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Woodrow LI = "India on the other hand has a huge very venomous snake population and has the most deaths per year by snake bites, but fear of snakes is almost non-existent"
when i had many snakes, i use to chop them in half with a shovel if i could catch them...
i live on the water and use to get quite a few..
when fishing one from shore, i was using a weedless frog, and on a few occassions a snake went after it,,one time,,,i let the snake have it,,and it swallowed it,,,hooks and all..
so,,,you can always place some weedless frogs or fake mice around,,,if they eat them, this will probly kill them...
or
get a few larger fake/rubber snakes....put them around your property..
Wouldn't they have to sense the heat from an animal before they eat it? Interesting!
Some posters have mentioned cats as useful snake repellers of non-poisonous snakes. True, cats are good hunters - but do be aware that even garter snakes can bite.
A snake-catching cat of mine got bitten once - I didn't realize it until I noticed that his jaw was swollen as if he had the mumps! This was about fifteen minutes after I'd removed a writhing snake from his mouth (and dropped it over the fence)..
So I rushed him to the nearby vet, where some sort of antidote was administered and he was kept under observation for the rest of the day. After he came home, he ate and drank normally, but clearly wasn't feeling good for the several days it took for the swelling to subside. But he survived and lived a long seventeen-year life.
That was the last snake I allowed him to catch.
I had the opposite experience with a dog; I saw a pygmy rattler bite him on the snout. I was young and barefoot and wearing shorts on the other end of the leash, but a shovel was kept just a few steps away, so that snake got beheaded easily.
The vet could do nothing really (can't tourniquet a dog's muzzle!) so we watched a tennis-ball size swelling go from the top of his snout, to a few days later shrink and move down one side of his snout, and finally disappear down the front of his neck. He acted sick for about a week, but survived and thrived.
He learned his lesson, went from being fairly indifferent to the many snakes in rural Tampa to being extremely anti-snake, attacking them whenever he could. I had to stop keeping pet snakes too.
He trapped a large but non-venomous garter snake against a brick wall and he went totally and scary beserk; the garter snake thought he was a rattler, acted real badass, coiling and striking because he couldn't flee.
Fortunately, other venomous snakes managed to escape from him without contact. I could not stop him.
If it is necessary to kill a snake, the best tool is a long handled shovel or hoe, right thru the neck.
But it's almost never necessary to kill a snake, most make good and entertaining neighbors, and you are lucky to even see them..
I had the opposite experience with a dog; I saw a pygmy rattler bite him on the snout. I was young and barefoot and wearing shorts on the other end of the leash, but a shovel was kept just a few steps away, so that snake got beheaded easily.
The vet could do nothing really (can't tourniquet a dog's muzzle!) so we watched a tennis-ball size swelling go from the top of his snout, to a few days later shrink and move down one side of his snout, and finally disappear down the front of his neck. He acted sick for about a week, but survived and thrived.
He learned his lesson, went from being fairly indifferent to the many snakes in rural Tampa to being extremely anti-snake, attacking them whenever he could. I had to stop keeping pet snakes too.
He trapped a large but non-venomous garter snake against a brick wall and he went totally and scary beserk; the garter snake thought he was a rattler, acted real badass, coiling and striking because he couldn't flee.
Fortunately, other venomous snakes managed to escape from him without contact. I could not stop him.
If it is necessary to kill a snake, the best tool is a long handled shovel or hoe, right thru the neck.
But it's almost never necessary to kill a snake, most make good and entertaining neighbors, and you are lucky to even see them..
Bold my doing
During my college years in Louisiana, outside of occasional working part time at a "Reptile Exhibit" show. I got the brilliant idea of getting rich catching venomous snakes.
Keep in mind this was Louisiana. At the end of the summer I had 4 copper heads, one water Moccasin and that was it. Not even enough to be worth shipping. When
you try to find snakes is when you discover how hard it is to find them, even in areas where they are common.
Think of the Recent Python hunt in Florida, How few were found.
Wouldn't they have to sense the heat from an animal before they eat it? Interesting!
Pit vipers do home in on body heat, I believe the only pit vipers on this continent are rattlers and sidewinders. Other kinds of snakes key in on movement.
Pit vipers do home in on body heat, I believe the only pit vipers on this continent are rattlers and sidewinders. Other kinds of snakes key in on movement.
There are three genus of Pit Vipers in the USA
Rattlesnakes with 85 species and subspecies. Many are found only in a very small region often only a few square miles. Only 5 are common enough to be likely to be seen They are Diamond Back, Prairie, Pygmy, Sidewinder and Timber.(Canebrake and timber are the same snake)
Water Moccasins 4 species although there are perhaps 30-40 different common names depending on what part of the country you are in. The 4 species are virtually identical to eqach other the differences being primarily of habitation.
They are very closely related to Copper heads and both have the same Genus name of Agkistrodon the young of both are very difficult to tell apart
Copperheads generally divided into Northern and Southern both are for all practical purpose identical. They account for most venomous snake bites. but of the venomous snakes are the least likely to cause a fatal bite. Normally they will not have a dose of venom large enough to be fatal. Personal experience. It hurts like all get out. The pain and swelling begin immediately and will last for 3 or 4 days without treatment. Just thinking about it I can still feel it.
While about7,000-8,000 people in the USA are bitten by venemous snakes each year, on the average there are only 5 deaths nearly always from Diamondback rattlesnakes. I got that from wiki I question the reliability as I see a number of errors in the rest of the article. but here is the SOURCE
My own findings from many years back were 2,000 bites per year 11 deaths 8 by Diamondbacks 3 by water moccasins.
Although not a pit-viper Coral snakes are the most venemous snake in the USA inveneated(Venom injected) bites are rare. There is perhaps one death every 10 years from coral snakes. They are very reluctant to bite even if handled roughly. Also even if they do bite they seldom inject any venom. But if the do bite and do inject venom they are almost always fatal. TRIVIA: Up until the late 1800s they were considered to be harmless. Even Audubon listed them as Harmless.
Except for the humongous rattler I almost walked up on a few summers ago. That thing was 5 feet long, about 4 inches in diameter at its widest point, and had 14 rattles. The first one I ever saw in real life just had to be a monster!
My next-door neighbor, who is a policeman and always has guns loaded and ready to go, shot it for me. Wish I had taken pictures. The neighbor kept the rattles.
But I really do like the non-poisonous snakes and enjoy seeing them in my yard occasionally.
Everyone around here thinks that the rough earth snakes are "ground rattlers". No one believes me when I tell them there is no such thing and that those little snakes are harmless.
Except for the humongous rattler I almost walked up on a few summers ago. That thing was 5 feet long, about 4 inches in diameter at its widest point, and had 14 rattles. The first one I ever saw in real life just had to be a monster!
My next-door neighbor, who is a policeman and always has guns loaded and ready to go, shot it for me. Wish I had taken pictures. The neighbor kept the rattles.
But I really do like the non-poisonous snakes and enjoy seeing them in my yard occasionally.
Everyone around here thinks that the rough earth snakes are "ground rattlers". No one believes me when I tell them there is no such thing and that those little snakes are harmless.
Oddly the poor little rough earth snakes get a bad rap every place. Probably the most harmless animal on earth. They usually get some venomous sounding name. "Ground Rattlers" seems to be very common heard them called that in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. Also in the same areas some people think they are baby copperheads.
.........Except for the humongous rattler I almost walked up on a few summers ago. That thing was 5 feet long, about 4 inches in diameter at its widest point, and had 14 rattles. ...........
A rattler that size is generally pretty safe to be around. He didn't get that big by being stupid and you would have to severely provoke him to get him to bite you. Mostly, he just wants to get away from you.
It's the little baby rattlers who strike at anything and everything.
When I am out and about, I just walk around rattlers. If they are around my house and outbuildings, they have to go. I used to have a neighbor who would come and catch the rattlers and relocate them, but unfortunately, he is no longer my neighbor. I hate to kill them, but it is to protect my dogs.
A rattler that size is generally pretty safe to be around. He didn't get that big by being stupid and you would have to severely provoke him to get him to bite you. Mostly, he just wants to get away from you.
It's the little baby rattlers who strike at anything and everything.
When I am out and about, I just walk around rattlers. If they are around my house and outbuildings, they have to go. I used to have a neighbor who would come and catch the rattlers and relocate them, but unfortunately, he is no longer my neighbor. I hate to kill them, but it is to protect my dogs.
Very true.
The big rattlers nearly always are the most docile and depend on hiding instead of biting. A snake that is quick to bite has a very short life span.
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