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Originally Posted by Baz
In all the years I have been in the landscaping business I have never had any run ins with poisonous snakes. NONE! Never even saw any. I do my share of working in brush and wooded areas too.
Plenty of friendly snakes though. They are almost like residents on certain properties I visit! I love to see them!
Here's a gorgeous little corn snake that hangs out at my place.......
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beautiful little snake.
Quote:
Originally Posted by red-beard
Meet Corey. He isn't feeling too well today - Red touch yellow
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Also a pretty little snake. It's unfortunate that he came where he was unwanted.
I saw something cool this weekend. I was sitting on the couch inside and glanced outside at exactly the same time that a mockingbird landed in the yard. It looked like he was trying to pounce on a bug which I see them do all of the time. What made this different is that I saw him hop, hop, hop, a few times as if he was pursuing something. On the second or third hop, I noticed that what he was chasing was a snake. I could only just barely make out the top of the snake here and there as its body rose and fell through the grass.
The thing is, this all happened in the blink of an eye. The snake has hauling arse. It was practically up on a plane and the mocking bird was in hot pursuit.
I didn't get a great look at the snake. I think it was tan/light brown, but I can't say for sure, and it could have been 2-3' long, but I can't say for sure. He made it from my yard to the safety of the hay field next door. That's when a second mocking bird joined the first sitting on the top of the barbed wire fence staring into the deep grass.
I take our dog outside several times a day. I look around to ensure that I'm not going to put him down with any snakes around because he doesn't see well, and would likely follow his nose right up to a snake for a sniff, and he would be unlikely to be able to dodge a snake bite. He's old enough that I don't want to have to worry about him recovering from a snake bite.
I've been wandering around the property looking for snakes. I think they are neat, as long as they aren't a big surprise. I have yet to see one other than the one on the porch with the full belly and the one being chased by the mockingbirds. I guess the year is young. I've got the whole summer to find more. I just hope it's not a huge surprise when I do.
I did joint the "National Snakebite Support" group on Facebook. It's a group of Drs and Vets that answer questions about snakebites for people and animals.
It's crazy how much of a lack of knowledge there is in the medical community about snakebite treatment. I've read a bunch of stories where hospitals either treat inadequately or just completely wrong.
If anyone is curious about the correct treatment for rattle snakes, moccasins and copperheads (not coral snakes), here:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21291549/
Here's a good copy of the chart.
Then the NSS group led me to the WSED (Wild Snakes : Education and Discussion) group...
https://wsed.org/coexisting-with-wild-snakes-revised-version/