Early mornin' snake wrangling

No, not that one-eyed trouser snake.

Woken up at 7:00 this morning by the neighbor's dog, who by the sounds of it was losing it's berkeleying mind. Listen to it for about 30 minutes and figure the neighbor isn't home, so I head over to see what is up. Neighbor is in fact not home, but the gate is unlocked, so I head inside their backyard. Their Husky, Biscuit, has a rat snake cornered by the back part of the fence. So, I head back to the house, grab a stick and a bucket and head back over. Snake apparently just wants high ground, since it's been raining for about a week here now. Didn't take much convincing to get the snake in the bucket. I think it must have had a headache from all the barking. So now, I have a nice, quiet morning and a happy rat snake in My backyard. Not bad for my first wild snake catch, he's about a six-footer.

Do they taste good?

EastCoastMojo wrote: No, not that one-eyed trouser snake.

Honestly, I was hoping to hear a story about stealing the neighbor's 427 Cobra.

Good on you.

Got home from the airport yesterday to find five chickens roaming around my driveway. My neighbor has "decorative" chickens, they got out.

Great - those snakes are perfect to have around!

That is a pretty good size for a rat snake. Reptile dealers might be interested in talking to you.

I thought it was hilarious how it was shaking the tip of it's tail like a rattler. You're not fooling anybody buddy.

Heck, it might be the same snake that almost fell on me in the garage one day. I went to open up the garage door, and it was apparently warming itself in the channel up high on the backside of the door (sun was hitting the other side of the door). When I raised the door up he came down RIGHT next to me. Needless to say, we were both more than a bit surprised by the whole ordeal. After some yelling I had a good laugh about that one.

I came across a Copperhead in my back yard the other day. I wasn't as nice as you were. We don't see many rat snakes around here.

POIDH

I rarely ever see rat snakes. I saw three black snakes last week on the same job site. One was a big one.

Timely thread. We have a cobra loose on our street. My wife is scared to go in the yard at night.it has been seen and photographed by a number of people and is definitely not native to British Columbia. The conservation officer has asked that if it is seen again to please run over it.

i WISH the snake I kept seeing in my yard was still around. ive been seeing more field mice this year....

bearmtnmartin wrote: The conservation officer has asked that if it is seen again to please run over it.

There's a quoteworthy sentence!

For the last several years I've had a group of Northern water snakes living in under some decking next to the vegetable garden. They like to hang out in the strawberry patch. They are apparently quite unbothered by people and seemingly are not aggressive.

Mojo:

I am glad you didn't kill it. And I hear you about the rain, my house has been invaded by millipedes.

Northern Water snakes are bitey little rascals, 02Pilot.

I find the lack of Cobra content in this thread disturbing

I had a snake that looked like a worm drop out of the rubber seal on the bottom of my garage door when I opened it one day. I put a bucket over it until I could ID it as harmless, then I let it go. Copperheads die. Violently. Went out to the back yard one day as one of the dogs was going nuts. Yup, copperhead. The other dog, Bubba, was just looking at it, like, "What? That's the copperhead." Ginger was all "Copperhead in the yard!!!" OK, Ginger. POP. No more copperhead.

Brett_Murphy wrote: Mojo: I am glad you didn't kill it. And I hear you about the rain, my house has been invaded by millipedes. Northern Water snakes are bitey little rascals, 02Pilot.

Me too. Rat snakes are pretty friendly(and helpful) creatures. Bull snakes are some mean mf'ers though. If I come across one, it meets the BFH; I'd let them live, but my grandparents don't like them and have small dogs/children on their property fairly frequently. More than a few rattlers got a closeup of what a Goodyear MT/R treadblock looks like when I lived in AZ.

Brett_Murphy wrote: Northern Water snakes are bitey little rascals, 02Pilot.

That's what I'd read when I first did some research to determine 1) what they were, and 2) if I should kill them or not. But these particular snakes seem content to hang out most of the time, or head under cover if someone gets too close. Haven't seen anything that suggested aggression over several years. Not that I'm provoking them or getting too close, mind you; I have no desire to be proven wrong.

Rat snakes may be friendly, but after looking up a pic I have to say that I would lose my E36 M3 if there was one in my back yard.

No worries, I have no desire to kill beneficial snakes. This little guy was so happy to be away from the dog I think it would have shook my hand if it could have.

EastCoastMojo wrote: No, not that one-eyed trouser snake.

OK, now I have nothing to add

a friend of mine has this philosophy about snakes ... he says he's pretty sure he can tell a black snake when he see's it, and he's pretty sure he can figure out if a snake is a rattlesnake .... his point is ... the rest of those sonsabitches are copperheads ..

EastCoastMojo wrote: So now, I have a nice, quiet morning and a happy rat snake in My backyard. Not bad for my first wild snake catch, he's about a six-footer.

Good job.....you just earned good karma with the squamata varmints