Copperheads

OK, I'm not sure if I have this joke exactly right. This guy went to a pond to fish and found a water moc. with a frog in its mouth. Hey, frogs are pretty good bass bait, so he grabbed the snake behind the head and worked the frog out of it. Then he is left holding a poisonus snake, what to do? He happened to have a pint of JD in his coveralls so poured some down the snake's mouth. When it took effect he threw it out in the pond. A bit later he felt something tapping on his leg, looked down, and there was the snake with two frogs in its mouth.

I agree completely My neighbor use to own my place and he told me he got bite by one on July 6th 1976 in what is now my front yard said he was sick as a cow before they got him to the hospital

Oh, Ken! How funny. DH is still asleep in the next room and I had to cover my mouth to stifle my laughter that might wake him.

When we lived in White County AR from '93-97, I killed a copperhead within 10' of the house on three different occasions and in the barn, about to bite a baby goat, once. On the first occasion, I called AR Game and Fish to see what other venomous snakes I might encounter. I got reamed out by the man on the phone for killing it because "it belonged to the people of the State of Arkansas," blah, blah, blah. I explained to him AGAIN that had it been out in the field, in a distant part of the yard or in the road, I wouldn't have bothered it but since it was so close to our house where we could have been bitten when we were just walking the dog before bed, I'd repeat the act if necessary. I also invited him and the people of the State of Arkansas to come get their (expletive deleted) snakes any time they wished. Those snakes weren't particularly long but had a huge girth compared to other snakes that was not a recent meal.

The one in the barn was scurrying along when one of the baby goats decided to investigate. I had nothing in my hands so I ran up and put my foot on its head. Then the song "I've Got a Tiger By The Tail...." came to mind because I didn't know what to do then. I ended up stomping it to death. Before you question my sanity (okay, go ahead and question my sanity) and my veracity, let me admit that it was a baby snake, no more than 8" long and I had on heavy wet weather boots that reached my knees, thick socks and my jeans were tucked into the boots. I doubt his little fangs could have penetrated all that to even scratch me. I've seen lots of snakes right in the yard, particularly in the old hay bales I store outside to weather for mulch farm but none that I could identify as poisonous.

Really?? Gah. I don't want to live in Missouri. I'll stay here where I can kill copperheads that are a danger to my family or livestock.

Mind you, I won't kill the good snakes like some people around here do--blacksnakes are great things to have when you're trying to keep rodents out of your grain.

"In my opinion nothing tastes like chicken except for chicken and chicken has a very distinctive taste. " You must be eating home raised chicken.

So do I, however, I'll keep my rat snakes, etc. as they are quite beneficial. The venomous ones I'll gladly pass along to whomever wants to come gather them all up!

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Ditto, Ravenlost. I've never seen a 4' copperhead like that, i hate snakes except the black ones that keep the rat pop down. Thank you, black snakes! I hate rats just as much!

Old Boy Scout saying, which isn't absolutely true: Short and fat ain't where it is at. Long and lean, it ain't mean.

Yes, in my area of TN they can get up to about 4'. With any population you are going to get extremes. Say a four-year-old who is 3' and a two-year-old who is 48".

"...let me admit that it was a baby snake, no more than 8" long and I had on heavy wet weather boots that reached my knees, thick socks and my jeans were tucked into the boots..."

I do the same thing when I am out and about the farm. Problem is the rubber boots feel so comfortable I forget I have them on. Went into my branch bank with them on and one of the tellers said, "How high is the water Momma, 2" high and rising". We had a good laugh. (If you are not a Johnny Cash fan, pass this by.)

Good story, Ken, and I caught it right away. Unfortunately, 2' is well over my boot tops.

Here is a 16 page article that originally appeared in "The Missouri Conservationist" that might save a lot of snakes. Many of the non-black snakes eat rodents as well as the "black snake."

http://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/file.../5187_3026.pdf

you guys don't keep chickens? I have had it with snakes. We were fully prepared to live and let live, but they ate eggs and babies and let the mice run. The worst was when I had a biddy locked up on a dozen eggs, ready to hatch, all but one were gone, and it was freshly hatched, and the momma hen had died of fright. I will never lock one up again and any snake that hangs around the woodshed chicken house gets it's head lopped off. I have had it.

The only problem snakes we've had with regard to eating chicks and eggs are the black rat snakes when they get really big. We had one in particular that was about 6 ft long that ate 4 little peeps before we walked into the barn and caught him in the act. We shoo'd him away from the birds, then moved the chicks into the spare bedroom in our house. Guess the snake had a good chick sense, cause he wiggled in through a gap around the guest bathroom water line and surprised the heck out of me when I walked into the kitchen and saw him creeping toward the room with the chicks.
I yelled at him and he scooted past the chicks and under one of the beds in the room. I hollered for DH who came trotting with a rubbermaid tub to catch him up in.
Darn if that sucker didn't try his best to convince us he was venomous. He coiled up and shook his tail like he was a rattlesnake then proceeded to hide out in the closet which we use as a pantry. DH moved all sorts of stuff out of the way, moved the tub in to catch him and gathered him up but not without the snake striking and acting like he owned the place

But even then we didn't off him. DH drove him about 10 miles from the farm and let him out in a big empty field.

Rat snakes are famous for their climbing abilities, and I'm pretty sure he was the same snake who startled me last year when he was curled up under the kitchen sink!

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The big black snakes will also hunt down and eat venomous snakes and their eggs :-) Always welcome around here! They don't know anything about "protected" and never listen to me on that anyway. I try to always keep the chicks in something the snakes can't get into, but it did irritate me when he killed 3 almost grown silkies he didn't have a chance of swallowing. They usually are better at gauging swallow sizes Grrrrrr

Some of them aren't very good at all about gauging what they can swallow, and will wipe out a whole henhouse trying.

I have heard that rattlesnakes are now on the endangered species list, not sure about copperheads. What I do know is that any snake is endangered if he is close enough for me to see him!

I hate snakes!

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

Yep that's been my experience with Copperheads and Ive owned a few, my favorite being a Bright Pinkone that came from near the crystal geyser in Utah.


LOL everyone knows that Chicken is the basic ingredient of the animal kingdom..."tastes like chicken but...."