Jake the Snake

[nicholst55]

On the front porch! I walked into the kitchen about 7:45 AM to get another cup of coffee, and spotted a rattler crawling onto the front porch. Not too terribly large - about 24", but still big enough to put a real hurt on you! Since I live on a military installation (in the Sonoran desert), I'm supposed to call the police and have them relocate the snake. While I'd rather just kill it and be done with it, I called the police and waited 15 minutes for them to respond. I went outside and kept an eye on Jake (the snake), so the poor cop didn't have to hunt for him. Not our first snake - not even the first rattlesnake in the front yard. I killed another rattler about that same size in the front yard last fall. I'm honestly surprised that more people aren't bitten here each year than what there are. Last week a rattler crawled into a bay at the maintenance shop at work, so there are definitely an abundance of them and plenty of opportunity for people to get bitten.

[bob208]

a frog gig with a long handle works good and no gun shot. then a simple hole to finish it off.

[GRUMPA]

We have our fare share around here, both the type that rattles and not rattles. Rattlesnakes when not caught by surprise will rattle, they want to be left alone and biting people isn't something they want to do. Now on the other hand if it's sleeping and you catch it by surprise all bets are off, they strike first and rattle later. Snakes by nature are hunters, once the food supply gets scarce they move on.

I just use my grabbers and relocate them, but I've been handling them my entire life so it's no big deal to me.

[bhn22]

How could you give him away after you already named him and everything?

[Frank46]

Serendipity, the normal quiet at our house was shattered when my wife went into the other kitchen on the other side of the house. There laying on the linoleum floor was an approx 18" long snake. We pulled the freezer out but couldn't see anything under it. Picture a 68 year old fat guy with a flashlight looking for the snake. Found it behind one of the rubbermaid bins. Moved the bin and impaled it with a shovel and used my grabber to take it outside where it was sliced and diced with one of my branch cutters. House is now back to normal. We've had a bunch of 97+ days here and it was probably looking for water. Not anymore. Frank

[Zaneiel]

It's all fun and games untill it crawls in bed with ya :) I killed a few snakes when I was a kid. Seems forever ago.

[nicholst55]

How could you give him away after you already named him and everything?

LOL! Jake is a soldier's generic name for snakes, so I really didn't personalize him or anything. I seriously considered using either a shovel or a machete on him, but some tree-hugger might have seen me and panicked. I killed a Western Shovelnose snake in the kitchen a week or so ago - I didn't tell the wife about that one (she was out of town). They're not harmful to people anyway, it was just the idea of sharing the kitchen with him. I killed a sidewinder in the front yard last fall, and I saw the tail of another snake crawling under the house the same night I killed the Shovelnose. It didn't have rattles, and I didn't get a good enough look to ID it. Makes you kinda nervous when you have to answer the call of nature at zero dark-thirty, even inside the house!

[MaryB]

Chop head off, clean, fry up, SUPPER!

[nicholst55]

Chop head off, clean, fry up, SUPPER!

Sorry, I'm a vegetarian.

[Beau Cassidy]

This story reminds me of a lady I met once from South Africa. Her husband owned a grape farm and she told me one day she opened the kitchen cabinet to find a Cobra in there. Holy ****! They eventually killed it but it took a while for some reason. Don't remember why.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Ohhh...Gee...rattlesnake stories! I've got so many. I hate 'em, hate 'em, hate 'em! Nicholst55--turn on the light switch before you go walking around at night.

[Kent Fowler]

My grandma used to chop their heads off with a hoe.

[Blacksmith]

Lay a hair rope around the house. Yeah that will work.:bigsmyl2:

[Bad Water Bill]

Lay a hair rope around the house. Yeah that will work.:bigsmyl2:

That only works if you use pure breed Nez Perce appaloosa tail hair braided by left handed warriors.[smilie=s:

[w5pv]

Good snakes are the ones that are dead,the only snake I let stay around is a king snake.

[Houndog]

An old fashioned gooseneck hoe does wonders for them. Keep it sharp and apply liberally to ANY snake you see.

[Rustyleee]

An old fashioned gooseneck hoe does wonders for them. Keep it sharp and apply liberally to ANY snake you see.

My grandmother used to kill snakes like that while she was hoeing the garden. Chop 'em in two and never miss a beat.

[TheDoctor]

Rattlesnake is good eating! However, on an installation, depending on circumstances and command, someone might to try to get you with article 134 - abusing public animal!

[Bad Water Bill]

It should be time for CHOP SHOVEL SHUT UP.

What THEY do not know will not hurt YOU.[smilie=s:

[Mal Paso]

I like snakes better than rats so I leave the snakes alone. Rattlers can't jump farther than their length, aren't as dangerous as other stuff out there, and are excellent mousers.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

you see what you need is a mouse trap , catch the mice stuff them with acetaminophen and toss them about snakes eat and die , and you can say you learned the trick from the army , who used just such a tactic on tree snakes a few years ago , except they used little parachutes to air drop the mice stuffed with generic Tylenol the goal being they would get caught up in the trees and the tree snakes would get them while the ground snakes didn't as much

[rr2241tx]

Dissolve the acetaminophen in water and inject the dead mice, much easier than poking pills in them and just as effective. Be careful about leaving the baits where pets can get to them though, that much acetaminophen will kill dogs and cats too.

[merlin101]

Sorry, I'm a vegetarian.

Sorry to hear that :)

[Plate plinker]

you see what you need is a mouse trap , catch the mice stuff them with acetaminophen and toss them about snakes eat and die , and you can say you learned the trick from the army , who used just such a tactic on tree snakes a few years ago , except they used little parachutes to air drop the mice stuffed with generic Tylenol the goal being they would get caught up in the trees and the tree snakes would get them while the ground snakes didn't as much

Where did the army do that? Guam ?

[Iowa Fox]

Chop head off, clean, fry up, SUPPER!

Thats what I was thinking also.

[bruce drake]

Yes, the Air Force did it in Guam.

The Brown Tree Snakes are nasty buggers and they've even been known to hitch rides on aircraft into Hawaii.

[leeggen]

Neighbor killed 2 rattlers last week while the snakes were rapped around each other. 1 was 4'6" long with 15 rattles anda button and the other was 4' 2" long with 10 rattles and a button. Both were 4" across the body. He shot them with one of the Judge pistols, dang thing makes alot of noise.
CD

[mold maker]

I like snakes better than rats so I leave the snakes alone. Rattlers can't jump farther than their length, aren't as dangerous as other stuff out there, and are excellent mousers.

Except for spiders, nothing hides as well. They don't always announce their presence before striking. I fear those I don't see much more than the ones I can avoid.
Rats are welcomed to my traps.

[starbits]

Friend of my wife got bit by a mojave rattlesnake last month. Third time she has been bit in the last 5 years. The first time nearly killed her. The docs used something like 30 or 40 units of antivenom and at one point told the family they didn't think she was going to make it. Last couple times haven't been nearly so bad.

starbits