Had any encounters with a snake? Tell us about it.

[Naturally]

First snake encounter in the wild: 6yrs old and had just moved into our new house "out in the country". Running back and forth across a fallen pine tree while playing out in the yard with brother and a cousin. Spotted a snake next to the fallen pine after I'd run and played in that area for some time. The snake was coiled, not moving. I thought it was dead until I stuck my face up close to get a good look and it rattled its tail and flicked its tongue out rapidly. I ran to tell mama about the snake and it was gone by the time we got back to the fallen pine.

Behind our house and throughout the woods were three farm ponds and three creeks. I roamed those woods alone from the age of 6. I was an adventurous and curious child. Mama allowed me in the woods on my own as long as I didn't get any further than she could yell and she could yell loudly when she wanted to. Over the years I came across so many snakes in and around the woods and waters, that I swear I developed a sense of when a snake was nearby.

There was a beaver dam I was walking across one hot summer afternoon. I sensed a snake, looked down and saw a shimmering black snake body moving between my feet and through the branches in the dam. It was the largest Cottonmouth Water Moccasin I'd ever seen. Instantly startled, I jumped straight into the air and somehow teleported myself about ten feet away and off that dam. Adrenalin can do amazing things.

So may snakes and so many more snake stories from my youth. I loved those woods and waters and spent countless hours alone out back there and roaming around. Beautiful as they are, never found a love of snakes though. They did their thing and I generally left them alone and gave them distance.

Here where I live now, I've seen plenty of snakes, mostly harmless. But one evening in 2010, dark was just settling in as I was sitting in the swing in the backyard. Behind me and only a few feet away, I heard my dog, Rowdy, making a commotion and turned to see him wrestling with a Copperhead snake. I secured Rowdy inside the house and went back out to finish the injured snake so it wouldn't suffer.

30 minutes later, Rowdy's jaw on the right side had swollen up pretty good and Rowdy was listless and drifting. I got him to the after-hours emergency vet. He got 10ml of antivenin, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds. The vet kept Rowdy overnight. Next day and $1500 later, I brought Rowdy back home. After two days, Rowdy was completely back to his same 'o normal self. Never would have known he'd tangled with a venomous critter.

I took the snake with me to the vet along with Rowdy. I thought the vet might need to identify the snake for proper meds, but the vet said there is only one antivenin that covers all venomous snakes in North America with the exception of a Coral snake. Coral snake bite treatment has an antivenin all its own. Vet said that in humans, antivenin is given until swelling stops and starts to go down, how ever much antivenin that might take. But the 10ml of antivenin that Rowdy got, was $800 a vial and that was all I could afford at the time. Thankfully it was enough.

Thing is though, Copperhead snakes are the least venomous snakes in North America and often dogs get over bites from Copperheads without any treatment. But I wasn't taking any chances with my boy and maybe I eased some pain and discomfort while helping to speed Rowdy's recovery. After all, it was the least I could do. Rowdy may have taken one for me, given the close proximity I was to that Copperhead snake.

I was a moderator on a pit bull forum for several years and some "dog people" I know who routinely have encounters with their dogs and snakes, treat their dogs with a large amount of Benadryl when bitten by venomous snakes but I don't know the specifics, so wouldn't recommend it. They use the liquid Benadryl and give the dog a shot. Benadryl helps reduce some of the allergic-type swelling and histamine reaction, but it does not neutralize venom and it does not stop tissue damage.

 

[katlupe]

Too many to write about. Plus I had a Boa as a pet once long ago in my previous life.

 

[IrishEyes]

I'm using voicemail here so I'm gonna be talking about this story now we saw a snake under our porch but it wasn't until the chickens kept looking under the porch and they would stop crying until finally we started looking under the porch and we saw a snake head a big 1 and then we saw that it was a copperhead and they're poisonous so I took a risk and I took 122 rifle and stuck it in the pipe where it was in and shot and that was the end of that story

I know I understand that totally.

 

[Michael Z]

My encounters with snakes around here consist of tipping a log or flat rock over and watching a 6" or 8" long fire (red belly) snake slowly move away, with me feeling a bit bad for disturbing his home. We just have so few snakes, and no poisonous snakes at all.

 

[IrishEyes]

First snake encounter in the wild: 6yrs old and had just moved into our new house "out in the country". Running back and forth across a fallen pine tree while playing out in the yard with brother and a cousin. Spotted a snake next to the fallen pine after I'd run and played in that area for some time. The snake was coiled, not moving. I thought it was dead until I stuck my face up close to get a good look and it rattled its tail and flicked its tongue out rapidly. I ran to tell mama about the snake and it was gone by the time we got back to the fallen pine.

Behind our house and throughout the woods were three farm ponds and three creeks. I roamed those woods alone from the age of 6. I was an adventurous and curious child. Mama allowed me in the woods on my own as long as I didn't get any further than she could yell and she could yell loudly when she wanted to. Over the years I came across so many snakes in and around the woods and waters, that I swear I developed a sense of when a snake was nearby.

There was a beaver dam I was walking across one hot summer afternoon. I sensed a snake, looked down and saw a shimmering black snake body moving between my feet and through the branches in the dam. It was the largest Cottonmouth Water Moccasin I'd ever seen. Instantly startled, I jumped straight into the air and somehow teleported myself about ten feet away and off that dam. Adrenalin can do amazing things.

So may snakes and so many more snake stories from my youth. I loved those woods and waters and spent countless hours alone out back there and roaming around. Beautiful as they are, never found a love of snakes though. They did their thing and I generally left them alone and gave them distance.

Here where I live now, I've seen plenty of snakes, mostly harmless. But one evening in 2010, dark was just settling in as I was sitting in the swing in the backyard. Behind me and only a few feet away, I heard my dog, Rowdy, making a commotion and turned to see him wrestling with a Copperhead snake. I secured Rowdy inside the house and went back out to finish the injured snake so it wouldn't suffer.

30 minutes later, Rowdy's jaw on the right side had swollen up pretty good and Rowdy was listless and drifting. I got him to the after-hours emergency vet. He got 10ml of antivenin, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds. The vet kept Rowdy overnight. Next day and $1500 later, I brought Rowdy back home. After two days, Rowdy was completely back to his same 'o normal self. Never would have known he'd tangled with a venomous critter.

I took the snake with me to the vet along with Rowdy. I thought the vet might need to identify the snake for proper meds, but the vet said there is only one antivenin that covers all venomous snakes in North America with the exception of a Coral snake. Coral snake bite treatment has an antivenin all its own. Vet said that in humans, antivenin is given until swelling stops and starts to go down, how ever much antivenin that might take. But the 10ml of antivenin that Rowdy got, was $800 a vial and that was all I could afford at the time. Thankfully it was enough.

Thing is though, Copperhead snakes are the least venomous snakes in North America and often dogs get over bites from Copperheads without any treatment. But I wasn't taking any chances with my boy and maybe I eased some pain and discomfort while helping to speed Rowdy's recovery. After all, it was the least I could do. Rowdy may have taken one for me, given the close proximity I was to that Copperhead snake.

I was a moderator on a pit bull forum for several years and some "dog people" I know who routinely have encounters with their dogs and snakes, treat their dogs with a large amount of Benadryl when bitten by venomous snakes but I don't know the specifics, so wouldn't recommend it. They use the liquid Benadryl and give the dog a shot. Benadryl helps reduce some of the allergic-type swelling and histamine reaction, but it does not neutralize venom and it does not stop tissue damage.

Poor dog, but what a hero he was, glad he came out fine.

 

[IrishEyes]

My encounters with snakes around here consist of tipping a log or flat rock over and watching a 6" long fire snake slowly move away, with me feeling a bit bad for disturbing his home. We just have so few snakes, and no poisonous snakes at all.

A harmless one, once I identify it is a different story. I will freeze soon as I see one though now. I am not toting around a shovel
anymore Be my luck I would miss and chop off a toe instead, not so fast on the draw now.

 

[Rossana]

Yes, many times here in Florida. Mainly black racers (little and big ones). I am not afraid of them but they always suprised me when I am doing my gardening. Once I found one in our swimming pool filter. Like Crocodile Dundee said to do, I picked it up by the tail. Supposedly, they cannot reach your hand that way. Well, that is a lie, because he could! I was however, able to release it in the woods across the street.
Through my years, I also encountered coral snakes as well as rattlesnakes. My little dachshunds were good at spotting them and barking to alert me, which was great!
I had to kill a few but for the most part I was able to remove them from our property and release them in the woods.

 

[Murrmurr]

oh the poor snake …my thought too…. he didn’t do anything wrong.

If Maud had simply backed away or run back in the house, I probly wouldn't have had to shoot the poor thing. But she stayed right near it, screaming and hopping from one foot to the other, and when I ran out there I saw the snake lunge at whichever leg was flailing in the air, one and then the other.

My bad for not emphasizing what she should do. I mean, I'd told her once, but she was only 4 or 5, so I should have reminded her now and then.

 

[MarciKS]

i used to have a neighbor who at the time cooked meth and i didn't know. he had an aquarium of snakes in his house for reasons i don't know. one day one of his snakes got out and slithered into my apt without me knowing. i came home from work and my cat was meowing at me funny. i didn't know at the time he was under my dresser and had bit the cat in the corner of her eye.

i made tea and went to bed. nothing. next night i'm sitting on the sofa in my flannel jammie set balancing my check book and i feel something push against my right ankle. it took a second for it to register that the cat was to my left playing with her toys.

i look down and a green snake about an inch and a half to two inches around was fixing to slither up my pant leg. i shot off the couch swearing and ran out the door of the apt and was banging on the neighbors doors to try to get help.

the druggie finally answered and i made him come help me. he took my broom and backed him up against the kitchen cabinets. and as he's fixing to grab him he's talking to it telling him don't you bite me. i said is this your snake he was like no. i made him take it outside and throw it as far as he could.

next morning i called the landlord and he went into the guys apt and made him get rid of the snakes. no clue if it was poisonous or not. it hadn't bit me and the cat didn't die so...

not a fan.

 

[jujube]

There's a short poem that's supposed to tell you whether a snake is a poisonous coral snake or just a colorful imposter:

Red touches yellow,
kill a fellow.
Red touches black,
good for Jack.

That's all very good and well, but if I were to have a snake sinking its fangs into my foot, I'm not sure I'd remember correctly. "Now, was that 'red touches black, whoopee for Jack or was it yellow touches red, whoops you're dead or was it black touches yellow, he's a nice fellow?'" I'm sure not going to trust my memory these days. I never was any good at reciting poetry.

 

[jujube]

I once visited what was purported to be the largest rattlesnake Herpetarium in the United States, maybe the world. When we walked in, it was quiet but immediately the rattling started and built up to an ominous level. It was goose-bump time. And the smell was really strange....acidic.

 

[MountainRa]

My first husband collected reptiles as a hobby. His biggest and favorite was a boa constrictor, about 7 feet long. One night our old house was cold so he put the big guy in a pillow case and put it in bed with us. We woke up in the morning and it was gone.

Are you kidding me no way I could have slept in that bed!

when my son was about 11, we were going through an old family home that had stood empty for several years. He went into the bathroom and immediately screamed. I ran in and there was a large snake in the toilet. The snake stuck his head up from the water, looked at us, turned and swam down inside the toilet out of sight. We ran out of the house.

Until that happened I had always sort of thought ‘snakes in a toilet‘ was along the lines of an urban legend. Now I know it’s possible and it creeps me out.

 

[Happy Heart]

That poor couple and how sneaky not to admit there was an unusual snake problem so they could have have someone see if anything could be done prior to buying it. Sedona horseback riding! Must have been heavenly! Envious here!

Most don't realize that there is a lot of vegetation near the Sedona rocks which almost looks like it could be in Hawaii. Sedona and the Superstition Mtns. were a great ride to forget about Phoenix with all its hot concrete. Glad to now be in PNW because the desert just drained the life out of me.
My heart broke for that young couple in the story about the snake house. It just seemed so unfair that the realtors took advantage of them.

 

[gamboolman]

Snake stories…..I have beacoup of them - as growing up in East Texas hunting and fishing it was impossible to not have Snake encounters.
One time I was squirrel hunting with my Mother and Grandfather. I was probably around 8 or 9 year old. I was using my Grandfathers old single shot 22 Rifle.
I was down in a mostly dry slough or seasonal creek and my Mom and Grandfather was nearby but not in sight.
I was easing along slow watching for squirrels and I had stopped to look and listen and I glanced down and there was big Cottonmouth and little one probably less than 12” from the end of the barrel of my rifle.
I was less than a step from them. I was in a tight spot.
I froze as the big one was coiled up and the little one was raised up.
I did not have to move my rifle hardly at all and I shot the little one and his head was shot off and was hanging by a flap of skin.
I reloaded, remember this was a single shot so…. I shot the big one as it was reared up and had it’s mouth wide open. It was really cottony white and I could see those 2 Fangs.
I shot that one right in the mouth down into it’s body.
It may have been a single shot but I was shooting some follow up shots right quick – I can tell you.

Another time at my Grandparents Farm – a big long Coachwhip came out from under their house (built on Pier & Beam) and I was maybe 10 or 11 at the most probably younger. Well, even though Coachwhips are good – I was young and it was a snake.
So I ran inside and got my Grandfathers old Stevens 16 Gauge Single shot shotgun and I ran out to get the snake.
The snake was heading out to the pasture fast – with me right behind it.
Then that Coachwhip stopped and turned around and reared up and started towards me while reared up. Looked like a movie monster to me and he was coming fast.
Anyway, I drew down on him and that was that.

Another time, my Dad and I was Frog Gigging in early Spring at our Lake House in East Texas. I was about 14 year old and I always had a shotgun in the Boat – but that night I did not.
Well, it was Spring and the Frogs and the Snakes was out.
You can smell the Cotton Mouths sometimes – a heavy almost dead foul smell and we were smelling that smell. Well we was easing along shining the light for Frogs and there was a big Cottonmouth come right at the Jon Boat – and went to raising up to get in the boat. I beat Hell out of the Snake with the Paddle to run it off. We then decided to call it a night – ha!

My Dog Major, was at the Lake House and got bit in the nose by a Copperhead one night. Very fortunate it was not a Cottonmouth as that would have been it for Major.
As it was his Nose and face swelled up huge. We took him to the Vet the next morning and he gave him a shot and Major lived.
It was Hell on the snakes after they bit my dog. Ha !

At the Lakehouse again, I was asleep on the Couch after I had got up real early to fish and come back in towards noon to eat and take a nap.
My Dad came in and got me as there was a Snake in the yard.
My Dad did not shoot much and I had been hunting since I could barely hold a rifle – literally. Anyway, I grabbed my shotgun and went out and shot the snake. No big deal, until a few minutes later my Dad came in and said the Snake was crawling off. Huh ??
Well, I had used a very light Skeet load of #9 shot on the Copperhead the first shot. It had stunned him but did not tear him up like normal.
The 2nd shot was a #6 Squirrel and Duck load and that was that.

I always or near always carried a shotgun in the boat when I was fishing as the Cottonmouths would sometimes drop from limbs overhanging the Banks and if you was not careful you could have one drop on you or in the boat. I never had one in the boat but I have them drop might close….You would hear them dropping / splashing just ahead of you and know it was snakes.

I was never bit, but I did wear Snake Leggings a lot of the time, especially when squirrel hunting in the Bottoms and along the rivers and creeks and the edges of the lake(s).

One time at Engeling Wildlife Preserve, we were squirrel hunting in the Spring Season – so snakey and we were in the bottoms. I was wearing Snake Leggings and again I had stopped to watch and listen and looked down there as a big Copperhead at the end of my barrel of my shotgun right at my feet. All I had to do was take the safety off and squeeze the trigger.

Another time at the Farm we were picking wild Plums. These were in thickets with lots of Briars and Blackberry bushes all around thick. One of my Uncles went to hollering – and a big Coachwhip had come out of the Tree on his hand as he was picking Plums and the snake went up his arm over his shoulder and really startled my Uncle.

Another time we was fishing on the Lake Fork Creek before they damned it up and made Lake Fork Lake. We had set out trot lines and throw lines the night before and was checking them at first light. There was fog on the water and I was at the front of the boat and lifted up a Throw Line and there was a big Snake on the Line ! I about had a heart attack. The Snake had drowned and was stiff. But when I pulled it up in the early light thru the Fog – it scared Hell out of me for sure.

When I had started out in the Oilfield in West Texas – I was a young Kid Company Man on Drilling Rigs for Cities Service Oil Company. I was on a rig way out in the Permian Basin and it was early spring. On a warm day the Rattle Snakes would come out to sun on the Caliche Lease Roads. I used to walk the roads and shoot them in the head with my 22 pistol to get the Rattles. This was not far from Sweetwater, Tx where they hold the Rattle Snake jamboree’s every year. Point being there is beaucoup Rattle Snakes in West Texas.

Many year later in Equatorial Guinea – we had Green and Black Mamba’s and sometimes they would be on the Compound we lived at. Those things scared / scare me bad, especially the Black Mambas. We had Mango and Avacodo Tree’s in our yards. The snakes like to live and nest in the trees.

There were afew Green and Black Mambas killed over the years – one on the front Porch of one of the Expats. I always walked and looked real careful and so did ms gamboolgal as she was living over there with me by then. Pic of one the Black Mambas that my men killed below. This was in 2008.



We also had Pythons that would sometimes come out of the jungle to the compound to hunt rats, tree squirrels and dogs/cats. Well one time there was big Python that the locals beat to death in the front yard of one of our neighbors. I was offshore as usual but ms gamboolgal and several of the other expat wives and men went to see the snake. It was close to 8’ or 9’ long and several of the expats layed down beside it to get there picture took. Well before long the snake woke up and crawled off and the ladies and men went shrieking down the street. Ha ! The locals had only stunned it by beating it with sticks. Ha !

Here's one from out in West Texas - big one, they like the Rabbits out there for sure and this rascal was well fed. Had 12 Buttons.


I got to stop for now as I'm getting snakes in my head. But lots more snake stories

But I will see can I find the pictures of all of the Cottonmouths that was washed out to Sea from the Marshes into the Gulf of Mexico when Hurricane Katrina hit and the snakes crawled up on the Platforms - it was like a bad B grade horror movie - gives me the heebeeejeeebies just thinking about .
I will see can I find them as they are impressive !