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Published by midwesternerr
06-21-2010 |
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#1
By
Equilibrium
on
06-21-2010, 01:19 AM
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![]() We don't have any venemous snakes but if we did.... I'd make one of your snake hooks in a heart beat.
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#2
By
suunto
on
06-21-2010, 07:26 AM
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![]() Good, common-sense advice. On a few occasions many years ago, I collected venomous snakes bare-handed
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#3
By
hazelnut
on
06-21-2010, 08:38 AM
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![]() We do have venomous snakes here and local workmen treat all snakes as if they were venemous. Most people are terrified even of harmless rat snakes --and these can get quite big. To me confrontation with a 6 or 7 ft snake is at least as intimidating as if the snake were venemous.
A few years ago a large rat snake entered a vent and took up residence in my oven. Needless to say I spent a few anxious days. He did leave on his own some time in the 2nd day. Im not sure if the tool you describe would have given me more confidence in getting that snake out of my oven and outside past two barking dogs. Thanks for the information, though. |
#4
By
midwesternerr
on
06-21-2010, 06:46 PM
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![]() Hazelnut: The rat snakes I just pick up. On the ground, they just bounce off my boots if they strike. Mostly they either just lay there or assume a striking position but don't actually manage to bite me. They are intimidating because they are so big, but honestly I'd rather be bitten by a rat snake than stung by a wasp any day of the week. If they are up in rafters, a hook wouldn't be safe (might knock it down). Best to just wait til it's close enough to grab or move with the hook from the ground. Make fun of the male coworkers as girlie men if they are scared of them lol Then they will all want to redeem their egos and show you how macho they are by picking it up!
Suunto: I think most times you can feel when a snake is likely to strike, but I am actually pretty cautious just to be on the safe side. I've been lucky that about the time I started encountering a lot of venomous, I also read books by long time snake hunters like Bruce Means that described Eastern Diamondback bites (ouch). Also, a certain tour guide in costa rica giving me gruesome details of fer de lance strikes put at least a healthy (maybe more) fear down my spine! Equil: Some day you should take a trip down to MO. We have 5 venomous species and they are all neat (1 endangered, though)! |
#5
By
suunto
on
06-22-2010, 08:29 AM
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![]() I must admit to having been caught off guard once. While in grad school (Purdue) during the mid 60s, another entomology grad student enlisted my aid in 'taming' an adult black racer (Coluber constrictor) that he had captured and kept in a large terrarium. A few times a week, I would carefully remove the snake from its enclosure and simply gently but firmly enough so that it could not escape my grasp. After a few weeks of this procedure, the snake appeared to behave quite calmly (for a racer) while being handled, and I began to relax my grip. At one point, I allowed the snake to move some 18" through may hands, and we regarded each other calmly. Then, with no preliminaries, it struck, nailing me on my nasal septum! I quickly disengaged it and returned the snake to its enclosure whilst stemming the blood flow with a hankie. I never told my friend what happened...
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#6
By
hazelnut
on
06-22-2010, 02:17 PM
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![]() I used to handle blue racers quite often back home (northern Michigan). I would chase my brothers with them. Mostly they were docile, but I was bitten a number of times. The bite is like a razor cut and heals quickly. I don't remember ever getting infected from a snake bite.
I am rather intimited to handle a snake that is longer than I am tall, though and many of the rat snakes here in Alabama are. I usually wait for him to decide what he wants to do, and then I act accordingly. |
#7
By
midwesternerr
on
06-22-2010, 04:03 PM
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#9
By
midwesternerr
on
06-24-2010, 09:35 PM
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![]() No, he just treated me like an old friend
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