Snakes.

Bill Baka wrote:
:: away. Why do I do this?

Learn snake handling and know your snakes. Otherwise, get a damn stick or
just mind your business. I'm sure the snake wished you had....

Roger Zoul said:

Bill Baka wrote:
:: away. Why do I do this?

Learn snake handling and know your snakes. Otherwise, get a damn stick or
just mind your business. I'm sure the snake wished you had....

He would have been flat. I just saved him from that. They get onto the
pavement to sun and warm up but then along comes a car.
Bill

Quoted message said:

PS: What's the difference between a dead snake on the road and a dead
lawyer on the road? There are skid marks before the snake. (sorry,
couldn't resist).

And the corollary: What's the difference between skunk roadkill and
lawyer roadkill? The vultures aren't GAGGING on the skunk.

Bob Burns said:

Bill Baka said:

This may sound totally off the wall but I almost got bit today trying
to do a good deed for a snake. As I was riding I noticed a snake on
the road and thought it was the usual road kill but noticed it was
moving slightly. I thought it may have been wounded and picked it up
at the middle to get it off the road and it suddenly came to life and
wheeled around to bite me, but a really fast drop and retract avoided
that. It looked like a rattler but had no rattles, although it was
trying really hard to convince me that it was, with a big display of
hissing and posing. I finally used the bike tire to nudge him off and
he struck at the tire about 5 times before giving up. At least when I
came back he wasn't road kill. A little further down I found another
sunning on the edge of the road but when I got close he just retreated
into the brush. This one was also about 2 feet long and had stripes so
obviously not a rattler.
I wonder if trying to do a good deed for a snake is worth the trouble.
It just bugs me that so many get flattened on the street and snakes
really aren't that bad as they eat nuisance rodents.
I like snakes as curiosity items and have tried to catch real rattlers
by distracting them and grabbing them behind the head. I almost did it
once but my wife, who knows I am oblivious to danger like that, threw
a rock at it and scared it into striking and it almost got me, blowing
the whole trip and letting the snake get away. Why do I do this?

Adrenalin rush, plus I am non-allergic to any bites of any kind and
had a hospital with 5 minutes in the car (Mustang 5.0). I get out and
do things. Like I said 90 and a rest home is not for me so I have this
inner daredevil.

Does anybody else have nature interactions or just me.
I made some ducks unhappy last year by watching them up close and they
showed me what they thought of it by swimming across a drainage ditch.
When I came back they were by the road again and when they saw me swam
across again.
How unsocial.
Bill (nature boy) Baka

I met a black bear last year on a local rail trail. I came around a
bend and there he was; I grabbed brakes and the squeak alerted him. Head
up, looked me right in the eye, and then ran off up the mountain. I
thought about turning and pedaling away, but bears can run at 35 mph and
I can't bike that fast except on a downhill.

sometimes we see snakes but around here there are no poisonous snakes,
just garter snakes. So if i saw one that looked like it was in the path
or road, i wouldn't worry about picking it up. However, if i wasn't sure
what kind of snake it was, forget it! I know what some snakes look like
but I still wouldn't want to take the chance.

A couple of times we've rescued turtles from the bike path.
Surprisingly, turtles can move really fast!

recycled-one said:

"RonSonic" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Last summer I had the opportunity to discover that almost 50% of eastern
diamonback rattler strikes are "dry bites." I don't like the odds of
flipping
that particular coin again.

My understanding is that it takes time for a venomous snake to produce the
venom. Once it strikes it will be some undefined length of time before they
produce enough to make another venomous strike.

this is all very true, but still, why take the chance- my feeling is
that unless you know it's a grass snake or something benign like that,
leave it the F&&& alone!

Scott L said:

recycled-one said:

"Bill Baka" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anybody else have nature interactions or just me.
I made some ducks unhappy last year by watching them up close and
they showed me what they thought of it by swimming across a drainage
ditch.
When I came back they were by the road again and when they saw me
swam across again.
How unsocial.

I like snakes. They are cool.

Around here - especially after a rain - we have some mucking huge
snapping turtles that for reasons known only to themselves trek from
the river, across the MUP to sports fields. One day I stopped to look
at one and nudged him with my foot. The crotchety bugger anchored with
his rear foot and sung around to bite my cleated foot several times.

Other animals - lots and lots of ducks, geese, and squirrels which I
often bring sunflower seeds for. Occasionally I see deer, gophers,
beavers.

I've also run across (beside) dinner platter sized
snappers on some of the bike paths in Madison. Snappers
are mean buggers and you couldn't pay me enough to
get near them. Snakes I have no problem with, though,
and I will move them off the CCity Trail that I ride
on, but that involves poking at them with a stick.

Turkey and Deer are the more interesting things to
view on my bike rides -- I go by corn fields. I don't
like seeing geese, as I'm never sure what they're going
to do.

Scott

i think the turtles we see around here are Painted turtles- they're
about the size of a soup bowl turned upside down. Maybe a bit smaller.
Snappers tend to be out in the boonies. HOwever, I've seen foxes a few
times- at first i remember thinking it was a lost dog, small reddish
dog, then up close i saw its bushy tail. IT ran into the woods and was
gone by the time we passed by.

True enough.

However, "most" != "all". For all we know, Bill could be
hypersensitive to certain venoms.
When walking, even if he loses directional control, Bill is unlikely to
do serious damage to anyone other than himself. When driving, it's a
different situation.

Bottom line is that mucking about with snakes, when you do not know the
species, is not a wise move.

Jeff

On Fri, 14 Apr 2006 06:13:08 GMT, Bill Baka <[email hidden]> wrote:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Adrenalin rush, plus I am non-allergic to any bites of any kind and had
a hospital with 5 minutes in the car (Mustang 5.0). I get out and do
things. Like I said 90 and a rest home is not for me so I have this
inner daredevil.

You haven't seen the effects of the venom on someone who hasn't built
up massive tolerance for it over a lifetime, then. I have. It would
make you a lot more cautious; while you'll probably survive a
snakebite if you're within 5 minutes of a hospital that has the
knowledge and materials to treat them (which not all do), you'll
probably regret getting bit...a lot. I've caught poisonous snakes
(for profit, back when it was still legal just about everywhere) but
have avoided getting bitten through a combination of luck and
equipment. I haven't done it in about 30 years, though; I'd avoid
trying unless there was no other choice at this point.

Quoted message said:

Does anybody else have nature interactions or just me.
I made some ducks unhappy last year by watching them up close and they
showed me what they thought of it by swimming across a drainage ditch.
When I came back they were by the road again and when they saw me swam
across again.
How unsocial.

Ducks is stupid.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Bill Baka said:

This may sound totally off the wall but I almost got bit today trying to
do a good deed for a snake. As I was riding I noticed a snake on the
road and thought it was the usual road kill but noticed it was moving
slightly. I thought it may have been wounded and picked it up at the
middle to get it off the road and it suddenly came to life and wheeled
around to bite me, but a really fast drop and retract avoided that.

I'm not sure where you live, but here in the San Francisco Bay Area
(California) we have diamondback rattlers and gopher snakes that look and
act similarly. The rattler has rattles on the end of its tail and its head
is arrowhead shaped, and the pattern on its back is more distinctly
diamond-shaped than that of the gopher, although it is hard to tell the
difference if they're not side by side. The gopher has a more rounded head
and no rattles. If you find them in the brush, the gopher snake will
sometimes shake it's tail in dry leaves to imitate a rattler if it feels
threatened.

I occasionally find snakes lying on the road. If it's in danger of being
run over I'll find a stick at least as long as the snake and use the stick
to push it off to the side. A extended full-size frame pump will work in a
pinch.

Adult rattlers will usually not waste their poison when striking to defend
itself, only when killing a meal. The young (small) ones haven't learned
yet. Be especially careful with the young (small) rattlers that you might
find.

Why bother? We're capable of higher reasoning than the snake (and other
slow-moving creatures of the wild, like tarantulas), and I believe that if
it causes us no danger or inconvenience, we should take the time to move
them out of harm's way. It's the least we can do in exchange for invading
their habitat.

--
Bill Bushnell
http://pobox.com/~bushnell/

Marlene Blanshay said:

Bob Burns said:

I met a black bear last year on a local rail trail. I came around a
bend and there he was; I grabbed brakes and the squeak alerted him.
Head up, looked me right in the eye, and then ran off up the mountain.
I thought about turning and pedaling away, but bears can run at 35 mph
and I can't bike that fast except on a downhill.

sometimes we see snakes but around here there are no poisonous snakes,
just garter snakes. So if i saw one that looked like it was in the path
or road, i wouldn't worry about picking it up. However, if i wasn't sure
what kind of snake it was, forget it! I know what some snakes look like
but I still wouldn't want to take the chance.

A couple of times we've rescued turtles from the bike path.
Surprisingly, turtles can move really fast!

The snapping turtles in Arkansas we just kind of scooted with our feet.
Here in California the turtles are much more passive.
Another thing is spiders, Tarantulas in particular.
California ones you can pick up and play with, and I once had a herd
migrating walk over my legs while I was laying back and enjoying the sky.
In Arkansas, forget it, I went to pick one up and it reared up it's
front legs and went into combat mode, so he got left. My dad retired in
Arkansas so I made periodic visits, but sure wouldn't want to live
there. 99 degrees and 99% humidity doesn't cut it. Sweat in place.
Bill

Quoted message said:

True enough.

However, "most" != "all". For all we know, Bill could be
hypersensitive to certain venoms.
When walking, even if he loses directional control, Bill is unlikely to
do serious damage to anyone other than himself. When driving, it's a
different situation.

Bottom line is that mucking about with snakes, when you do not know the
species, is not a wise move.

Jeff

Jeff,
I happen to be a damn good driver with a clean DMV and never lose
directional control even when motoring around some fun mountain curves
at high speed. When in cage mode I do take an extra bit of effort to
look for bikes, since I know it could just as well be me out there.

Hypersensitive to anything I don't think so. I got nailed by about 100+
honey bees when I was 12 and by the time my mother got all the stingers
plucked out of my back I just bounced back outside. Anyone else would
have probably gotten at least a little sick. How did I do that? I threw
a rock at what turned out to be a tree with a big nest inside and no
shirt on. [censored] bees can fly faster than I could run, and I was a
fast kid.

Another time I stuck my hand into a phone box in Arkansas and hit a
wasp/hornet nest and got about 10 stings on my hand, which hurt like
Hell but no swelling.

Moral #1; Bill gets bit a lot.
Moral #2; Everything in Arkansas will bite you if it can.
Moral #3; Wasps/hornets/bees are much nastier in the Midwest.

Your turn for a 'Bill' comment.
Bill Baka

Werehatrack said:

On Fri, 14 Apr 2006 06:13:08 GMT, Bill Baka <[email hidden]> wrote:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Adrenalin rush, plus I am non-allergic to any bites of any kind and had
a hospital with 5 minutes in the car (Mustang 5.0). I get out and do
things. Like I said 90 and a rest home is not for me so I have this
inner daredevil.

You haven't seen the effects of the venom on someone who hasn't built
up massive tolerance for it over a lifetime, then. I have. It would
make you a lot more cautious; while you'll probably survive a
snakebite if you're within 5 minutes of a hospital that has the
knowledge and materials to treat them (which not all do), you'll
probably regret getting bit...a lot. I've caught poisonous snakes
(for profit, back when it was still legal just about everywhere) but
have avoided getting bitten through a combination of luck and
equipment. I haven't done it in about 30 years, though; I'd avoid
trying unless there was no other choice at this point.

Quoted message said:

Does anybody else have nature interactions or just me.
I made some ducks unhappy last year by watching them up close and they
showed me what they thought of it by swimming across a drainage ditch.
When I came back they were by the road again and when they saw me swam
across again.
How unsocial.

Ducks is stupid.

I am part Huron indian and one of their rituals for warriors (maybe not
my people) was to actually go and get bit by a rattler and go through
the hurt. Most survived this so maybe I have a bit of that in my blood.
The French part might do me in though. I may have to mellow a bit in
order to attain that 90 year old biker status.
Bill Baka

Bill Baka wrote:
:: Roger Zoul wrote:
::: Bill Baka wrote:
::::: away. Why do I do this?
:::
::: Learn snake handling and know your snakes. Otherwise, get a damn
::: stick or just mind your business. I'm sure the snake wished you
::: had....
:::
:::
:: He would have been flat. I just saved him from that. They get onto
:: the pavement to sun and warm up but then along comes a car.
:: Bill

Well, nothing wrong with a good deed. But don't put yourself at risk and
create potential life- threatening situations where others must act to save
you. No one needs that. I mean, if you were skilled in snake handling,
fine. If you just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, fine.
But to get bit because you approached a snake on the road (when you don't
know what you're dealing with) and grabbed it with your bare hands, not
fine.

I think Clint Eastwood said it best: "Only a fool doesn't know his own
limitations."

Okay, maybe I didn't quit get that quote right. But he said something to
that effect in a Dirty Harry movie, IIRC.

Bill Bushnell said:

Bill Baka said:

This may sound totally off the wall but I almost got bit today trying to
do a good deed for a snake. As I was riding I noticed a snake on the
road and thought it was the usual road kill but noticed it was moving
slightly. I thought it may have been wounded and picked it up at the
middle to get it off the road and it suddenly came to life and wheeled
around to bite me, but a really fast drop and retract avoided that.

I'm not sure where you live, but here in the San Francisco Bay Area
(California) we have diamondback rattlers and gopher snakes that look and
act similarly. The rattler has rattles on the end of its tail and its head
is arrowhead shaped, and the pattern on its back is more distinctly
diamond-shaped than that of the gopher, although it is hard to tell the
difference if they're not side by side. The gopher has a more rounded head
and no rattles. If you find them in the brush, the gopher snake will
sometimes shake it's tail in dry leaves to imitate a rattler if it feels
threatened.

I am north of Sacramento and from the Bay Area as of 1977. Once when
driving a car up by one of the big reservoirs (Calaveras?) I found a
dead snake in the road and picked it up, and yup, it was a small
rattler. When I got home I decided to have some fun with it and after
making sure their was no venom left I wrapped it under a small tomato
bush in the back yard with it's mouth open. Then I sent my 9 year old
"I'm not afraid of anything." stepson out to pick a tomato. When he saw
that snake he left a yellow trail running back into the house. That was
fall down laughing funny.

Quoted message said:

I occasionally find snakes lying on the road. If it's in danger of being
run over I'll find a stick at least as long as the snake and use the stick
to push it off to the side. A extended full-size frame pump will work in a
pinch.

Adult rattlers will usually not waste their poison when striking to defend
itself, only when killing a meal. The young (small) ones haven't learned
yet. Be especially careful with the young (small) rattlers that you might
find.

Why bother? We're capable of higher reasoning than the snake (and other
slow-moving creatures of the wild, like tarantulas), and I believe that if
it causes us no danger or inconvenience, we should take the time to move
them out of harm's way. It's the least we can do in exchange for invading
their habitat.

At least you understand why I moved the snake. Cars kill way too much
wildlife already so if I can prevent it I will.
Cheers,
Bill Baka

Roger Zoul said:

Bill Baka wrote:
:: Roger Zoul wrote:
::: Bill Baka wrote:
::::: away. Why do I do this?
:::
::: Learn snake handling and know your snakes. Otherwise, get a damn
::: stick or just mind your business. I'm sure the snake wished you
::: had....
:::
:::
:: He would have been flat. I just saved him from that. They get onto
:: the pavement to sun and warm up but then along comes a car.
:: Bill

Well, nothing wrong with a good deed. But don't put yourself at risk and
create potential life- threatening situations where others must act to save
you. No one needs that. I mean, if you were skilled in snake handling,
fine. If you just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, fine.
But to get bit because you approached a snake on the road (when you don't
know what you're dealing with) and grabbed it with your bare hands, not
fine.

I figured it wasn't a rattler since it had no rattles, but some times
they get broken off. This was just a look alike.

Quoted message said:

I think Clint Eastwood said it best: "Only a fool doesn't know his own
limitations."

Okay, maybe I didn't quit get that quote right. But he said something to
that effect in a Dirty Harry movie, IIRC.

It was Dirty Harry and the line was "A man's got to know his
limitations.", said as his crooked boss drove off to be blown up by a
Harry placed bomb.
Bill

Quoted message said:

"Roger Zoul" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I think Clint Eastwood said it best: "Only a fool doesn't know his own
limitations."

Okay, maybe I didn't quit get that quote right. But he said something to
that effect in a Dirty Harry movie, IIRC.

Harry Callahan"A man's gotta know his limitations."
Clint Eastwood in Magnum Force

On Fri, 14 Apr 2006 13:58:43 -0400, Marlene Blanshay <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

recycled-one said:

"RonSonic" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Last summer I had the opportunity to discover that almost 50% of eastern
diamonback rattler strikes are "dry bites." I don't like the odds of
flipping
that particular coin again.

My understanding is that it takes time for a venomous snake to produce the
venom. Once it strikes it will be some undefined length of time before they
produce enough to make another venomous strike.

this is all very true, but still, why take the chance- my feeling is
that unless you know it's a grass snake or something benign like that,
leave it the F&&& alone!

This one leapt across the trail and under my front tire (how do I know, never
saw him until he was striking) so there was no time for either of us to prepare
or avoid the confrontation.

Ron

"Bill Baka" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This may sound totally off the wall but I almost got bit today trying to
do a good deed for a snake. As I was riding I noticed a snake on the road
and thought it was the usual road kill but noticed it was moving slightly.
I thought it may have been wounded and picked it up at the middle to get
it off the road and it suddenly came to life and wheeled around to bite
me, but a really fast drop and retract avoided that. It looked like a
rattler but had no rattles, although it was trying really hard to convince
me that it was, with a big display of hissing and posing. I finally used
the bike tire to nudge him off and he struck at the tire about 5 times
before giving up. At least when I came back he wasn't road kill. A little
further down I found another sunning on the edge of the road but when I
got close he just retreated into the brush. This one was also about 2 feet
long and had stripes so obviously not a rattler.
I wonder if trying to do a good deed for a snake is worth the trouble.
It just bugs me that so many get flattened on the street and snakes really
aren't that bad as they eat nuisance rodents.
I like snakes as curiosity items and have tried to catch real rattlers by
distracting them and grabbing them behind the head. I almost did it once
but my wife, who knows I am oblivious to danger like that, threw a rock at
it and scared it into striking and it almost got me, blowing the whole
trip and letting the snake get away. Why do I do this?

Adrenalin rush, plus I am non-allergic to any bites of any kind and had a
hospital with 5 minutes in the car (Mustang 5.0). I get out and do things.
Like I said 90 and a rest home is not for me so I have this inner
daredevil.

Does anybody else have nature interactions or just me.
I made some ducks unhappy last year by watching them up close and they
showed me what they thought of it by swimming across a drainage ditch.
When I came back they were by the road again and when they saw me swam
across again.
How unsocial.
Bill (nature boy) Baka

You saw a Bull Snake, or Gopher Snake for you Western People, harmless and
kills it's prey by constricting and swallows it whole, doubt if it could
swallow Bill. But, this thread is getting a lot of mileage. I would
much rather get bit by a Rattlesnake than a Brown Recluse Spider.

RonSonic said:

On Fri, 14 Apr 2006 13:58:43 -0400, Marlene Blanshay <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

recycled-one said:

"RonSonic" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

>Last summer I had the opportunity to discover that almost 50% of eastern
>diamonback rattler strikes are "dry bites." I don't like the odds of
>flipping
>that particular coin again.

My understanding is that it takes time for a venomous snake to produce the
venom. Once it strikes it will be some undefined length of time before they
produce enough to make another venomous strike.

this is all very true, but still, why take the chance- my feeling is
that unless you know it's a grass snake or something benign like that,
leave it the F&&& alone!

This one leapt across the trail and under my front tire (how do I know, never
saw him until he was striking) so there was no time for either of us to prepare
or avoid the confrontation.

Ron

I never said that snakes were very bright so they might be around fish
level and strike at the shiny thing moving at them.
[censored] happens.
Bill

di said:

"Bill Baka" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This may sound totally off the wall but I almost got bit today trying to
do a good deed for a snake. As I was riding I noticed a snake on the road
and thought it was the usual road kill but noticed it was moving slightly.
I thought it may have been wounded and picked it up at the middle to get
it off the road and it suddenly came to life and wheeled around to bite
me, but a really fast drop and retract avoided that. It looked like a
rattler but had no rattles, although it was trying really hard to convince
me that it was, with a big display of hissing and posing. I finally used
the bike tire to nudge him off and he struck at the tire about 5 times
before giving up. At least when I came back he wasn't road kill. A little
further down I found another sunning on the edge of the road but when I
got close he just retreated into the brush. This one was also about 2 feet
long and had stripes so obviously not a rattler.
I wonder if trying to do a good deed for a snake is worth the trouble.
It just bugs me that so many get flattened on the street and snakes really
aren't that bad as they eat nuisance rodents.
I like snakes as curiosity items and have tried to catch real rattlers by
distracting them and grabbing them behind the head. I almost did it once
but my wife, who knows I am oblivious to danger like that, threw a rock at
it and scared it into striking and it almost got me, blowing the whole
trip and letting the snake get away. Why do I do this?

Adrenalin rush, plus I am non-allergic to any bites of any kind and had a
hospital with 5 minutes in the car (Mustang 5.0). I get out and do things.
Like I said 90 and a rest home is not for me so I have this inner
daredevil.

Does anybody else have nature interactions or just me.
I made some ducks unhappy last year by watching them up close and they
showed me what they thought of it by swimming across a drainage ditch.
When I came back they were by the road again and when they saw me swam
across again.
How unsocial.
Bill (nature boy) Baka

You saw a Bull Snake, or Gopher Snake for you Western People, harmless and
kills it's prey by constricting and swallows it whole, doubt if it could
swallow Bill. But, this thread is getting a lot of mileage. I would
much rather get bit by a Rattlesnake than a Brown Recluse Spider.

Ditto,
My daughter apparently got bit somehow and has about a half inch
permanent scar after almost a year. At least she did not get sick.
Their venom is actually worse than a rattlers, mg by mg.
It pretty well kills the flesh where it bites, yet they look so small.
During the day I was out I saw the 'fake' rattler and later another
fairly big 2 foot snake with stripes going it's length. That one did not
want to play 'I'm a rattler' but just meekly ran into the bushes.
Ran here equals slithered rapidly.
Bill Baka