Little brother and the snake

[Jstpssng]

I’m not a fan of snakes either, but keep telling myself they are part of a plan. Last spring I was out looking over my lumber pile and found 7 snake skins in it. Two of the skins still were occupied.

 

[kenmbz]

I like having mice catchers and bug eaters, like the little one below from earlier in the week.
But copperheads have scared me a few times. Wakes you right up.
Luckily we don't see too many here.

Like the brother story- memories like that are a lifetime of telling and tell about family and friendship.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I've had a few startling episodes with snakes, to start off with I don't like snakes, if I see one several feet away I can deal with them with no issues.
Once when out in Idaho while shoveling out an irrigation ditch on a steep bank with a round pointed shovel tossing the dirt up on the high side I tossed a shovel full up on a rattler, he buzzed, I jumped and the shovel did a good job dicing the snake up.
Out hunting one day and climbing up a rock ledge all of a sudden I could smell a disgusting smell looked down in a good sized crack in the ledge and it was full of a mass of copper heads. Came back a couple of days latter and eradicated them.
A few times over the years keeping a plow truck just for plowing and sanding in the winter, they were parked all summer long. Tried all the different methods of keeping the mice out, dryer sheets, peppermint oils all the common ideas including decon and such. It seemed like every two or three years when I would get the trucks started for the first time in the fall a garter snake or two would come slithering out. One year plowing for the first time with the heater working and the windows down for fresh air, plowing away back and forth and all of a sudden about a 2 foot long snake wrapped around and climbing up my leg, never did figure out just how I got out of the truck that morning without crashing it.

I'm glad you mentioned the smell; most folks don't know that copperheads can give off a nauseating musk...not unlike an old out house in the sun.

I once went to a snake handler lecture/demonstration on rattlesnakes. He told the story of one of his older, larger snakes that he used for his demos...he said it was like an old tame dog...until one day, it bit him on the hand. In a reverse quirk of fate, the snake died a couple days later. Turns out, upon autopsy, it was sick, which apparently caused its aberrant behavior...and its death.

The pictures of his hand were awful; it swelled so much the skin began to split, and they had to cut the skin to allow it to swell.

 

[reb]

Back in the dark ages, when I was in my mid teens, I went with some friends to hunt grouse. I found a small garter snake, which I carried home in a tobacco can. I kept it in a jar in my closet. It got out and I told my brother to not say anything because I figured we would find it. When I was gone, my uncle, who was terrified of snakes, came visiting. My dad told my brother to show my uncle "the thing Gene brought home." My brother was forced to admit it had gotten out. My uncle immediately left. My mother was waiting for me when I got home and I had to find and get rid of the snake.