Another snake story

[WCall]

Living in a heavily wooded area in NC, we have our share of snakes. The only ones I have found around the house have been black rat snakes or garter snakes. Sunday evening was a different story, though. Our neighbors were coming over for dinner and to let the kids swim. However, we had just been drenched by several hours of thunderstorms and the backyard was pretty muddy. Those of you living in or around NC know all about the red clay that becomes red paint when it gets wet.

After telling the neighbors we would have to keep the party indoors with no swimming, I decided to walk out to the back gate and see if it really was too muddy for the kids to get to the pool. As I reached down to open the gate, I saw about the last 12 inches of a snake slither under the wooden ramp I was about to step onto to get into the backyard. My first thought was, "How much of that snake did I NOT see?" Being the Super Dad that I am, I told the boys to come out and watch me kill a snake. I kinda had a feeling this one might be of the venomous variety and it was time for my boys to see the real crocodile/snake hunter in action-----NOT.

Since my wife chickened out on me and wouldn't help me pry up the ramp so I could flip it over to get to the snake, I had to wait for the neighbor to get there. This ramp is too heavy to pry up and flip over while at the same time trying to see exactly where the little serpent is to know that I'm not going to get my hands bitten. He pried it up, I flipped the ramp over and there lies a Copperhead just waiting for company.

While I pinned him down with a hard rake, my neighbor jammed the shovel into his little serpentine neck and thus ended the life of that bad snakey poo. Total length was just a couple inches over 3 feet.

My wife accused me of trying to be Steve Irwin, something I vehemently deny. This Super Dad wasn't about to reach down and play "grab the tail of the copperhead". However, I am now even more ever so in the eyes of my boys. After getting over the initial heeby jeebies, I figured somebody had to step up to the plate, show no fear, and handle the situation. Super Dad to the rescue. Of course, my wife is having second thoughts about laying out in her beach chair by the kids pool. I don't get it. I killed the snake. What do you mean there might be more?

[Jean]

WCall- Sure am glad no one was injured during your adventure. I don't blame your wife for not wanted to lay out in the yard anymore. I'm not too afraid of snakes. I tolerate them better then bugs. Use to have a 9 1/2 ft Burmese Python. Nice little guy.

[ALadyToYou]

Oh, I thought this was a thread with stories about our very own administrator-Nite.

(Check out his e-mail addy.)

[GDenman]

My wife went out to water the plants last night right at dusk. As she stepped out onto the carport she screamed. It wasn't her "big-cockroach" scream but sounded like her "any-size-snake" scream. I started for the door and was glad I was not quicker because she flew back into the house & was very close to running over me. Turned out not to be a snake after all but a big rat. That was kinda surprising since we have had field mice get into the house a couple of times but have never seen a rat around there. They were tearing down an old barn in the field next door this past weekend so he probably came from over there & was trying to get into the garbage bags. I'll don the safari hat tonight & go on the hunt for the elusive beast. What I need is a snake to eat the rat. That would be a strange twist.

[Mitzi]

I decided to lay back by the pool when I saw this enourmous 3 inch garter snake in the pool! Being a woman, I freaked and I ran in the house. My husband was out of town so he couldn't laugh at me and save me from the snake at the same time. lol I called my neighbor and he and his wife came over with a box to put the snake in. Paul is a very quiet person and I wondered why he had this grin on his face. Anyway, he got the ferocious baby garter snake, put it in a box and even taped the box so he couldn't get out. His wife and I watched all this but still, when Paul turned around, stomped his foot and moved the box, his wife and I went screaming into the house! lol!

[goodside]

I used to live in OK and now I live in NC. There are plenty of snakes in both states. As a routine matter I saw more in OK. All types, colors, and dispositions. One time while fishing I looked down and a short, fat snake was moving his head over my left sneaker and then my right. He was right between my feet! I was so scared I didn't even know if I had been bit or not.

[SpecOpsWarrior]

I have killed a few snakes in my time, but none were quite as dramatic as WCall's heroics.

My most memorable snake story took place when I was 15, I had just come home from school when I found my dog standing in front of the fireplace growling and with the hair on her back standing straight up, she had cornered a copperhead and he was all balled up ready to strike. I placed the screen over the fireplace to keep the snake cornered, the stand off had just begun. I used my MacGyver like instincts in an attempt to to figure out what to do with the barricaded snake. It took awhile to come up with a feasible entry plan, my dad finally decided that gunfire was the best bet, after a few tense moments and a failed attempt at negotiations a single shot from a .22 ended the stand off. Fortunatly no one was hurt except for the snake.

[This message has been edited by SpecOpsWarrior (edited 07-11-2001).]

[DesertRat]

I just had another encounter last week. We were out cleaning up the compound (er yard) and I picked up a roll of roofing felt. All of the sudden, something is slithering out the end. This one was a big one. About 4 foot, another bull snake (I think). He dropped down to the ground and slithered under the tack shed. Nice place for him to be instead of in my roofing. I've seen more of the little buggers this year than the last three or four combined. Don't know the reason?

[Jim]

Last year my wife stepped out to visit the neighbor across the street. She was gone about 30 seconds when I heard her screaming bloody murder. I ran out expecting the worst and found her running back towards the house carrying two of our kids in her arms, totally hysterical. When she calmed down enough to speak she told me that there was a "huge" snake right in the middle of the street.

It was about eight inches of garter snake. It was trying in vain to make it up over the curb on the opposite side of the street, but it just wasn't big enough. I helped it over and it slithered off into the grass.

When I walked back to the house, I found the door locked. She wouldn't let me in. "You touched it!!!!" she said. Before she would open the door, I had to show her both my hands were empty, and turn completely around (as if I had stuck it in the back of my pants???). She still wouldn't open the door until I swore on our children's lives that I did not have that snake with me.

Several days later, I was still trying to convince her that it didn't make sense to sell our home and move away because of that snake. "Honey, that snake is probably miles away from here by now......... they have snakes in every state, no matter where we might move.....no, I am not laughing at you....."

[This message has been edited by Jim (edited 07-11-2001).]

[kateykakes]

LMAO Jim! That is just too funny.

Just last month my youngest brought home a snake (not a garter, but not a poisonous one...forget exactly what kind). He asked me to hold it while he hunted down a coffee can to keep it in. I didn't mind holding it(and btw, it was very pretty).

I've let my kids have snakes before. I just don't care to really have them in the house because the tank smells disgusting.

I can tolerate snakes, reptiles and the like, but absolutely I HATE insects. Spiders are about the only ones I can tolerate and aren't afraid to hold. I skeeve worms and waterbugs....ewwwww. The thought of them make me ill.

[blondie72]

I don't mind snakes so much, but.....SPIDERS???

LOL, Kaytey, you're a braver woman than I!

[GDenman]

Heck, you're a braver MAN than I. I hate spiders. I don't run screaming from the room but I would never, ever touch one. Okay, maybe with the sole of my shoe, but not with my hands!

[kateykakes]

Oh come on, GD...a big, strong guy like you afraid of a itty bitty teeny spider? Say it ain't so!