That’s a bunch of Bull

[Texas by God]

Texas https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230919/5119219f6a127d060e8f095045bbb0a1.jpg
Bull snake, that is!
Picking up tree limbs this morning so I can disc the “Sheep pasture”, I ran into this guy just minding his own business.
He was a laid back fellow; he didn’t even flinch when I picked up that tree limb!
We parted as friends, I asked him(or her- I didn’t check) to get some gophers if they can…
There hasn’t been any sheep here since the 1960s- but names stick I guess.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230919/0f8db73d86660ecffac4e71225226fd6.jpg


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[challenger_i]

TbG: Ever see a bull snake eat a rattlesnake? Is a sight to behold!
Unless the bull snake scares me into a cardiac moment, I let them be. They are better than any cat at keeping the rats and mice out of my sheds and hangar. And, cut down on the rattlesnake sightings, as well.

[Winger Ed.]

Yeah, that's a decent size one. I've heard they can get up to around 8' long.
People say they have two different personalities.
Some will let you handle them, and others are,,, well,,,, meaner than a snake.

[popper]

As a kid down at the creek buddy stepped on one, scared the dickens out of us. Then I got the stupid idea of catching them with a fishing pole - that didn't work, just attracted them. His mom got the hoe out to kill all of them that came into the yard. She was mad! Yup, they get big.

[MT Gianni]

I saw one a few years back that had to be ten inches around. I love them as rattlesnake eaters and gopher killers.

[Texas by God]

I met a blackish colored Bullsnake by a gate on my uncle’s farm by Hamilton when I was little.
It hissed and struck at me until I left it alone by running away!
I respect them. I’d pull up a lawn chair to watch one eat a rattler; sounds like entertainment!


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[.429&H110]

Check for a green card he might be a Mexican Pine snake....

We have a Gopher snake out back, she's (I checked, she's a girl) the biggest snake I have ever seen and let live. She hisses, neighbors are scared to death of her, I am happy to put her back in her cactus patch for them. Easy to tell her and her children from a coontail because the good guys are pointed at both ends. Plenty of packrats for her to eat, the neighbors feed quail cracked corn, she'd eat a quail, too. Is difficult to convince old women there maybe just might be a good snake, fortunately that snake is fast. Just like all the other critters around here, she can climb a five foot block wall without slowing down. With her head over the wall, and her tail on the ground she gives an idea of a big mother snake. I hope she eats a rattler. This is one zoo of an old folks village because of the birdbaths everywhere.

[36g]

Last one that I've seen was on a prairie dog town. My hunting partner just about stepped on it and was ready to shoot it but I identified it and calmed him down. It went down a dog burrow - hopefully it's hunt was successful.

[gwpercle]

Anything that grows to eight feet in length and will kill and eat rattlesnakes , gophers , mice , moles and rats gets my support ... but the Bullsnake doesn't range into Louisiana .

We do have a similar species the Black Pine Snake (Black Pinesnake ? )
eats the same thing as the Bullsnake but only grows to seven feet !

I guess I'm odd ... I've always liked snakes .
Gary

[txbirdman]

A relative has a farm adjoining me. He had left wheat in his grain drill after sowing his fields one fall. When he got ready to use the drill the next spring he found that the left over wheat had attracted pack rats and the pack rats had attracted 3 bull snakes. He’s afraid of snakes but he had a renter who wasn’t. That guy reached in and gently removed all 3 without a problem. Many bull snakes have been mistakenly plowed under by farmers working at night and mistaking them for rattlesnakes

[ShooterAZ]

That's a healthy looking snake. We have bull snakes here in northern Arizona too, and they get pretty big like around 5-6' long. I like bull snakes and wouldn't kill one. They are beneficial to have around the place.

[MaryB]

Have a bull snake in the backyard, 6+ feet long... he moves when I mow...usually. Last time he was cranky and didn't want to move so I had to pick him up, move him to a sunny spot I already mowed and put him back down. Not the first time I have handled him so he is used to it... grumbled at me a little bit but once in the sun and fresh mowed grass he settled in happy. He keeps my gopher population in check...

[waksupi]

When I was a kid, we would catch them and turn them lose in the corn cribs to eat rats.

[firefly1957]

They are good to have around we do not have them in Michigan I saw plenty as a kid in Arizona .

[.429&H110]

Over in Florida we had snakes in trees...
Floridians taught me to loop paracord through 3/4 conduit.
That's how I relocate diamondbacks, we have lots of rattlers.

Will kill a snake if pulled tight, will move snakes with a loose loop.
They said it also works fine on dogs and iguanas.

[Txcowboy52]

I don’t remember the last time I seen a bull snake around here. It’s funny I was just talking to my oldest boy about the virtues of the bull snake a few days ago, he lives west of Dripping Springs and has crossed paths with rattlesnakes several times here lately. I told him he needs to import him some bull snakes.

[atfsux]

We have one living here on our acre. Because they eat rattlesnakes, I leave it be. Happy to host him. Even though he nearly gave me a heart attack a couple years ago. I was outside letting the dog go pee and didn't have the flashlight on. There was no moon and it was pitch black, but I know where everything is and can walk around in total darkness. But as I stood there waiting for the dog to return, some little voice in my head was nagging me that I should turn on the light and look at the ground. When I did, just 2 or 3 feet away was our resident Bull Snake. Even though I can recognize and tell the difference between a rattler and other snakes,...something in that ancient lizard part of my brain demanded that I panic. And for a brief millisecond, yes, my heart jumped. But Bully (yes, we named him) just was totally motionless looking up at me, seemingly with a look on his face that said "You're not gonna step on me, are ya?"

Haven't seen him around all year until just yesterday morning down by the mailboxes.

[Texas by God]

Maybe it’s been busy because the last rattler I’ve seen here was in March….


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[jonp]

That's a healthy looking snake. We have bull snakes here in northern Arizona too, and they get pretty big like around 5-6' long. I like bull snakes and wouldn't kill one. They are beneficial to have around the place.

That reminds me of the early 90's when I was looking for Northern Goshawks. I was over at Sycamore Canyon caught in the rain on my Mt bike hunkered under a raincoat for a few hours. When the sun came out I followed the trail into the rim and right in the middle was a big Bull. He was catching the sun to warm up so I gently got him behind the head and body to lift him to the side and turns out he was lying on an arrow head.

[abunaitoo]

Are they venomous????

[Texas by God]

Are they venomous????

No,but we have three kinds that are poisonous here. Rattle snake, Copperhead, and Cottonmouth moccasin.
Four in East Texas counting the Coral snake.


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[36g]

Are they venomous????

Nope, constrictor.

[atfsux]

Are they venomous????

No. Bull snakes are the largest non-venomous snake in the region. And their coloring is just similar enough to rattlers that, if you don't know any better, you would easily panic and react poorly. Unfortunately, many Bull Snakes are killed for that reason. They do the same job of reducing the rodent population that rattlers do, but are not harmful to humans or livestock.

When the first easterners started arriving out here as tourists, some Navajo and Hopi indians would put on dances of traditional culture for the gawking Yankees. One of which would include a medicine man holding a large Bull Snake in his mouth as he did the rain dance. The Yankees didn't know it was NOT a venomous snake, and were astounded at the testicular fortitude of the amazingly reckless medicine man. How did he not get bit by that thing?!?!

[.429&H110]

My backyard gopher snake hasn't even tried to bite me, once she is done hissing.
I would expect to get bit if I squeezed her, though.
You know how women are.

[MaryB]

My backyard gopher snake hasn't even tried to bite me, once she is done hissing.
I would expect to get bit if I squeezed her, though.
You know how women are.

I pick mine up open handed, he just lays there as I move him out of the way... he knows I won't hurt him, been around for 8+ years now! Saw him in the front yard today, Max my rescue dog was looking at him with a what the heck is this thing look LOL He went down a gopher hole... winter is coming and he nests in my basement thru a hole in front of the foundation, must be a passage thru the field foundation. I have a pile of straw down there he curls up in for the winter. Just warm enough down there he gets the occasional mouse or rat but not so warm he burns a lot of energy. Temp drops to 40ish mid winter.

[MT Gianni]

I don’t remember the last time I seen a bull snake around here. It’s funny I was just talking to my oldest boy about the virtues of the bull snake a few days ago, he lives west of Dripping Springs and has crossed paths with rattlesnakes several times here lately. I told him he needs to import him some bull snakes.

Peacocks are death on rattlesnakes as well.

[atfsux]

Peacocks are death on rattlesnakes as well.

Oh dear Lord,...not the roosters from Hell. Their prettier than roosters, but louder, too. And don't care whether it's morning or not.

[.429&H110]

Roadrunners eat my little lizards, an owl or hawk would have a busy time with a seven foot snake.
I rarely see the yearly small coontails, rattlers with one button, everybody eats them, I hope.
We have a pack of javalinas that will eat anything, we can't have Halloween pumpkins.
The snakes like to live on the inside of the walls of our backyards because most of the zoo is kept out.
Just beware the geezers but geezers don't come out at night and can't see camoflage anyway.
The coontails learned not to rattle or move, all the noisy snakes are dead, adaptation, not evolution.
Long ago the packrats burrowed under because the bobcats patrol the tops of the walls.
I like the true story that the pumas took over from Border Patrol in the Santa Ritas.
Now there's an idea. Re-stock mountain lions in Texas! Wife thinks alligators in the Rio Grande would work.
Wife wasn't worried about bears in Alaska, they were afraid of her, but she saw an alligator in Florida once.

[choctaw/creek]

I have a few black rat snakes around my property in SW MO and I'm always glad to see them. It seems like they keep the copperheads in check as I don't ever see a copperhead around my sheds and buildings when the rat snakes are here. Many years ago I didn't see the rat snakes for a couple of seasons and the copperheads were out of control. I can't think of a snake with a nastier disposition than a copperhead.

[Winger Ed.]

I can't think of a snake with a nastier disposition than a copperhead.

They're so mean, they hate theirselves.
It's about the same with the water moccasins, they'll come after ya trying to strike.
People say we have them both here, so I watch for them, but have never seen one.

What we have an abundance of is a diamond back water snake.
They're not venomous, but have the paint job of a diamond back rattle snake.
They don't seem to be a problem with anything I like, so I leave 'em alone.

[MaryB]

They're so mean, they hate theirselves.
It's about the same with the water moccasins, they'll come after ya trying to strike.
People say we have them both here, so I watch for them, but have never seen one.

What we have an abundance of is a diamond back water snake.
They're not venomous, but have the paint job of a diamond back rattle snake.
They don't seem to be a problem with anything I like, so I leave 'em alone.

Fishing in OK with friends... water moc kept trying to get in the boat despite being picked up with a paddle and flung 30 feet away 5 times. Friend finally shot it with the pistol he carried for the really big garfish we were after. Nasty snake!

[Winger Ed.]

Fishing in OK with friends... water moc kept trying to get in the boat

Lots of folks down here tell stories of water moccasins being very aggressive and trying to crawl up into boats.
If it's some little flat bottom jon boat, and they make it in, business really picks up!

[Thundarstick]

We don't have bull snakes here, but have gray rat snakes aka chicken snakes. I've got several in my shed that help keep the mice and voles in check. Speckled king snakes are always welcome around here, as they keep the venomous snakes down. The copper heads here are very docile and would much rather slink away than be confrontational. Cotton mouths on the other hand tend to be more aggressive, and the cane break rattlers here are very shy, and generally don't stay in any area that's disturbed. We never had them where we ran cattle, but in hilly areas with no livestock you best keep your eyes peeled! I'm surprised there are any snakes in Texas with the number of hogs running loose.

[Texas by God]

The snake population has definitely taken a hit from the hog population!
We grew up fighting off the Cottonmouths on our river rides; now I don’t see many at all.
I’d truly rather have the snakes if given a choice.


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