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I've read they make a big deal out of the annual Rattle Snake Round Ups in Texas-- but I can't understand how they can lasso them with a lariat from a horse-- what with the no shoulders thing, ya' know? https://traveltips.usatoday.com/ratt...xas-61591.html
Bear and cat smell will certainly freak out your horse. But they just don't care about snakes. I've never seen a horse bit even when browsing the ground.
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When my friend lived on 20+ acres just NW of Bowling Green, KY her son lost his prized QH mare to a snake bite. They found the mare dead clear in the back of the pasture. The bite marks were clearly evident on her nose -- when the nose swells shut the horse often suffocates because they can't breath thru the mouth.
We always ASSUMED a rattlesnake bit her but it could have been a different snake or maybe she stepped on the snake, it couldn't get away, so applied the "stand your ground" rule and struck.
Growing up with the swamp rattlers, I was taught they could strike 1-1/2 times their length and could recoil every 15 or seconds to strike again. Not sure all that's true but it stuck with me into adulthood, lollol
I used to keep pieces of 1/2" garden hose, slathered in Vaseline in a Baggie in the saddle bag in case a horse did get bit. I could have put 6" or 7" of the hose up the horse's nostrils to keep the airways from swelling closed until we could get help --- which back then there weren't any cell phones
Something that has always rather flummoxed me is how if a person is a sneaky, dirty , rotten, backstabbing scoundrel they are described as being a "snake." Truly this is a misrepresentation of the actual animal. I have dealt with snakes my whole life. I used to catch bull snakes and bring them home and my Dad would have me put them down the nearest gopher hole' Accordingly we never had a gopher problem.
We even turned them under the house to keep mice away. We never had a single mouse in the house. The cats kept them out of the horse feed in the barn and the snakes did the work under the house. Bull snakes are funny. They flatten out their heads to look like a rattler when you approach them and will hiss and strike but the second you get hold of them they wrap around your arm and mellow right out.
Nevertheless you know right where you stand going in. No deception about anything. Don't get rough and don't get stupid and all will be well. Now, rattlers are a bit different but the same rules apply. A rattler demands respect . Straight up if you get stupid you WILL get bit. Again, no deception involved. Snakes are about the most honest critters out there.
We had a few rattlers come on the place over the years when I was young and my Dad ended them. He didn't like rattlers. Especially if they were close to our stock and also our dogs ad cats. He did ot tolerate rattlers who trespassed. When I took over the spread we never had a rattler at the house area or around the stock pens. I only ran into them out in the scrub and I just gave them a wide berth and respected their space. That's still my procedure with rattlers. I don't just kill them out of hand anymore. They have always given me the chance to back off and that's cool with me. Go in peace my friend. Eat some more rats and gophers. Se ya next year when you're six inches longer.
That being said in my yard, near my kids and animals a rattler has got to go and I'm not chancing a capture. Shovel or a 44 shotcharge. Which is to bad but that's the way it is. Still I can't find any fault with any snakes personality. Calling a douchebag person a snake I find to be an inaccurate analogy. Rat? OK. There are all kinds of vermin that fit the bill but snakes are not vermin to me. They eliminate the vermin. An important and appreciated function in my book.
To summarize I ask my fellow people to take a second look at snakes. Yes, venomous ones can be a danger but most snake are not venomous. I've seen some ignorant types who kill ALL snakes as if they were a rattler in their bedroll. That's just wrong. Snakes are actually way cool. Just show the proper respect, if you catch a non venomous snake don't get rough and remember they are your friend when it comes to handling the vermin so turn it down a gopher hole, if you try and catch a rattler or other fanged critter that's on you. Can't fault the snake if you get bit. They aren't trying to deceive you in any way. So, calling someone a snake is actually a compliment.
As years have passed, my activities in the outdoors have put me close to many snakes. I have learned to tolerate them and to be protective, if I find a small one stuck on a street and unable to climb a curb. But I don't get cozy with them and never handle them. Like birds and amphibians, they harbor harmful bacteria and you can get infections from them, if you put your fingers in your mouth, after handling them.
we were still using pythons to eradicate rodents in our house way back when i was growing up in the philippines
Spent some time in the PI too. I remember the pythons well. And the cobras. My Dad had hired a Negrito to take care of our lawn and landscaping and he sort of adopted me. One day I was squatted down watching him clean the flower beds.
He pulled out a couple juvenile snakes onto the concrete sidewalk Not knowing any better at that point I reached out to poke the wiggly worms and found myself flat on my back and my face stinging. They were cobras. Tommy saved my life that day and educated me in the process.
The PI is snake city. Many quite deadly. Tommy taught me about them when he started talking me into the jungle. He would find these deadly snakes like he had telepathy. Then he cut their heads off with his bolo , buried them and put the still highly active bodies in his haversack. Chows served. Truthfully it was pretty good. So was iguana.
I remember a python they caught on the golf course (we were at Subic) that had swallowed a wild pig. They hauled him off and put him in the JEST zoo and he regurgitated the pig, He got a little stressed. You have to have a weather eye out when in the jungle. A lot of the deadly snakes live in the trees. There was this one bright green one that Tommy hated. He killed every one he came across. But, he wasted nothing, Snake...it's what's for supper.
It's evolution. Because of people, snakes that rattle are the one's killed. Those that stay silent live to reproduce.
Snakes developed the rattle so they could warn large animals not to step on them because they are so well camouflaged and not easily seen. This advantage has now turned into a disadvantage.
Great post.
I've read many snake experts citing how rattlesnakes just don't rattle as much due to exactly what you described.
My uncle build a beautiful brick home with a basement in the woods...he was infested with mice...so, he caught two black snakes and put them in the cellar, they were there for many years and they never had a mouse again....although I never could understand how my aunt could go down there and do her laundry...with those snakes there? Not me babe. LOL
Later in life, when my son was growing up we had a lakefront house...now don't ever let anyone tell you copper heads don't like water...we had them...along with water snakes and others...water draws snakes around.
Once I was driving back to a place to visit friends, and forgot where their road was, so I was driving back and forth, and drove over what I thought was a large branch in the road...heard the (thump, thump) from the front and back tires going over it, and looked in my rear view mirror only to see it's body, moving up and down...that snake was a big black that stretched clear across the two lane paved road...
when my son was little he used to catch snakes and bring them home....later in life, I became very fearful of them, b/c I came across a copperhead in our backyard, which quickly made me see them in a different light.
Snakes are pretty I think, but I believe they have received a bad wrap, since the day of Adam and Eve, known for their cunning intelligence....and most people fear them...
I firmly believe most people's fear of snakes comes from the Bible story about Adam and Eve and how the "snake" tempted Eve with the fruit. I know many people freak out about snakes but I'm fine with them as long as they aren't poisonous. I've only killed one rattler who was right near my front door in a suburban area. Next door were twin little girls who played outside a lot and I didn't want them getting bit.
As years have passed, my activities in the outdoors have put me close to many snakes. I have learned to tolerate them and to be protective, if I find a small one stuck on a street and unable to climb a curb. But I don't get cozy with them and never handle them. Like birds and amphibians, they harbor harmful bacteria and you can get infections from them, if you put your fingers in your mouth, after handling them.
Where do you find this "misinformation"? Most often when you pick up a wild non-venomous snake their first response (If not biting) is to defecate on you. What idiot would put their fingers in their mouth after handling any creature? I have dealt with snakes all my life, having kept both non-venomous and venomous. Last decade we kept and bred both sub-species of Emerald Tree Boas. I have come to the conclusion that most snakes are killed out of ignorance.
Most people, from the crap the news media has fed them, think the python population in the Everglades was a result of people letting their "pets" go. Hurricane Andrew is responsible for this. It destroyed many import facilities, releasing not only the Burmese and African Rock pythons, but many other exotics that can thrive in that habitat, including exotic venomous. These other species don't lay or give live birth like these pythons do. To add insult to injury, there are now crosses between the Afrocks and Burms.
BTW, I don't consider reptiles as pets. Most have specific environmental requirements they need to survive in captivity, especially exotics.
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The cats kept them out of the horse feed in the barn and the snakes did the work under the house. Bull snakes are funny. They flatten out their heads to look like a rattler when you approach them and will hiss and strike but the second you get hold of them they wrap around your arm and mellow right out. 
Truthfully it was pretty good. So was iguana. 
Most often when you pick up a wild non-venomous snake their first response (If not biting) is to defecate on you. What idiot would put their fingers in their mouth after handling any creature? I have dealt with snakes all my life, having kept both non-venomous and venomous. Last decade we kept and bred both sub-species of Emerald Tree Boas. I have come to the conclusion that most snakes are killed out of ignorance. 
