Snakes

[Hinton Bound]

I didn't give her a proper measure, but I'm 6', so I'd venture she was a tad over 5'. Maybe as much as 5 1/2. She looked very healthy.

[Newtgirl]

8 feet's about max on these guys. As for wild animals, they rarely live as old as the captives, but teens isn't unheard of.

This species is of special concern in Michigan. I've never seen one in the wild here. But head south, and they're like a plague. Same with box turtles (which are threatened here). I love it

[Newtgirl]

Oh yeah, so I thought I'd add this pic.

Round 'bout two weeks ago, the boy and I were killing time, waiting for a friend to come into town, over by Blacksburg, VA.

Down the dirt road we go, only to find this extra-fresh (as in, still writhing and bleeding every where) dead-on-road timber rattler (Crotalus horridus).

We were pretty bummed. Some people just have no respect for wildlife. Sure, you may not LIKE snakes. But is that any reason to go out of your way to kill a snake that's obviously just crossing the road?

I mean, I don't like a lot of things (like most people), but that doesn't send me on a mass-murder spree.

[Hinton Bound]

Originally Posted by Newtgirl

Oh yeah, so I thought I'd add this pic.

Round 'bout two weeks ago, the boy and I were killing time, waiting for a friend to come into town, over by Blacksburg, VA.

Down the dirt road we go, only to find this extra-fresh (as in, still writhing and bleeding every where) dead-on-road timber rattler (Crotalus horridus).

We were pretty bummed. Some people just have no respect for wildlife. Sure, you may not LIKE snakes. But is that any reason to go out of your way to kill a snake that's obviously just crossing the road?

I mean, I don't like a lot of things (like most people), but that doesn't send me on a mass-murder spree.

Too many people have responded to my latest snake encounter with "why didn't you kill it?" to think the public perception isn't just that. My counter: Life is tough enough for them!- they're instantly reviled when spotted and they have no arms or legs to defend themselves. Talk about a tough life! Or course no one talks about all the great rodent control they perform.
For some reason, since I was a young boy, I've never had a fear of snakes. For some people it's phobic. I try to get them to just touch our Ball Python... they won't come anywhere near it. Despite the fact that it's around a 6 year olds neck, and hasn't killed and eaten him yet.

[David Kennedy]

I'll stop the car to move an Eastern Box Turtle...moved one about two weeks ago...a juvenile about three years old...she was going to the creek for water..saw her carcass about 5 days later...crushed.

They don't even begin to reproduce until the 4th year...and actually do not have a chance of survival.

Vehicles will kill them all, if disease doesn't come first.

[Newtgirl]

Originally Posted by Hinton Bound

I try to get them to just touch our Ball Python... they won't come anywhere near it. Despite the fact that it's around a 6 year olds neck, and hasn't killed and eaten him yet.

Oh god, don't even get me started on that!

I do educational outreach a LOT. Call it a hobby, call it an obsession. But this one gets me EVERY TIME! I must hear it 15 times a day. No, it's not going to try and kill me. Why would it? I'm too big to eat, and I'm not hurting it. No, it will not eat your neighbor's dog. It's 4 feet long!

Now I can kind of understand it when I've got the green anaconda out and I tell people it gets 20 feet long. But no, it still probably isn't going to eat me. They just don't do that.

People will never understand. They just assume they're cold-blooded killing machines and their entire goal in life is to kill EVERYTHING! Sure, they eat fluffy bunnies, but that doesn't make them monsters. You eat Jello, which is made of boiled cow bones. I think that's a lot more gruesome.

As far as box turtles... That breaks my heart. I will go out of my way to move turtles out of the road (as note, always move them to the side of the road they're heading toward). I know I can't save them all, but I can try! Even snapping turtles. There was a great big snapper that lived in a pond up the road. Huge. She must've been 40-50 lbs. Some asshat hit it with a vehicle. You can't tell me they 'didn't see it'.

Does it make them feel big to know they hit a slow-moving, defenseless animal? I'll never understand. Then again, I swerve for caterpillars.

[David Kennedy]

There is a Karma to life and we share that with every living part of this earth...that life exists in the rocks and even the trees...(some asian beliefs feel that departed ancestors are gathered into and are protected by the trees in their regions...that they would act as witnesses to their kind and cruel acts in the future)

I cannot judge the Feeble who indiscriminately take the lives of these innocent beings..who prevent the 'measure of their creation from being fulfilled...
I do hope that, in time, they come to an awareness that we share life together here and that each creature can give their part to understanding and intelligence.

These 'Feeble have dogs and cats and would protect them...but show hatred to other people, posters, and creatures, because of their lack of education and spiritually.

We need the Feeble. They show us the postitive path with that ignorance and negativity...
Knowledge, light & love and intelligence are a product of creation and are ever expanding...
while the other, darkness, is repressive, restraining and diminishing...

Only One wins out in the end...so follow your heart and let your lifes journey take you towards the light...