War with Iran Soon?

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Beowulf said:
From the sounds of it, I don't blame you for offing some snakes, lol. But of course you know not to kill too many, because there is a balance in the population that is directly related to the number of prey available: if you kill too many. the prey will overpopulate and you will get an even bigger population of snakes until the situation sorts itself out.
I love snakes. When I was a boy I caught a baby snake and raised it until one day my mom realized it was a copperhead and forced me to give it away, rats. (
I knew an old farmer who drawled that he saw a snake and "killed it right quick" and that attitude makes me sad. On his property I bet I could have found dozens within a pretty small area.
My back yard adjoins the campus riding stables so that means a lot of mice and rats, hence a lot of those good snakes. I love 'em, lol.
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I try not to kill the "innocent" snakes but sometimes I don't find out what they are until too late. TCS tells me to check the shape of their eye pupils first. Are you kidding?! I'm not getting close enough to stare eyeball-to-eyeball with them!

I want to get along with them but when they come to my front door or kitchen that's too close for comfort. Some of them are pretty big size, so I guess they've been living in my yard nice and cozy for several years. If they keep moving away from the house I let them go.

I didn't like it when I was pruning my azaleas and a striped snake was entwined in the very upper branches that I was cutting. Ack!!

One of my Labs caught a cotton mouth. The snake wrapped itself like a rope around the dog's muzzle. There was just enough slack that my Lab was able to chomp his way out, like the snake was spaghetti. Ugh!
 
Reba said:
I try not to kill the "innocent" snakes but sometimes I don't find out what they are until too late. TCS tells me to check the shape of their eye pupils first. Are you kidding?! I'm not getting close enough to stare eyeball-to-eyeball with them!

I want to get along with them but when they come to my front door or kitchen that's too close for comfort. Some of them are pretty big size, so I guess they've been living in my yard nice and cozy for several years. If they keep moving away from the house I let them go.

I didn't like it when I was pruning my azaleas and a striped snake was entwined in the very upper branches that I was cutting. Ack!!

One of my Labs caught a cotton mouth. The snake wrapped itself like a rope around the dog's muzzle. There was just enough slack that my Lab was able to chomp his way out, like the snake was spaghetti. Ugh!
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LOL Reba! Now I am worried if your local hospital has anti-venom just in case. It might be a good idea to check, since not all hospitals have them.
 
Can tell with the shape of the head on some too. I think the venomous ones have a more triangle shaped head?
cottonmouth_head_1.jpg

garter-snakes-large.jpg
 
Some snakes are great for gardening. They keep out pests.

Ever hear of the "farmer's friend"?

I grew up in Florida, and snakes were everywhere. One time, I was standing at my stove when a snake tried to strike at my feet from under stove.

Just a good story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
 
ncff07 said:
Don't know if its true or not but that theres a black snake that crossed with a copperhead and its poisonous and mean.
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... Okay...?

Just pick up a field guide for your local area. It's not really that hard to ID them, unless you're dealing with milksnakes.
 
ncff07 said:
Can tell with the shape of the head on some too. I think the venomous ones have a more triangle shaped head?
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Still completely unreliable.

Found a pet python that has a triangular head. Dropped it off at the SPCA. Not an invasive species, because it's too cold for them up here to survive the winters.
 
Reba said:
I try not to kill the "innocent" snakes but sometimes I don't find out what they are until too late. TCS tells me to check the shape of their eye pupils first. Are you kidding?! I'm not getting close enough to stare eyeball-to-eyeball with them!

I want to get along with them but when they come to my front door or kitchen that's too close for comfort. Some of them are pretty big size, so I guess they've been living in my yard nice and cozy for several years. If they keep moving away from the house I let them go.

I didn't like it when I was pruning my azaleas and a striped snake was entwined in the very upper branches that I was cutting. Ack!!

One of my Labs caught a cotton mouth. The snake wrapped itself like a rope around the dog's muzzle. There was just enough slack that my Lab was able to chomp his way out, like the snake was spaghetti. Ugh!
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I see you have no problems with black ratsnakes and gartersnakes. Although I reckon cornsnakes will give you a scare? :hmm:

Your best bet is to pick up a field guide for South Carolina. I will have to ask a friend at the UNC for a good one to recommend. :)
 
souggy said:
I see you have no problems with black ratsnakes and gartersnakes. Although I reckon cornsnakes will give you a scare? :hmm:

Your best bet is to pick up a field guide for South Carolina. I will have to ask a friend at the UNC for a good one to recommend. :)
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Oh, we used to have a full-color large poster showing the SC snakes, and it was posted on the garage wall for quick reference. But when you see one moving thru the grass, it doesn't always match the pictures or hold still for you to check out the head shape. :lol: Especially the ones that drop out of the trees behind me, or the ones that I can see only the long body sticking out (can't see the head).

Most of the ones we killed were venomous. The cotton mouths were coiled upright, kind of like the picture on the Gadsden flag, with the huge soft white interiors of their mouths showing, going snap, snap. I didn't need a field guide for that. :laugh2:

p.s. Even non-venomous snakes can give you a nasty bite.
 
The snakes that come after you are the venomous ones. Most will try to get away from you.

There was one time my brother caught three hog nosed snakes and put them in my parents car right before my family went out to eat.

The jar got knocked over and the snakes went to the front seat (where my mom was sitting).

Yeah .... that was fun. I don't think I will ever see my mom move that fast again - she climbed over my dad and tried to get out his window as he was driving.
 
I know. I got bitten in the face by my carpet python once. And a 10lbs boa. :) Nice kisses. :P Hurts though. Makes you bleed a lot, but no real damage. Oh, and my hand swelled up after a Malagasy hognosed snake decided to chew on me for a good five minutes. Yes... "chew." Literally. I got a few other stories, but they're not at the front of my brain right now.

Although I had to be treated for infections after a lizard bit me. I didn't get sick, but me and my friends didn't want to take chances since that species is known to be a carrion-eater.
 
souggy said:
I see you haven't dealt with a friendly cornsnake. :wave:
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We had water moccasins, they come after you. I am not sure I ever have dealt with cornsnakes before. I always just picked them up behind their head whatever kind of snake they were.
 
Reba said:
Oh, we used to have a full-color large poster showing the SC snakes, and it was posted on the garage wall for quick reference. But when you see one moving thru the grass, it doesn't always match the pictures or hold still for you to check out the head shape. :lol: Especially the ones that drop out of the trees behind me, or the ones that I can see only the long body sticking out (can't see the head).
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I can agree with that. The only way you can reliably identify them on the spot is with a lot of field experience. References can only help so much. Without field experience, how can you know about all the geographical variations?

I means... if a rainbow trout in one lake doesn't look the same as a rainbow trout in the next lake... couldn't that truth be applied to other animals as well? :hmm:
 
I need to move down south. I love snakes and there are really no wild ones here in Ohio. If I had snakes like Reba I would spend too much time in my back yard.
 
ncff07 said:
Forget the debt. Like you said I'd be more worried about the US being attacked first. The armed forces would be stretched thin if it happened. Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Korea??? They keep sending troops all over the place whats gonna be left to be HERE if needed? Ever see Red Dawn? When was the last time besides 9-11 and terrorist bombings was there was a full scale attack on US soil? Pearl Harbor? If if keeps going theyll have to use the selective service eventually.
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No, I do not think I saw Red Dawn, I will check it out. Yeah I guess we'll not have to worry about paying the debt off if we get bomb. I have thought about this too, what will happen if all our troops are in other countries and we need them here , who will protect us?
 
deafskeptic said:
I just hope all these wars will not sap our military forces. It has happened in the past.
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And why not? Send off all of our boys, get'em all killed and we're easy pickin' for someone from our Government to declare Martial Law and the UN forces to take over.

Yiz
 
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