Beware the tall grass

[Tom W.]

I use to lay in poison ivy at the top of a bauxite mine and shoot snakes and turtles in the mine. I normally didn't realize it was poison ivy until I was getting up and getting ready to go back to the truck...
Chiggers are a whole 'nother matter. But either they didn't live in the poison ivy or my meds keep them away. I know iron sulfate pills will keep you from being food for any hungry bug.....

[bayjoe]

I had a horse get bit in the nose. Head swelled up big time. Had to put 3/8 hose up his nostrils so he could breath. Lots of rattle snakes in the caliche hills of western Oklahoma panhandle.

[oneofsix]

One of our dogs was bitten on the nose by a copperhead, antibiotics, painkillers and overnight with vet. He recovered fine, except with a new-found wariness of snakes!
Lots of copperheads, a couple of cottonmouths, one pygmy rattlesnake in this corner of NC.
King snakes hunt & eat other snakes, usually copperheads, although I did witness one kill & eat a corn snake.
Kings, rat snakes, all non-venomous snakes get a pass here, the bitey ones get a permanent nap. SSS.

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[Texas by God]

Chiggers and scabies are the worst. Poison ivy set Mom off if she was anywhere near it but I could walk thru ivy or sumac with no itching. Brother got Mom's side.
You near the tornadoes today?

I actually was. I was working north of Ft. Worth just west(LUCKILY) of where a small one went through. I saw transformers blow up but no funnel. The hard rain kept visibility to a minimum, though.
My wife has caught poison ivy by washing my clothes and mosquito bites leave a welt on her. Poor girl.
We had a rattler here once that measured 5'8" and 4" girth with 12 rattles and a button. Snakes don't bother me but that one kinda did

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[429421Cowboy]

I am very sorry to hear that Texas, losing stock is always a bad deal! Only time we have ever lost cows to rattlers is the same situation, they get tagged on the nose and swell up till they suffocate since they are obligate nasal breathers. Have seen horses saved by putting tubes or cut off syringe tubes in each nostril, but they way we run our cows there is just no way to watch them close enough to catch it in time unless you're very lucky. 6 or so bunches of cows in several counties across the state means I cant watch every single one. We have had plenty come out fine from bites on the legs after the swelling goes out though. Had a bull calf a few years back that had to have laid right on one because he got bit very high up on the shoulder. He looked a sight from all the hair falling out and skin sloughing off down his whole side, and always had a limp because it got in his joints but he pulled through. Always amazes me that they can sneeze wrong and be deader than a wedge, or look like death warmed over and pull through the next second.

[iomskp]

I grew up on a farm, we kept the lawns mowed short around the house because of nasty types, I saw more snakes on the lawn sunning themselves than I ever saw in the long grass and all of them eastern browns.

[MrWolf]

I was immune to poison ivy also till I moved about an hour or so south of there. Seems my immunity was only to that location. Be careful.

[MaryB]

No poison ivy in my yard... lots of stinging nettle that I am luckily immune to. Helping my neighbor kill a patch off, I can pull it no issues, she touches it and her hand swells up.

[bedbugbilly]

Sorry for your loss T by G - an nobody likes ti see an animal suffer either. I'm with the others - to me, any poisonous snake should be allowed to commit suicide by sitting its head on a shovel or running in to a load of shot or throwing itself under a tractor tire.

You better not let this story get out though . . the next thing the "left" will be picking up on it and OSC will be preaching for more poisonous snakes to eliminate those terrible cows that are contributing to global warming with their noxious gas.

Fortunately, here in MI we only have one rattlesnake and we've never been bothered with them on the farm in spite of their existence. I think I have only seen perhaps four of the Massasaga (sp?)in my life and two were actually in town - probably coming from the mill pond area. One once got caught up in the baler but it didn't survive.

In AZ . . when we are there and it's "snake weather" . . .I am always on the lookout when I walk the dogs as we have desert area across from the house and we often have them get run over or see them out. We try to snake proof the back yard which is fenced in with a block fence but you still are wary. We ran our dogs through snake aversion classes twice and I would like to believe that they retained the training but never want to put it to a test.

I often heard my Dad tell about on some of the islands in the lakes here and woodlots where they had rattler issues, they would run hogs and they would clean them up.

[JBinMN]

Around many places I have been, there was an , "acronym", or "saying", on how to deal with any sort of pest, or the like.

It, as an acronym, is, "S.S.S.". Sometimes heard as, "I would take care of it..." then, you would hear someone say the, "S-S- Shhh".

Translated, it "might" be, "Shoot, Shovel ( a hole) & Shut-up(about it)".

But, of course I could be mistaken about that translation & it could be, " Sunshine,and a Swim, means a Sunburn.".

Or, any number of other options for translation...

You can pick one & choose, make up your own, or just forget about it.


I do know that most folks I know, who lose a grand or two, maybe more, usually make sure what lost them that $$, doesn't happen very often & usually, "Not again".


My condolences for your loss....

[Texas by God]

I can neither confirm nor deny knowledge of the three S doctrine

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[nekshot]

A couple years ago I was mowing hay and right behind me I saw a crow fly down on cut hay and take off with a snake dangling from it. I thought it was funny to say the least!

[MaryB]

Neighbors cat was having a fit out back so we walked over to see what she was after... my bull snake was sunning in my rhubarb patch. Little 4 pound cat versus a 6' snake... we grabbed her and put her in the house before the snake got mad and ate her LOL

[Texas by God]

Mary- one of our un-Tommed cats has killed two baby rattlesnakes and presented them on the porch for us to inspect. I hope he doesn't mess with any bigger ones!

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[Kenstone]

Hmmm....protected venomous snakes! Crazy world we're living in, and getting no better. My strong belief is that all poisonous snakes need to die. There are plenty of non-poisonous snakes to keep down the rodent population. It is interesting, and I know it to be true, that hogs will eat snakes. I don't believe that they're selective about the species? I grew up around diamond backs and had too many close calls with them, but where I live now we seem to be blessed with no snakes at all. The reason given by some of the locals that precede my residency is that the soil is volcanic pumice and it gets between their scales and irritates them so they stay away. I don't know the truth of it, but whatever works! They say that if you go over by the bases of the mountains where it's rocky you can find them, but I'm quite happy to stay away from there, just as I am to stay out of the tall grass!

DG

Protected, um...the snake don't know that.

[Three44s]

A snake in the grass?

Oh, wait! This is not he political section, never mind!

Best regards

Three44s

[john.k]

My mother used to tell the story how she shot at a snake in the chookpen,missed the snake ,32/20 bullet went thru a rooster,deflected and hit the old man in the calf of the leg.....And he would roll up his trouser and show us the scar......he used to say best medicine for a snake is a long thin iron rod.,and Ive killed lots with a length of 1/4 spring steel rod.Even put a proper handle on it.

[richhodg66]

My mother used to tell the story how she shot at a snake in the chookpen,missed the snake ,32/20 bullet went thru a rooster,deflected and hit the old man in the calf of the leg.....And he would roll up his trouser and show us the scar......he used to say best medicine for a snake is a long thin iron rod.,and Ive killed lots with a length of 1/4 spring steel rod.Even put a proper handle on it.

Yep. An ordinary garden hoe or shovel is much better snake medicine than any firearm.

Like I said, snakes don't bother me much, my wife is irrationally phobic about them, not sure how someone who grew up in the rural Carolinas can be that way, but she is. Many years ago, when we still lived in town and the boys were small, I was away with the Army and mother in law, who's always been a pretty tough sort, was visiting. They were getting the kids in the car when a snake presented itself in the yard. Wife freaked out, mother in law grabbed a posthole digger I hadn't put away and quickly dispatched it. When I got home, wife immediately inundated me with how this gigantic anaconda like thing nearly ate all three of them and mom bravely fought in in one on one combat. Went out to look at it and found a garter snake about 18" long if that. Kinda ticked me off a little, those guys are good to have around.

We live out in deep woods now, she doesn't get out and around the house as much as I do, not gonna tell her how many snakes I see around here.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Sorry you lost the calf, I've had three horses bit on the nose by prairie rattlers, used 1/2" pvc in the nose of one when her muzzle started swelling. My old retired guy, a big dark bay thoroughbred cross managed to step on one. Three bit marks on his off hind, terrible swelling, carried feed and water to him for a week, almost put him down. He lay down and couldn't get up, tried for 30' or 40' feet of drag marks, he was 34. Went to get the 45 to end it, got back and he was up. I guess it was good that all I had was a the little 38. He finally recovered, took several months. I have witnessed dogs bitten by the prairie rattlers, but the vaccine really protects them. We use a shovel when convenient, but a 38 J-frame with shot is much handier, only shoot the rattlers, no other poisonous ones here. The neighbor kid does kill the bigger snakes, he raises chickens, they eat his eggs and chicks. He is not fond of skunks or raccoons either. He even lost a kid goat to a golden eagle. Again, losing stock is tough.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Sorry you lost the calf, I've had three horses bit on the nose by prairie rattlers, used 1/2" pvc in the nose of one when her muzzle started swelling. My old retired guy, a big dark bay thoroughbred cross managed to step on one. Three bit marks on his off hind, terrible swelling, carried feed and water to him for a week, almost put him down. He lay down and couldn't get up, tried for 30' or 40' feet of drag marks, he was 34. Went to get the 45 to end it, got back and he was up. I guess it was good that all I had was a the little 38. He finally recovered, took several months. I have witnessed dogs bitten by the prairie rattlers, but the vaccine really protects them. We use a shovel when convenient, but a 38 J-frame with shot is much handier, only shoot the rattlers, no other poisonous ones here. The neighbor kid does kill the bigger snakes, he raises chickens, they eat his eggs and chicks. He is not fond of skunks or raccoons either. He even lost a kid goat to a golden eagle. Again, losing stock is tough.