My tractor found a snake !

[Suburban Plowboy]

Scorpions are the worst. I have been stung more than once in my own house, and I found one on my bed. I shake my shoes before putting them on, except when I'm feeling brave.

It's like having someone insert a sharp, red-hot wire in you and hold it there.

I once reached for a washcloth in the shower and had a scorpion fall out of it and sting me. Little ******* (illegitimate person).

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I have some encouraging news for everyone, as a person who used to keep pet pythons.

A snake can live in your house for a year without water. Doesn't bother them at all.

Sleep soundly, guys.

 

[bigtiller]

While in an attached garage one day in Arizona, I found a 3" long shinny bug that was an odd color. I'd never seen a bug like it. It appeared lifeless so I picked it up and went inside the house to asked the home owner what kind of bug it was.

About that time, the bug moved and the owner quickly grabbed a few paper towels, grabbed it out of my hand and squished it to death.

It was a scorpion that was nearly dead from the insecticide that they have professionally sprayed on a regular basis.

 

[big bubba]

I've never run across a scorpion here in Arkansas, but no question, would do away with it in house or around compound. the brown recluse is another one not welcome in house, otherwise i leave alone outside.

my understanding is that the venomous reaction to a bite of either above depends on one's immune system. but i don't care to test that on either venomous snakes, scorpions, or spiders.

with young children around (gone many years hence) i'd always err to caution around the immediate environs, tho i try to relocate any snake i find around with welding gloves, a snake stick, etc.

 

[kenhar]

That is one really nice thing about living in the Northern Tier....a lot of cold blooded things just do not like the place. One worry is continued warming might allow a few to migrate a bit further and that is not to my liking.

One thing about where I live, a couple times of the year, we actually witness snake migrations as they seek out cavernous areas to overwinter in. We see them in spring sometimes, but mostly on road surfaces in the fall, where they can lay and gather warmth, during their trek.

I live in central Arkansas. 40 years ago, we didn't have armadillos, but they came north. 20 years ago we didn't have fire ants, but we do now. They run off the armadillos and about everything else that live close to the ground. I've seen armadillos on the hi way in Missouri, so they are moving north. You'll have them and the fire ants in your kid's lifetime.

 

[big bubba]

I live in central Arkansas. 40 years ago, we didn't have armadillos, but they came north. 20 years ago we didn't have fire ants, but we do now. They run off the armadillos and about everything else that live close to the ground. I've seen armadillos on the hi way in Missouri, so they are moving north. You'll have them and the fire ants in your kid's lifetime.

well for me armadillos are no problem (unless i contract leprosy). my observation and concern is the declined wildlife around here for over 40+yrs
(& my place has 4 ponds, wet natured)

my biggest gripe...feral hogs. i have no prob with doing away with any of them (not snakes re: the thread's subject). but even exterminating one hog makes no dent in their prolific breeding. & i think hogs pose a much greater risk of communicable diseases than the danger of snakes, spiders, scorpions, or even armadillos. regards,
& yes, we're leaving our kids a mess btw

 

[duke7595]

Most snakes smell like dead animals while alive. I'm sure he stunk being ground up like that. He won't bother you anymore.
Snakes eat mice, we need more critters that eat mice. Mice chew up wiring and crap everywhere. Cats eat mice and kill snakes.
More cats but I wish that they didn't crap everywhere. Vicious circle!

I let two Ferrel cats stay at my place out of necessity.
I tolerate snakes also even though when one surprises me the hair on the back of my neck stands up and I sometimes do a little dance to get away.


I saved a frog from a snake last week, I threw a rock and it let loose of the frog's leg. I have never heard a frog scream like that. Leopard frog, mosquito eater. I like skeeter eaters.
Life in the sticks includes critters.
I kill all opossums, as a kid me and a friend were poking at dead bloated opossum with sticks, I poked through its hide and all that gas hit us both in the face. We both got sick gagging and vomiting. Six-year-old boys learning a lesson in life. Careful what you poke at.

Perhaps you should re-think the killing of opossum's. If you find a possum in your yard, it is generally beneficial to leave it be, as they often help manage populations of pests like cockroaches, snakes, and rodents. Pest Control: They consume thousands of ticks per season (estimated at up to 5,000), which helps reduce the spread of Lyme disease.

 

[Tinhack]

That snake in the tractor was identifying as a fan belt, until his shiit hit the fan

One of my posts was deleted for using an inference. I guess they let the new guys off easier.

 

[GrandpaSmurf825]

I have some encouraging news for everyone, as a person who used to keep pet pythons.

A snake can live in your house for a year without water. Doesn't bother them at all.

Sleep soundly, guys.

Just because it can doesn't mean it will.....

 

[GrandpaSmurf825]

Perhaps you should re-think the killing of opossum's. If you find a possum in your yard, it is generally beneficial to leave it be, as they often help manage populations of pests like cockroaches, snakes, and rodents. Pest Control: They consume thousands of ticks per season (estimated at up to 5,000), which helps reduce the spread of Lyme disease.

You didn't read the thread or you would know that it's totally false about ticks and Opossums. So I will post the link again.

Debunking the Myth: Opossums Don’t Eat Ticks

<p>Researchers have debunked a popular meme about Virginia opossums eating ticks. Careful analysis of opossum stomach contents (yes, the work of some researchers!) revealed many items, including worms, a French fry, broken glass and a shrew…but no ticks.</p>

outdoor.wildlifeillinois.org

 

[big bubba]

Google Search

AI says:

 

[Eebbee]

The smell was horrendous , instant rotting dead meat smell.

Poor guy was still squirming when I pulled him out.

That is weird...The smell you are referring to is the smell of a "ripe" cadaver. A freshly killed animal should only smell of blood and sometimes viscera, for road kill, but the "dead meat" smell takes at the very least, a few hours to develop in high temp conditions.
Having the dead meat smell along with a still wiggling corpse would suggest that there was something else, already dead for a while, that got chopped up by a fan or pulley/belt combination. It turns out that copperheads are opportunistic feeders and sometimes will feed on already dead animals.
I suspect that this is what happened here. You started your tractor as the copperhead was eating a dead rat/cat/possum previously (a few days ago) killed by your fan.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

That is weird...The smell you are referring to is the smell of a "ripe" cadaver. A freshly killed animal should only smell of blood and sometimes viscera, for road kill, but the "dead meat" smell takes at the very least, a few hours to develop in high temp conditions.
Having the dead meat smell along with a still wiggling corpse would suggest that there was something else, already dead for a while, that got chopped up by a fan or pulley/belt combination. It turns out that copperheads are opportunistic feeders and sometimes will feed on already dead animals.
I suspect that this is what happened here. You started your tractor as the copperhead was eating a dead rat/cat/possum previously (a few days ago) killed by your fan.

Snakes secrete musk, and their poop doesn't smell great, either. Now, will this site's software let me say "poop"?

Interesting fact: snakes don't eat dead meat.

 

[superfarmerdad]

That is weird...The smell you are referring to is the smell of a "ripe" cadaver. A freshly killed animal should only smell of blood and sometimes viscera, for road kill, but the "dead meat" smell takes at the very least, a few hours to develop in high temp conditions.
Having the dead meat smell along with a still wiggling corpse would suggest that there was something else, already dead for a while, that got chopped up by a fan or pulley/belt combination. It turns out that copperheads are opportunistic feeders and sometimes will feed on already dead animals.
I suspect that this is what happened here. You started your tractor as the copperhead was eating a dead rat/cat/possum previously (a few days ago) killed by your fan.

I've smelled plenty of dead critters , big and small. Ones that have been dead a long time as well as ones I've just killed. I figured it was the intestines that where ripped open.

I've accidentally ruptures chicken and duck guts before and the smell was pretty bad too, but not like rotting meat.

 

[RayIN]

In regards to snakes, please correct me, 80% or more of bites occur at ankle or slightly above height. i just wear high boots.
to do away with a non venomous one on sight is irrational fear & conditioning simply b/c they are a serpent.

I once read a news story here in the state where a couple found a large rat snake close to house, immediately killing it uttering "stand back thy Satan". OMG ignorance knows no limits...

overall, since i moved to my place within the Ozark Nat Forest 49 yrs ago, i'm saddened to see a large decrease in snakes, amphibians, and multiple wildlife such as bats, martins, whip or wlls, quail, lightning bugs, and much more (even dung beetles) think it's related to a rapid decline in insect population given our extreme climate conditions.

while i knowledge the inherent fear some may have of snakes in general, i do not sympathize with the irrational compulsion to kill them simply b/c one has a pre conditioned fear of them not based on fact. let the sob's live (unless venomous ones pose a danger in your compound) ... they have an important role in nature...

So do flies and mosquitos and ticks.

 

[lman]

The only snakes around here are Garter snakes and they stink before they are dead. If you pick one up to move it so you don't mow it, your hands will stink.

 

[Yander]

The only snakes I've seen at my place are these puny garter snakes. I knew a guy that had such a fear of snakes, that he would run from a picture of one.
View attachment 5522165

I have a niece with this same fear of owls. She doesn't even want to see a picture of one. The human mind can be strange.

 

[Jstpssng]

That snake in the tractor was identifying as a fan belt, until his shiit hit the fan

I HATE it when somebody does this...
comes up with the perfect comment.


I always think of something catchy to say...
About 3 hours too late.

 

[Jstpssng]

I always keep the ladder (now steps) in the pool when the winter cover is off just to have a place for critters to get out if they fall in. Finding one dead squirrel swirling around on the bottom of the pool was enough.

The family homestead we just sold had a spring fed well with a concrete reservoir about 10x16, and 8 feet to the runoff. There were gaps in the cover so snakes would crawl in and get trapped. By the end of summer there would be about 1/2 dozen snakes in the bottom, in various states of decay. Sometimes they'd try to escape through the 1/2 inch overflow, plugging it so that water backed up to ground level before flowing out.
Thankfully the house had a good filtering system.

 

[Jstpssng]

So do flies and mosquitos and ticks.

As well as hornets...