[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“thumb”,“data-attachmentid”:10715960}[/ATTACH][ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“thumb”,“data-tempid”:“temp_67020_1598445329297_583”}[/ATTACH]”‹I have absolutely loved all the stories about lions and chimps - how hilarious! It’s amazing what happens in every day life. I also can’t wait to send a lazy day reading all the info, especially since I like snakes so much! Here are a couple photos of Keeper. This was our first introduction to him. Here he’s in a stall (we have a pole barn) and he stayed there for 2-3 days. It never bothered our Connemara. Unfortunately, the colors aren’t true to life as he was a coppery color and absolutely gorgeous. I swear this snake would go through the barn and set off the rat snap traps just to keep the rats to himself. After a couple days I just stopped setting them.
We’ve had some heavy rains here and haven’t seen Willow for a few days. Somehow I worry about snakes like they were my children - just want to know they’re ok.
Thanks to everyone for the great advice about reaching our to the vet. He’s only seen one bite in 30 years and doubt if it was copperheads along our banks. He thought it was probably water snakes. Great news!
Well, you know better than all the vets who are experts on the subject. It’s simple, venom does not cause a histamine response unless the animal/person has an allergy to venom. It is possible that your one dog had an allergic reaction, but that doesn’t go for all dogs. Benadryl is an antihistamine and if there are not histamines to block, it literally does nothing positive. It is a respiratory depressant though so can cause negative effects. Feel free to play the lottery with your own animal’s life but do not spread false information that could risk others.
Literally every researcher, scientist, and medical professional who works with snake bites every day is saying that you are wrong. If you choose to believe your lack of knowledge over theirs, there is no hope for you anyway.
We try hard to educate as many kids as possible, but the biggest battle is parents passing their irrational fears onto their children as “facts.” My mom has always been terrified of snakes, but still managed to teach us to respect them, understand them, identify them (we lived in rattlesnake country when I was young), and give them their fair share of space. I wasn’t allowed to have a pet snake, but neither was I encouraged to engage in pointless wildlife genocide – I don’t think that’s a huge parenting ask, but it is such a struggle.
I get really frustrated too that as soon as I tell someone that “I LOVE SNAKES!” they immediately have to tell me some terrible story about the last snake they murdered. headdesk I’m pretty sure people wouldn’t like it if every time someone showed me a picture of their puppy, I launched into a story of how I loved to rip the heads off of puppies & eat them while they were still alive? It’s the same thing, sheesh. [note because COTH: I don’t actually rip the heads off puppies, nor do I eat them]
Keep sharing snake facts with friends, family & neighbours. Use your local wildlife agency (s) as a resource.
And remember, in the words of one of my favourite ecologists:
“…even a fer-de-lance should rather add to the number of hammock devotees than diminish them; for the three feet or more of elevation is as good as so many miles between the two of you. And three miles from any serpent is sufficient.” -William Beebe, Edge of the Jungle
There is absolutely no reason to get your knickers in a twist, and issue dire warnings.
Your opinion is of no interest to me. If my dog’s head is the size of a football you can bet your life I’m going to give him the Benadryl because it reduces that swelling.
Thank you so much for all your words of encouragement and especially this quote:
“…even a fer-de-lance should rather add to the number of hammock devotees than diminish them; for the three feet or more of elevation is as good as so many miles between the two of you. And three miles from any serpent is sufficient.” -William Beebe, Edge of the Jungle
As a snake owner and enthusiast, usually people’s response is to tell me how much they hate them or how they recently performed the great public service of mutilating one.
However, my experience isn’t all that different with horses. Do you know how many times people find out I have horses then proceed to share some negative story of how horses are bad because they were thrown, bucked off, run off with, kicked, etc.? And don’t get me started about people’s responses when they learn I have thoroughbred racehorses… :no:
What is it about human nature that makes us respond to joy and positivity with negativity?
You are most welcome! If you ever get a chance, all of Beebe’s works are delightful reads (I’ve found several free on the Kindle app - also free). He has a wonderful sense of humour, is a gifted writer, & never lost his sense of wonder with all of the natural world. There is also a biography, which my mom gave me years ago, that’s how I discovered him – even though I have a Master’s in biology, somehow I never learned about him before. The biography is called “The Remarkable Life of William Beebe”. He was the father of modern ecology, invented the bathysphere, and was a long-time curator at the NY Zoological Park. While he was an ornithologist by training, he was fascinated by all living things and was one of the first to document & popularize the importance of functional ecosystems. Being a wonderful story-teller was just a bonus!
@Texarkana , having owned two ex-racehorses, I can only imagine there are even more pre-conceptions if you own them while they are still racing!
I didn’t see anyone else mention this, but don’t baby copperheads have a bright green/yellow tail until they’re about a year old?
I remember a wildlife group I follow on Facebook posted a photo of a copperhead and her babies. All the babies had bright green tails, and the group commented that they will have those tails (apparently used to catch prey?) for about a year.
So now I think I’ve seen one. We have a garden area that’s been left alone for 3 years and is totally overgrown. Yesterday, I started using the trimmer in the area. It sits along side the property line which is wooded on my neighbor’s side and has the horse’s pasture on the other and is away from the creek.
Today I went back in and started trimming. I’m facing the horse pasture and this snake moves right next to my muck boot (touching the length), goes into the horse pen and under a railroad tie. I looked and said that’s a copperhead. It had what I call the distinctive Hershey’s kisses on the side and it looked like the photos people have shared.
My DH is yelling for me to get out of there and I’m not moving - until the snake is away from me. We’ll just have to be careful in that area. I asked DH to put down some ziplock bags with paper towels/rags and ammonia in them. Hopefully, the snakes will then move to my neighbor’s wooded property.
Glad I know they’re here. I just need to be careful.
It’s not my opinion, it’s scientific fact. People like you are spreading misinformation far and wide because you believe yourself to be better than science. It’s appalling.
@stb Last year we had about 10 rat snakes (some up to 7 ft long) around our house (by our front door, on our patio steps, at the end of the patio, by one of our back doors). Thankfully, our dogs didn’t even notice them or jumped over them if they were on the stairs. My DH put the open zip lock backs with ammonia around the house itself. This year we saw one and that guy was so afraid of me, I felt sorry for him. Hopefully, I never see a rattler; that would be so scary!
All right, so can someone explain the Ziploc bags and ammonia trick to me? Sorry if it was mentioned upthread. I went out last night to feed the barn cats and found them surrounding a baby copperhead - well, a juvenile, about 10" - 12" long. Poor thing was not being aggressive, and damn it, I just didn’t have the heart to kill it. It just kept looking at me. (Pretty sure it was a copperhead, yes, as we don’t really have anything else in this area that looks like them.) But I sure don’t want them around the house!
Agree that the FL Snake Facebook group is great!! I knew basically nothing about snakes (other than Avoid Them All) and that group has me confidently able to identify most of our common local species. Very educational page, with expert admins happy to answer repetitive questions with patience and enthusiasm. Snakes from other states are frequently posted, as are questions about other reptiles (frogs, turtles mostly) and insects. It’s a very active group, and your FB feed is likely to be inundated with snake pics…but I guarantee you will gain a respect for them and familiarity with “nope ropes” or “danger noodles” in short order. :lol:
@Alex and Bodie’s Mom Hi, I ran across this on the internet. Supposedly snakes don’t like the smell of ammonia. We put them around our house, just not in our barn as we don’t keep cats there. It’s worked around our house fantastically and I can’t imagine using anything else. Good luck!
