Timber Rattler

I have a 80 acres. The 'compound area' is about 3 acres. Snake can do what they want in the other 77 acres. If they violate the compound area, and I see them, they are toast. I have 3 cats that are excellent mousers to control the vermin.

I think the benefits of a nonpoisonous snake (as I just told DH who ran over a rat snake at the garage this week) are that they keep the poisonous ones from getting close to the house filling that niche in my local environment. That said it sounds like a hog nose snake and I have to forgive the 17 year old's enthusiasm. When I first saw one last fall by my driveway swelling up and widening at my cat I ran back into the house to get the visiting expert- my brother- to be sure it wasn't a king cobra or something before venturing closer.

Black rat snakes (AKA as "pilot black snakes" and a few other names are really great things to have around, especially if you live in an area that has a lot of poisoness snakes. When my children were small, we had several of them around our place (one of which dwelt in the old stone celler of our house and my wife refered to as "grandad"..... yes it did take her a while to get used to the idea) The neigbors across the road had bluffs behind their house and would find both copper-heads and rattlesnakes in their yard periodically. In 7 years, we never saw a poisoness snake around. Mice were very few. We did loose some eggs and a few chicks to them, but it was well worth it to not have the other snakes comming into the yard where my children played.

Sometimes, I really don't like some of you...

Our Pa rattlers also protected, you literally have to step on one to cause a rukus.
I am not a fan of killing anything unless you plan on eating it.

While I still freak out when I see a snake, I have to admit some snakes are good to have around. We have rattlers where we live ~ I have a jar full of rattles, as a matter of fact. We had two large bull snakes move into our area a year or so ago, and they really seem to keep the rattlers away. While they're big and ugly, I'll take them over a rattlesnake any day.

I'd really recommend taking the time to find out what the "good" and "bad" snakes in your area look like. There's no reason to get rid of a snake that's protecting your homestead.

Timber rattlers 'are' potentially dangerous.... but so am I. Like me, it takes a lot of 'riling' to make me and them dangerous. I've found every timber rattler I've come across to be big pussy cats. I easily catch them, handle them, containerize them, and relocate them. Never have I had one strike at me, during this process. When I first saw one on the homestead, I was all freakydeaked out... after a while, realized the danger was in my brain... caught it relocated it, where it could hunt free without endangering my farm animals.

Now copperheads are full of "p & vinegar"... only relocated successfully one out of dozens. Water moccasins aren't very forgiving either. But timber rattlers??? [also illegal to 'take' {kill] them]

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

I lost an irreplaceable bull, that I spent 10 years and a lot of money breeding, to a blasted rattler. I also lost a favorite dog to snakebite.

I don't mind the others but poison snakes are not welcome around here. I keep an old .22 pistol loaded with rat shot on the Polaris, if I see one, and I'm always looking....BANG!!!

I really don't care if folks like it or not, I won't tolerate copperheads or especially rattlers on the place if I can help it.

There are other ways to control vermin without the presence of a bad snake. I've never had any livestock or dogs killed by a mouse.

Hey..I am a city dwelller ( a "back to nature" wanta be) and I
only kill our poisonous snakes (and I know the difference)
We have a 6 ft black snake that sleeps on our front steps
to sun. He is quite welcome here.

Oy, we have that same superpower of snake ignorance here, too. If it's brown, it's a "copperhead", and if it's within a mile of water, it's a "moccasin".

Dang near got fired from a golf course job years ago for smacking the carp out of a new guy who killed the big kingsnake that lived in one of the equiptment barns...claimed it was a cottonmouth.

That's been my experience with timber rattlers, too.

Ya' know, I've seen folks mention that the copperheads in their area are somewhat agressive, folks who's opinion I trust, but the coppperheads here are docile as can be, and usually when I see them, they're in the process of making a getaway. Could be a different variety?
I wouldn't go so far as to call the water moccasins here "mean", but definitely, they're less apt to get out of the way, and will let ya' step on them. This is especially true in early spring when the temps are still kinda' cool, and the snakes are out, but sluggish....they just don't quite have their wits about them enough in the cool temps to sense ya' coming and slither away.
Wish I had a link, but I read a really interesting article in Field and Stream a while back about venomous snake bites in the U.S.A. One of the more interesting stats was that the majority of snakebite "victims" are white males under the age of 25, and that most of them are intoxicated when they get bit. Translates loosly to "Hey, man.....Watch this!".
Kudos to you, Mr. Texican, for employing a fair and reasonable snake policy on your homestead.

We have a creek, limestone and rock with timber on our property....we see one or two timber rattlesnakes each season. Seen a couple of copperheads too....I see more black, rat, racer and garter snakes around the house, garden and chicken shed. The timber rattlers are protected in Missouri....if any get killed it only be if a person or livestock is threatened (like the one that was in the woodpile and just wouldn't cooperate). As the above posts mentioned, they are generally very mild mannered, slow moving and just want to be left alone. The dogs had a copperhead cornered once and I had to bludgeon the thing with my walking stick because it was too close to the house/kids/animals and the dogs would not let up and it was tooo angry to cooperate. I generally try and leave them alone....have relocated too many black snakes to count but they keep coming back and stealing my chicken eggs and the baby chicks my mama's hatch out but I refuse to kill them.

The children have been taught to be aware of the environment, be it poison ivy, ticks, snakes, bobcats, coyotes, badgers, coons, skunks, abandoned wells, or stray dogs. They are required to wear ankle covering boots and carry a walking stick when they go out in the timber. They are taught to never stick their hands under rocks, logs, leaves until checking with the stick first. They are taught how to identify Missouri snakes. What to look for in venomous vs. non venomous. One of the dogs usually tags along. They have to body check for ticks when they come back.

I know already been mentioned but there are many snakes that are often mistaken for copperheads and rattlers. Please get a close look at the snake before you react. One snake around here that is often mistook for a rattler or copperhead is the western fox snake. They are a beautiful snake with a cool yellow and black checkerboard pattern on the belly and not very common. It the kids ever killed one of them I would be hopping mad at them!

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"Mama always says stupid is as stupid does" Forrest Gump

"It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit." Noel Coward's Blithe Spirits

I've heard that they can be very tasty if they are cooked right. If I ever find someplace that serves rattler, I would like to try it. That seems like cosmic balance to me...They bite us, we bite them.

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“When I think of what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think, there are no little things.” -Bruce Barton

How many people die from rattlesnakes each year?

How many people die from influenza each year?

There is an irrational fear of snakes (where the danger is microscopically small) and people avoid them like the plague. Yet, people will willingly go out in public, during the flu season, where other germ carriers (100,000x as deadly as rattlers) are present.

I'd rather meet up with a rattler, than I had some ill bred human, going out in public when they're carrying deadly pathogens.

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

When I moved here the place was overrun with snakes. I could not keep a chick or guinea keet--they entered the cages, filled up on my chicks and then waited for me to come and execute them.

Big bull snakes killed my keets or ate the eggs before they hatched. Blacksnakes were everywhere. Not once have I seen a moccasin in the creek or a rattler or a copperhead anywhere. I've seen very few garter snakes, and they always got a pass. I would very much like to have a few bull snakes or gopher snakes out in the pasture, and they may be there for all I know.

I've quit killing them now that I have some of the brush gone and the snakes are no longer a danger. I know that they are here though because my barn is not overrun with mice. (And I prefer snakes to cats).

Water snakes are an exception to my tolerance. I despise those things, even the common brown water snake. They can clean out a creek, and when they do they come inland looking for anything they can eat.
Ox

Texacan,

What you said is true. There is an irrational fear most people have of snakes. It is also true of most any other predators if most of the posts here is any guage. It is refreshing to hear so many people defending snakes and hawks after all the blowing that has gone on about other predators.

I had a copperhead at the house- certain of it, pit viper head and eye- and was worried because first time I saw it it was little (so I figured there was a whole brood of 'em!). When I finally caught it out from under the foundation took a long handled pool cleaning net and flung it over the fence into our woods. Absolutely gorgeous coloring- not the pattern that would hide it in our leaf litter as I expect they usually have but maybe it had just shed.

At a seminar about treating snakebites in dogs the snake expert was an MD who oversees treating human victims. She mentioned the high number of young men being bitten, and showed a video some of these geniuses had recorded of themselves tormenting a rattlesnake. She pointed out the date - January - which meant they had rousted a hibernating snake out of its den. The star of the film was pushing his big sneaker covered foot down toward a furiously rattling snake, thinking the sole of the shoe would protect him. The dialog was funny, the boasting suddenly turned into "Oh s.... " "Did he get ya?" "Did he bite Ya?" Then there were the hospital pictures of his leg all black and swollen to 3 times its normal size. The doctor mentioned that her snakebite patients tended to have a "high tattoo to teeth ratio".

When I discover a rattler on my little patch of desert, I escort it out of my fenced 2 acres with an 8 foot long stick and then leave it alone. I generally have to do this 2 days in a row. The snakes are smart, they don't want to be hassled by me, so they adjust their hunting times to when I'm not around (at night) and I enjoy the benefits of few mice and no packrats on my property. Having the same snake on the territory year after year means we know each others routines and don't have any surprises. The dogs have snake avoidance training, and the turkeys seem to alert the rest of the poultry if any snake is in the yard. It works well for me.

it's an erie feeling to have a 6ft+ cottonmouth chasing you.

I imagine it would be less eerie than having it catch you...

__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming