Author Topic: Back Yard Fun (Read 4897 times)

crt360 · « **on:** July 30, 2009, 01:30:41 AM »

Quote

7-Foot Rattlesnake Found in Manor

Updated: Wednesday, 29 Jul 2009, 6:10 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 29 Jul 2009, 3:05 PM CDT

Manor, TX - The Manor Police Department is helping residents living in the Shadow Glen subdivision solve their snake problems. On Monday a 7-foot snake with 11 rattlers was found in the back yard of Jose and Veronica Diaz.

Police killed the snake, which had just eaten a jack rabbit. Officials say the heat and dry conditions are causing many snakes to come indoors. This is causing doctors to see an increase in snake bites.

"Normally the snake can live off the dew off the ground and get enough water but there is not enough dew this year so the snakes are moving big time," snake expert Robert Ackerwood recently told FOX 7 news.

Those snakes are moving into yards, gardens, sheds or any other place to find relief from the heat. He says people should wear protective gear before working in brushes or gardens where snakes may be hiding.

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/news/local/072909_seven_foot_rattlesnake_found_in_manor

I know a lot of us have seen big rattlesnakes, but I've never seen one this big in an urban back yard, much less with a full-sized jack rabbit inside it.

Check the link for a couple of photos and a video.

freedom lover · « **Reply #1 on:** July 30, 2009, 02:06:11 AM »

That was a big one. Iwouldn't go near it with a hoe either.

Its interesting to note that Texas is having a drought. The Northeast is having the wettest summer ever.

BobR · « **Reply #2 on:** July 30, 2009, 02:40:06 AM »

I would think that after a big meal like that all it would have wanted to do was go lay down (or are they always laying down) and rest for a while.

I know some people are of the mindset that the only good snake is a dead snake, but I think I would have given this big one a pass and relocated it.

bob

S. Williamson · « **Reply #3 on:** July 30, 2009, 06:28:21 AM »

Quote from: BobR on July 30, 2009, 02:40:06 AM

I would think that after a big meal like that all it would have wanted to do was go lay down (or are they always laying down) and rest for a while.

Roll onto its side, maybe.

LadySmith · « **Reply #4 on:** July 30, 2009, 06:33:24 AM »

Quote from: BobR on July 30, 2009, 02:40:06 AM

I would think that after a big meal like that all it would have wanted to do was go lay down (or are they always laying down) and rest for a while.

I know some people are of the mindset that the only good snake is a dead snake, but I think I would have given this big one a pass and relocated it.

bob

Agreed.

Gewehr98 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 30, 2009, 08:14:18 AM »

Quote

I would have given this big one a pass and relocated it.

As would I.

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #6 on:** July 30, 2009, 08:19:19 AM »

I think I would have called in whatever local animal control is called. I have zero snake skills, and wouldn't go near a snake this size unless I really had to.

Jocassee · « **Reply #7 on:** July 30, 2009, 09:48:16 AM »

.45 Long Colt, or whatever is handy. Local ordinances be hanged.

Ron · « **Reply #8 on:** July 30, 2009, 10:17:32 AM »

If I needed to dispatch a rattler that big in my yard I think my 870 would be the gun of choice.

Stand_watie · « **Reply #9 on:** July 30, 2009, 10:45:33 AM »

Do you know I've never seen a rattlesnake (in the wild) in fifteen years living in Texas? I live east of Dallas out in the country and see my fair share of copperheads and cottonmouths, but no rattlesnakes. My neighbors seem to think that fire ants have reduced their population. I have no problem with someone who finds a venomous snake in their yard killing it, but even when they are dead they should still be handled cautiously. They still strike long after they're dead. *IF* a competent snake handler is handy, relocation to a non human habitat is just as fine with me.

Quote from: freedom lover

That was a big one. Iwouldn't go near it with a hoe either.

Its interesting to note that Texas is having a drought. The Northeast is having the wettest summer ever.

Northeast Texas has been plenty wet so far this year. My wife an I were down San Antonio way for our honeymoon in June, and it was my first knowledge of the drought.

Quote from: Ron

If I needed to dispatch a rattler that big in my yard I think my 870 would be the gun of choice.

Quote from: Cmdr. Gravez0r

.45 Long Colt, or whatever is handy. Local ordinances be hanged.

Birdshot at close range (10 - 20 feet) is just the ticket. Aim at the neck and you should be able to blow the head clean off. Now pick the head up with a spade and put it in a secure container so your dogs don't get bitten by it later. If you want the meat or skin the body is now safe to handle, albeit creepy as heck because it doesn't die for a very long time.

Gewehr98 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 30, 2009, 12:38:59 PM »

Quote

Texas is having a drought.

Wait a minute - isn't Texas supposed to be dry, like in all the cowboy western movies?

Balog · « **Reply #11 on:** July 30, 2009, 01:30:29 PM »

Lotta good meat on that size critter.

roo_ster · « **Reply #12 on:** July 30, 2009, 01:53:25 PM »

Quote from: Gewehr98 on July 30, 2009, 12:38:59 PM

Wait a minute - isn't Texas supposed to be dry, like in all the cowboy western movies?

I moved to DFW in the middle of a drought in July and thought, "Yep, I'm in Texas now, boys." Hot winds rolling in off the plains, dust, drydrydry heat. And a plague of crickets..

Well, that ain't quite how it is all the time, especially back a couple years when I thought evolving a set of gills might come in handy, due to the rain all spring & summer long.

Heck, we did have a dry spell for 3-4 weeks and my lawn finally did cry out for some watering...whch was the opportunity the weather was waiting for, as the sky burst open the next day and has done so most of this last week. My grass has gone hog wild 'cause the rain and my unwillingnes to mow in the rain.

As to a venomous reptile in my yard, its life is forfeit. Maybe a non-venous snake will find the opportunity to move in. (I'll let non-venomous snake go their merry way. They are fine with me.)

Jocassee · « **Reply #13 on:** July 30, 2009, 02:03:05 PM »

Quote from: Stand_watie on July 30, 2009, 10:45:33 AM

If you want the meat or skin the body is now safe to handle, albeit creepy as heck because it doesn't die for a very long time.

Why is that?

Gewehr98 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 30, 2009, 02:29:00 PM »

You can be bitten, and subsequently envenomated, by a dead rattler. The muscles and reflexive nervous systems still operate for a while, kind of like the dead chicken thing...

mtnbkr · « **Reply #15 on:** July 30, 2009, 02:36:40 PM »

Quote from: Gewehr98 on July 30, 2009, 02:29:00 PM

You can be bitten, and subsequently envenomated, by a dead rattler. The muscles and reflexive nervous systems still operate for a while, kind of like the dead chicken thing...

Hell, a headless snake will try to strike at you an hour after you "kill" it. I shot a 5' rattler that would not leave our camp (kept popping up here and there within camp). I shot it with a single 38special snakeshot load (CCI), which destroyed the head. Buddy decapitated it with a shovel and we left it laying next to the campfire to be skinned later. Another guy woke up later (this was morning) and picked the headless snake up by the tail, at which time the body tried to strike at him. He screamed like a little girl and dropped the snake. We lol'ed, we really did. :D

Chris

mtnbkr · « **Reply #16 on:** July 30, 2009, 02:38:55 PM »

BTW, I have the skin dried and stored in my basement. It was mounted to a board, but when Thing2 was born, we moved Thing1 to what was my office, so the snake skin on a board had to go, I removed the skin from the board, rolled it up, and stored it in a bag in the basement.

Chris

Stetson · « **Reply #17 on:** July 30, 2009, 03:29:50 PM »

Had a rattler in the yard not long ago. Little bitty one, but still dangerous. I relocated it with a shovel and a trashcan. It seemed okay with where I moved it to but I didnt stick around and talk to it....

Scout26 · « **Reply #18 on:** July 31, 2009, 08:20:18 PM »

Northern Illinois: Venomous Snake and Scorpion Free since before the the last ice age !!!

zahc · « **Reply #19 on:** July 31, 2009, 08:31:39 PM »

I've also been striked at by the body of a decapitated snake. I consider myself a person with a strong stomach, but being striked at by the stump of the snake's body really made me a bit ill feeling for a bit.

S. Williamson · « **Reply #20 on:** July 31, 2009, 09:12:27 PM »

Quote from: scout26 on July 31, 2009, 08:20:18 PM

Northern Illinois: Venomous Snake and Scorpion Free since before the the last ice age !!!

Except for the politi--

Nevermind.

Viking · « **Reply #21 on:** July 31, 2009, 09:37:54 PM »

Quote from: scout26 on July 31, 2009, 08:20:18 PM

Northern Illinois: Venomous Snake and Scorpion Free since before the the last ice age !!!

Same here, more or less. We do have European adders, but they aren't that dangerous. I think I've seen one in my entire life, and I used to move about in forests and open areas all the time when I was a kid/young teenager.

Viking · « **Reply #22 on:** July 31, 2009, 09:40:31 PM »

Quote from: Balog on July 30, 2009, 01:30:29 PM

Lotta good meat on that size critter.

What would you compare their flavor to? I'd like to try snake if I get the chance

.

BlueStarLizzard · « **Reply #23 on:** July 31, 2009, 10:16:18 PM »

my 4/10 gauge is the snake gun around here. i don't know how the dogs didn't get bit by the copperheads that seemed to be everywhere a couple years ago. Graham just walked up to the one and practically stood on it. :rolleyes:

i haven't seen any this year, but then again they don't seem to really show up until fall. *shrug*

French G. · « **Reply #24 on:** July 31, 2009, 11:45:10 PM »

I found this little fellow in a National Forest parking lot in Linville, NC recently. He wasn't doing a good job of being photogenic so I tossed a couple pebbles his way.

I kept about 12 feet back. I don't mind snakes although a venomous one near my house will end up dead since I have ignorant pets and toddlers about.

The only bite I've ever gotten was trying to relocate a black snake that took up residence around the front wheel hub of my dad's race car. That one nicked me as I was trying to unwind it from the brake. The 7 foot black snake that found the chicken eggs had good GPS, I finally had to carry it more than 1/4 mile away before it stopped coming back, it trying to constrict my arms all the while.

News:

Author Topic: Back Yard Fun (Read 4897 times)