Striking terror in mens hearts . . . . .

[Steelbanger]

. . . . . since the Garden of Eden.

This is a very small Ring Neck snake, yellow ring & belly. They also come with a deep pink belly & ring.

photo.JPG

[bdhold]

good-looking reptile.

I'm glad it's not an ex-ring-neck snake.

[AJMD429]

We have them also. They tend to like damp woodland environments like salamanders do.

The whole thing about being "scared of snakes" just amazes me; I've seen men who don't fear human assailants, raging bulls, or mountain lions, yet cower like little girls if there is a black rat snake around. Or they 'heroically' kill it, as if a 200-pound human killing an armless, legless, venomless, 1-pound snake is somehow 'brave'.

Most often the 'excuse' is that whatever the snake is, the killer wasn't sure if it was "poisonous" ('venomous') or not. That's the equivalent of shooting a neighbor's pet dog and saying you weren't sure it wasn't a wild wolf...

I guess we all have our fears, but geeezzzz....

[41 Redhawk]

That's the first snake my grandson caught. Freaked my daughter out!.

Research I did shows they are very mildly venomous. Absolutely no danger to people though.

[.45colt]

Ajmd429 wrote "The whole thing about being "scared of snakes" just amazes me; I've seen men who don't fear human assailants, raging bulls, or mountain lions"..... I have a Brother in Law who is just that, He can face anybody or anything and never back down. but when He was in Nam long ago one of the Guys in His unit was messing with this little snake after He was told not to and got bit between the fingers.long story but it was pretty bad trying to save this Guys arm. He never got over it. .

[Streetstar]

We have them also. They tend to like damp woodland environments like salamanders do.

The whole thing about being "scared of snakes" just amazes me; I've seen men who don't fear human assailants, raging bulls, or mountain lions, yet cower like little girls if there is a black rat snake around. Or they 'heroically' kill it, as if a 200-pound human killing an armless, legless, venomless, 1-pound snake is somehow 'brave'.

Most often the 'excuse' is that whatever the snake is, the killer wasn't sure if it was "poisonous" ('venomous') or not. That's the equivalent of shooting a neighbor's pet dog and saying you weren't sure it wasn't a wild wolf...

I guess we all have our fears, but geeezzzz....

Drives my wife crazy when i catch critters and move them to another field rather than callously smash them with a shovel

[Ironwood]

Those with the pink belly and ring are the ones I'm scared of.

[jkbrea]

[quote I guess we all have our fears, but geeezzzz....[/quote]


Mine are clowns, worse yet, midget clowns.

[M. M. Wright]

Reminds me of the old comic strip B. C. where the woman chops every snake into 2" pieces with her hoe.

[Rusty]

the rattlesnake story...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSP_ZDV3 ... re=related

[AJMD429]

Don't get me wrong - if I lived in South America, Africa, or Southeast Asia, I'd be VERY scared of snakes. . . a bite from a Black Mamba or Boomslang 100 miles from the nearest medical facility is kinda different from a Copperhead bite 5 miles from the nearest E.R...

• http://www.reptilegardens.com/reptiles/ ... snakes.php

[gak]

[quote="AJMD429"]Don't get me wrong - if I lived in South America, Africa, or Southeast Asia, I'd be VERY scared of snakes. . . a bite from a Black Mamba or Boomslang 100 miles from the nearest medical facility is kinda different from a Copperhead bite 5 miles from the nearest E.R...

Perhaps you'd like to try an Arizona (or So. Cal) Mohave rattler--deadliest venomous snake we have here in North America with it's delightful cocktail mix of the "standard" pit viper's hemotoxin with the more cobra-like (mamba, krait etc) neurotoxin...Otherwise, any rattler, including the ubiquitous and ever lovely Diamondback - Western or Southern.- is not to be trifled with. No thanks

[Ji in Hawaii]

Here in the islands the only snake we have in the wild is a blind snake which feeds mainly on ants, and maxes out at 6" though the majority are half that length. They resemble a earthworm at first. I believe they are native ti Malaysia but been around long enough that people call them "Hawaiian Snake".

[gundownunder]

Most folks are only scared because they don't know that the average snake would be more than happy to give you a very wide berth if you let them.

if I lived in South America, Africa, or Southeast Asia, I'd be VERY scared of snakes

Hey Doc, you really need to come and see the land downunder. We have some of the best nasty critters the world has to offer.
At least in America the dang things rattle to tell you your in danger.

Hey, only in Oz would you get a song about a new chum who goes for a swim and asks "Are there any sharks in here," and gets told, "No, there used to be sharks in here but the crocodiles cleaned them out"

[Paladin]

Mouse traps can catch mouse hunters, in this case a cobra in the barracks.

[GonnePhishin]

Is that snake really only as big as a pack of smokes?

[gak]

Here in the islands the only snake we have in the wild is a blind snake which feeds mainly on ants, and maxes out at 6" though the majority are half that length...

One of my favorite states because of it too - among other things) . ...and I understand Hawaii works hard at keeping it thay way. I love that you can fall asleep on the floor of the jungle and don't have to worry about dang snakes (bugs and boar maybe?)... probably the only such environments--that you'd actually call "places" to live--in the world like that, save for perhaps a very few very remote islands. I don't recall, do the dastardly sea snakes make their way there?

[Blaine]

The huge constrictors they had in Panama made me a little nervous. Once, the bus was going thru the jungle road to the east side, and it stopped. A snake that was nearly the width of the narrow road was blocking the way. Then there was the time I was walking back from the NCO Club about 2am, and took a little shortcut....

[Booger Bill]

I will give all you snake lovers something to hate,------ME! I hate and am afraid of every snake I see. I had a deputy friend that got a call on a snake bit victim in california. He took some pictures and showed me. Very gory. This guy was hikeing and I guess leaned back against the mountain side or a steep embankment. I was told it was a timber rattler that struck him in the back between the shoulder blades it popped him open like he got hit with a axe! The blood boiled under the skin. Killed him of course.
I have shot a number of rattlers. Once I was picking up my daughter and girl friend from a swimming hole in a creek in california. I was carrying stuff back to the truck. The girls pomerainian was running toward me as the same time I spotted a huge rattler on the path. I shot the snake as I thought the dog would take after it and get killed. My daughter and girl friend gave me hell as did a couple other people a hundred yards away that would have walked right alongside the bush where I shot it.

[Ji in Hawaii]

Here in the islands the only snake we have in the wild is a blind snake which feeds mainly on ants, and maxes out at 6" though the majority are half that length...

One of my favorite states because of it too - among other things) . ...and I understand Hawaii works hard at keeping it thay way. I love that you can fall asleep on the floor of the jungle and don't have to worry about dang snakes (bugs and boar maybe?)... probably the only such environments--that you'd actually call "places" to live--in the world like that, save for perhaps a very few very remote islands. I don't recall, do the dastardly sea snakes make their way there?

I used to run the carpenter shop at Honolulu International Airport. Once in a while we'd get a call to do repairs at the US Fish & Wildlife office, and in one of the rooms they had cages of animals confiscated on arrival. Saw mainly pet ferrets, hamsters, and Jerboas but also a variety of snakes and other reptiles. They are especially cautious of flights from Guam as the Brown Tree Snake introduced there during WWII has pretty much wiped out the bird population of Guam, and they don't want a repeat here. They are also extra cautious of Christmas Tree shipments from Mainland US as they have found all kinds of critters in there including rattlers and even a live possum.
No snakes to worry about but we do have huge centipedes and a few scorpions, I've been bitten twice. Boars usually not a problem as they will as a rule avoid human contact if they smell you first. That being said we did have a herd wander though my camp in a secluded valley where they didn't have any hunting pressure so not fear developed.
We have Yellow-bellied Sea Snake (Pelamis platurus) but they are rare (20 found over the years) and though very venomous not very aggressive.

[Blaine]

[img]but%20we%20do%20have%20huge%20centipedes%20and%20a%20few%20scorpions[/img]

I've had the pleasure of making personal contact with both while at Schofield. The centipede was by far the worse. The scorpion was more like a bad wasp sting. The 'pede made me sick for a few days with cramps and fever.

[gak]

My mother (75 at the time) almost died from a sting on her pinky by one of our bark scorpions--8 hours of IVs etc in intensive care. The one time I got stung (the ever popular foot in shoe) it felt like I'd been shot in the toe. When it struck it was the most painful of any such thing I've ever felt. Luckily just spent a few hours in the ER being checked out and dismissed without additional complications other than feeling a bit over-hyped by the most unpleasant experience.