Kentucky Snakes

[kygorski]

I'm with you on the snakes and spiders,I'll let most snakes alone, but hardly any spiders. Was bit once on the hand digging for leeches on a shore line, that spider was huge, my hand sweeled up to size of a catchers mitt.Hornets,hate em, red wasps, tolerate then they eat spiders. Yellow jackets, alergic, shoild carry and epi pen, but would probably forget it, like my nitro, which I have no idea of where its at. Lived in Utah for alittle while, was warned about side winders. Took basic in colorado, full of side winders.But in the last few trips to dale didn't even see any water snakes, did see one huge beaver.About side arms, I now carry one most times I am walking my dog, its leashed, but there are a few around here that are not, I'll say now I'll shoot to warn, but if try to attack my companions life saving pet, its another story.

[jcb]

Had a high school biology project to see how many different types of snakes we could catch in a month. Caught a total of 11 different kinds, including a yellow ring-neck snake, an immature copperhead (which we didn't ID as a copperhead until we got it in the box), and a 4.5-foot black racer.

The black racer we decided to bring as our showpiece. We put it in a styrofoam cooler and put a stack of books on top of it. After our class presentation, we left it in the biology lab.

Came back at the end of the day to get it...and the books were off the top, the top was off the cooler, and the snake was gone.

It took a full week, but one morning we heard the janitor screaming bloody murder in the Chemistry lab down the hall...

[RoadToad]

That's a great PDF, and I think anybody who's going to spend time fishing and/or hunting in Kentucky needs to read it, at least the first few pages about how to distinguish venomous from non-venomous snakes. Snakes don't scare me, but I give them plenty of respect. Bees and wasps, I'm also allergic to the point where I carry an Epi-Pen, so those scare me. And I'm REALLY glad we don't have scorpions here! I'd be scared to death of those!

I agree it's a shame how many garter snakes, rat snakes, etc. get killed because people don't know better, or don't even care. I've found a couple basking in the sun on the street in my development, and I usually try and grab them and release them near my garden, before my neighbors find them and kill them.

[jcclark]

I don't understand this "phobia" people have about snakes.
I guess it goes back to Adam and Eve!!!

[DJD]

Anyone have any experience with their dog getting bit? Just curious.

[bassin_bug]

I don't understand this "phobia" people have about snakes.
I guess it goes back to Adam and Eve!!!

A phobia my arse. Have you ever seen a two year-old old child lying in the hospital screaming with pain from an eastern diamondback rattlesnake bite to the thigh? The fang marks were at least 3 inches apart. The baby was running around in the yard with her dad when it bit her and she almost died.

Last fall one of my yard caretakers was picking up small limbs that had fallen out of some large oak trees while another of them was mowing the grass. The guy picking up the limbs walked by a bush at the corner of the yard and a 6-ft. rattlesnake with 14 rattles came out right in front of him. It was as big around as a man's arm. He shot it and, since it was so big, decided to open it up to see what it had eaten..... and found a grown rabbit.

Since you mentioned Adam and Eve, did you read what God told Adam to do about bruising the head of serpents? I prefer to smash the heads off poisonous snakes and ignore all the bleeding heart comments that try to put a guilt trip on me. jmo

[BASSKING]

I like snakes and just recently got rid of 7 of them.i had 4 corn snakes , a ball python , and two burmeese pythons. i had them for a total of around 9 1/2 years. the corn's were my favorite. the ball python was fairly boring cause it did what its name says , it layed in a ball most of the time. the burmeese were just too much work, one of them was 11' long and the other was 13 even. they ate too much and they started worrying me now that we have small children. i have always liked snakes but have tried to never mess with wild snakes. the ones you encounter outdoors are the only ones i worried about. i have relocated many copperheads off of family property without killing them. and always remember if you own property and it has black rat snakes on it , especially full grown adult ones , they are best left alone because they will fight off deadly snakes and also eat them when the opertunity comes.

all in all i like them though and i have seen water mocasuns ( cotton mouths ) around alot of local lakes even though some guys will tell you there isnt in real water mocasuns in the central and eastern parts of the state , taylorsville, rough , nolin , Mcneeley, and fishermans park out in J town is loaded with them. another thing is , if you get bit by a poisonus snake do your best to stay as calm as possible and go straight to the ER or call 911 cause you have a very high chance of surviving but its going to be very , very painfull. i have an uncle whos brother go bit by a timber rattler while out on a camping / finding himself deal and he is cherokee indian and did not go to the ER or get help. he beleived you could pack it with herbal meds and be ok. he ended up in the ER going through a very painfull surgery, it reminded me of the movie Mr Deeds and his Black Foot.

[DJD]

Cool what did you feed them? Especially the big ones.

[BASSKING]

the corns ate large mice and medium sized rats, i fed the ball the larger rats i could find. the two burmeese ate 6-8 of the biggest rats i caould buy a week.

[RoadToad]

I don't understand this "phobia" people have about snakes.
I guess it goes back to Adam and Eve!!!

If you're terrified by a garter snake 20 feet away (like the people I was talking about), I'd call that a phobia.

If you stumble upon a big ol' rattlesnake up close and personal and it terrifies you, I'd call that having good common sense.

Bug, have ever eaten any of those snakes, and if so, how was it? Just curious. I've heard they're good eating, and always wanted to try it, but never had the opportunity.

[colonelmeyer]

When I was 10 or 11 I was swarmed by ground hornets for the second time. Got me at least ten times the first time and 22 times the second, including twice in each eye and one solid nut shot. That day I swore a life long intifada against ground hornets. Oddly enough I like honey bees. As for snakes, if I see them first everything is fine but, if I am surprised, it could get ugly for one of us... On one Spring trip to the Gorge I must have seen at least ten rattlers on that steep hillside along 9B, BIG South Fork gave me a pretty interesting time once to. Not as worried about Cottonmouths, even though they are probably more aggressive in defending themselves, as Rattlers, they say they have one of the fastest and most painful bites.

[Olgrey]

Personally snakes do not bother me much. I have caught a lot of the nonpoisonous ones that we have in KY. Years ago, my brother and I had been mowing the yard and had lost a bolt out of the lawnmower and had started to my car to go to the country store and buy another. Well, there was this chicken snake (country name) laying there on the ground that must have been 6 ft long. I decided that I would catch it and take it to the barn to catch rats and mice and put my foot on it to hold it in place while I caught it behing the head. Needless to say I left too much of his neck sticking out and when I reached to catch him behind the head, he got me by the finger. I straightened up, shook the blood off my finger (it was like a briar scratch), inspected my finger, caught the snake and took it to the barn. I had no hard feelings toward the snake because it was my fault. Spiders now that is a whole different story. I guess it is because they are so small and easy to overlook. I have heard carpenters and brick masons talk about finding scorpions in brick brought in from Alabama for new houses. My dad told me once about finding a small one on our farm under a rock out in the field. I guess you never know what you might find.