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Has anyone here been bitten by a snake other than a Copperhead. I'm not saying your dogs, I'm saying you personally.
I'm curious how much it hurts. I told my husband if we ever found a non-venemous snake in the house, I'd probably try to move it myself and he was concerned about a bite. I've been bitten by a dog and had a few wasp stings, and I think I could take it. He thinks I'm a little crazy for considering it.
I doubt you'd have one in the house, but in the unlikely event that I did I wouldn't think twice about picking it up if I had to act quickly. If you don't want to get bitten, best place way to pick it up is to approach from behind and pick it up right behind the head, but shooing it out with a broom would probably be the better choice for both you and the snake. In general they are not going to come in your house unless you have mice or something, though. Make sure you wash your hands well after handling herps, as many like snakes and turtles can carry salmonella.
I have handled several snakes, both in the wild, and in educational settings and never been bitten.
If you don't want to get bitten, best place way to pick it up is to approach from behind and pick it up right behind the head, but shooing it out with a broom would probably be the better choice for both you and the snake.
I was surprised to find a 3-foot long rat snake in my basement workshop. I put an empty plastic garbage can on the floor in front of the snake. A broom was used to gently urge the snake to go forward, into the can. I picked up the can, carried it outdoors, and released the captive. The entire episode lasted less than a minute, with a successful outcome. Good luck, snakey, have a good life, but stay out of my house!
Well, I would really recommend using the broom to shoo it out of the house in the highly highly unlikely event that it would get in your house, but I have helped snakes out of situations where they shouldn't be doing this if I didn't have anything handy to shoo it with. I grew up going to swamp snake church camp.
I used to see dead snakes in roads all the time. I travel country roads a lot, and I cannot remember the last time I saw a dead snake. Wasn’t this year.
Workers killed a black snake next door, earlier this summer. Shortly thereafter I started seeing rats (and their poop) in my shed. For the first time. I recently set a rat trap, checked it the next day, and it was gone! Yikes!! I still have not found it. I’ll take the black snake, anytime.
The experts on the FB Snake Identification Page routinely advise moving snakes along with the stream from a water hose.
When we lived in Huntersville, near Charlotte, we had king snakes in our yard. Never saw a copperhead. I believe Mecklenburg County is world wide ground zero for copperheads, and they were all over our development, but never in or near our yard.
Finally, bird feeders are snake magnets. Food chain kind of thing. Birds scatter seed on ground, rodents feast on dropped feed, snakes feast on rodents. I still feed birds, but the areas around my feeders are pristine!
I doubt you'd have one in the house, but in the unlikely event that I did I wouldn't think twice about picking it up if I had to act quickly. If you don't want to get bitten, best place way to pick it up is to approach from behind and pick it up right behind the head, but shooing it out with a broom would probably be the better choice for both you and the snake. In general they are not going to come in your house unless you have mice or something, though. Make sure you wash your hands well after handling herps, as many like snakes and turtles can carry salmonella.
I have handled several snakes, both in the wild, and in educational settings and never been bitten.
Never heard that before, interesting! We have a ton of skinks and anole around the house but they don't let me get close enough to touch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by poppydog
Well, I would really recommend using the broom to shoo it out of the house in the highly highly unlikely event that it would get in your house, but I have helped snakes out of situations where they shouldn't be doing this if I didn't have anything handy to shoo it with. I grew up going to swamp snake church camp.
I've read a bunch of people saying they found them in their garage, that's what I was envisioning really. Especially once the temperatures start to turn.
What is swamp snake church camp??
Quote:
Originally Posted by LLN
The experts on the FB Snake Identification Page routinely advise moving snakes along with the stream from a water hose.
When we lived in Huntersville, near Charlotte, we had king snakes in our yard. Never saw a copperhead. I believe Mecklenburg County is world wide ground zero for copperheads, and they were all over our development, but never in or near our yard.
Finally, bird feeders are snake magnets. Food chain kind of thing. Birds scatter seed on ground, rodents feast on dropped feed, snakes feast on rodents. I still feed birds, but the areas around my feeders are pristine!
A hose is a great idea, you don't have to get too close. Also, we do have a bird feeder so I'll start keeping that cleaner.
Just let 'em be in the garage. Open the garage door and they'll probably go on out on their own. They are really only going to come in your house for food (mice, freshly laid eggs, baby birds). They do their own thing in winter. If you have mice or other rodents in your garage they would like to help you with that, but otherwise you are unlikely to see a snake.
It was literally a more or less traditional church camp (Presbyterian), at a swamp, run by a fellow who grew up on a snake farm in Florida. We used to go for walks in the swamp (wore old tennis shoes) and he would reach out and snag snakes (including water moccasins) while we waded through the swamp and put 'em in a sack at his side. Then he'd put them in habitats (aquariums) back at the dining hall. That's southeastern NC for ya. We were not a snake-handling church sect, just a church camp in the swamp with lots of snakes. It was kinda nature camp/church camp. Pretty cool actually except it was really hot because it was summer in SE NC.
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