Snakes

[babbyc1000]

heh heh there was a snake incident on that holiday as well, but it turned out to be a large stick that a magpie was trying to pick up - well it looked like a snake to me as i was running away!!
 
yeah the more i think about it the more i believe i should never be allowed leave northern ireland. that trip had alot of interesting situations -
 
-standing in waist deep sea water (60 yards from shore) with fish guts floating around me (while fishing) only to see a massive sign on the beach fot the local shark hunter saying "come see the great white sharks caught in this area"
 
 
-did the same a week later while standing in a muddy mangrove swamp at a tidal river, found out later it was supposedly frequented by crocs....
 
 
-going for a walk in the bush beside my uncles house, only to be told later that wild dogs were supposed to be living in it and were dangerous...
 
 
-leopard crawling through a dried up dam (pond) to get close to some roo's in the back paddock to take some photo's, not realising that snakes like to sleep under the dead leaves i was crawling through....:angel:
 
 
-running from the "danger" of the large spider on the car windscreen, my idea of safety being to run up the road and into the rain forest - til my uncle found me and told me i was at that moment probably surrounded by dozens of spiders like the one i was running away from, so that became round two of me screaming like a girl but running towards the landcruiser this time...
 
 
-and finally, the best of all, finding a massive ant's nest near my uncles house, being bored and poking it with a stick, just to see what happens. you know i never realised how big a size ant's in oz grew to, nor how fast they could chase you (or how painful theyre bites were...)
 
 
so there you go. as this is the junior forum i hope eveyone is taking valuable lessons from this
 
1) you will never find yourself in one of these situations when you have a gun to shoot the spider with
 
2) no matter what anyone tells you, running at full speed, waving your arms in the air and screaming like a girl IS a perfectly acceptable response to this sort of situation
 
3) and this is the most important one, never, never, NEVER GO TO AUSTRALIA!!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
lol ok ill be serious for a bit incase any kids are reading this. these situations REALLY did happen to me, no joking, all within a 4 week holiday. it just shows what can happen if youre not familiar with a territory and what dangers you might run into. BE CAREFUL!!

[Hunterbug]

Here's a little garter snake that we cought in our basement.
 

 

[ladysav]

No copper heads here I'm afraid or anything venimous other than the native rare to find now Adder/Viper...
 
Before I moved here to Wales I kept several snakes and "exotics" here's a few photographs of my Zoo :) I have a few more pictures but will have to try & Find them.
 
Angharad
 

 

 

 
Umphlanga
 

 
Reane
 

 

 
Audrey
 

 
Tippy Toes...
 

 
Spike and Twiggy
 

 
Erm... I had a few normal animals as well :undecided:
 
Jeni
***

[gitano]

That snake in the second picture has a very strange tongue. I've seen plenty of forked tongues, but never a hairy forked tongue! :)
 
Paul

[bowhunter 51]

Here'sa pic of a timber rattler I caught with a loop-cord catch stick
back early in the fall...becoming rather rare in these parts..this one
is one of two I've come across this season...venomous, this one had
about a dozen rattles and is about medium length..they get much
bigger....I came across another (no pic) that had about 2 dz rattlers &
was about 5 ft long...I moved this one to a safer place as the roadway
was not a good place for 'em.......................................................BH51.........

[gitano]

Very cool!
 
That is indeed a "timber" rattler (Crotalus horridus). Glad to hear you just moved it instead of killing it, as they are getting pretty scarce.
 
In most parts of the world, after reaching $exual maturity, rattlers put on 2 or 3 buttons per year. Prior to $exual maturity it's usually 3 or 4 per year. For those that aren't familiar with rattlers, a "button" is added to the rattle every time the snake sheds it's skin. They do break off after the rattle gets long. Personally, the longest one I've seen was 15. One with "about 2 dozen" would be cool, and might be a 10-year-old snake. (Considering four/year for each of the first two years of life leaves 16. Then divide the remaining 16 by two for 2/year thereafter yields an age of about 10 years. Of course it could be a couple of years either way, and if some of them had broken off it could be even older.)
 
Paul

[Paul Hoskins]

This is a picture of some garbage someone sent to me. Supposedly it is an "89 pound" rattlesnake. Obviously it doesn't weigh 89 pounds as the email claimed. Regardless, it is a decent timber rattler. I've encountered several that would come close to seven feet long. Some would come close to 10 pounds. This snake was supposedly caught on the Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma. .......Paul H

[gitano]

I could be mistaken, but I think that's an eastern diamondback (Crotalus adamanteus), not a timber rattler (C. horridus). The differences are subtle, but if you look at the pattern on the back of the one BH51 posted and this one, you can see the differences. The pattern on BH51's is classic timber rattler - more of a bar than a diamond. This one definitely has 'diamonds'. Also, notice the tails. C. horridus has a black tail, C. adamanteus has a striped tail. Some of the differences can be attributed to age and gender, but both of them are pretty archtypical for their repective species.
 
For most regular every-day considerations, these differences are sort of splitting hairs. However, calling an eastern diamondback rattler a timber rattler would be akin to saying a scaled quail (Callipepla squamata) is the 'same thing' as a California valley quail (C. californica). I'm not trying to be a 'know-it-all', but wild animals have been "my life" for as long as I can remember, and the focus of my professional life too.
 
Oh yeah... An "89 lb" rattlesnake is absurd. I seriously doubt that one is even 15. In fact, given that he has it 'poked at' the camera, it could be a lot smaller than it appears. (It is bending his snake-stick though. )
 
Paul

[Paul Hoskins]

You're right Paul. I wasn't paying a lot of attention. It defnitely has the markings of an eastern. Almost all the timber rattlers I've seen have black tails with stripes on some but most are just black. .....The article didn't say what species it was. Just rattlesnake & that was close enough for me. ......I'm familiar with the timber rattlers mostly anyway. Glad you pointed that out. Thanks pal.  ........Paul H

[Nelsdou]

I'll relate my one and hopefully only experience with timber rattlers.

One day bowhunting deer in southeast Kansas, almost mid day, in fact, coming out of the timber I came upon a sunny spot, and I was really tired.  Despite the cold morning it warmed up considerably for a late October day making me really drousy so I got horizontal to the sun's rays and leaned back against a deadfall log, pulling my hat down over my face.   I don't think I was actually asleep that long when a subtle noise woke my consciousness, kind of like the noise you learn to recognize that isn't made naturally by wind blowing the autumn leaves.

Not opening my eyes or moving I tried to discern the  what the sound was as it was slowly moving my way, just a faint rustle of leaves now and then.  In my mind I dismissed it as any thing "large" and was forming the picture of a covey of quail feeding their way toward me.  As these "quail" were now starting to get very close to me, no more than a few feet distance, I slowly shifted my hat and cracked an eye open to a slit to see how many "quail" there were.  Didn't want to scare them into a mad flush.

There were none.  Zero.  I could hear the leaves rustling next to me but could see nothing.  I was staring at a ghost.

And there he was, a big timber rattler moving slowing through the leaves in perfect camoflauge, somewhere between 4 to 5 feet in length.  Black bands on a brown and green body, black tail.  Really didn't give him much mind until I saw those rattles on that black tail!

I didn't feel much like napping after that.

Nels