are perfectly fine with snakes....at your house

We get them too here in our yard but haven't come across a rattler yet. Lets keep it that way.

I'd much rather have snakes at my place than rats.

I moved to Castle Rock Colorado in 2000. Bought a new house in a fancy neighborhood called Diamond Ridge. I assumed it was a made up name, trying to convey a higher end neighborhood. After we encountered our 1st rattler, one of the neighbors explained to us that no, Diamond Ridge stood for Diamondback rattlers that were known to live in large numbers on the ridge. Oops 😜

Yes and no.

I would rather have the occasional snake than rats/mice. But at the same time, if the alternative was rats/mice or a den of 10 or 20 4'-6' western diamondback rattlesnakes living under my house, then I'd take the rats/mice and would deal with them another way.

Fortunately, we also have a fair number of red shouldered and red tailed hawks, crested cara caras, skunks, opossums, foxes, coyotes, and deer. I think there's a couple/few of those that prey on snakes.

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^^^
Rats can live anywhere. MI has no dangerous snakes...a few rattlers..never seen one here.
The only snake commonly found here is the garter snake...harmless.
A few blue racers...harmless also.

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.