My tractor found a snake !

[mllud]

The vicious little yellow jackets that chase you across the field. By the time you realize you're in a nest your stung six times and running from attack. I hate those little buggers. I know we need bees but they are as aggressive as hornets.
It used to be the big bumble bees, but I haven't seen those in years.

 

[deserteagle71]

Interesting fact: snakes don't eat dead meat.

^ I've heard that before; I don't know who came up with this "fact", but it is not true.

I have a covered breezeway between my house and garage and during the hot summer months I have gopher snakes hanging out in there, out of the hot desert sun. There are mouse traps set in the garage at all times. If I find a mouse in a trap I remove it and put it down in front of one of the snakes and it will immediately scarf it down. Sometimes that mouse will have been dead for a day or two. I have a great video of this one swallowing the mouse - interesting how a neck as small as my little finger can expand to swallow, and to watch that mouse be moved down to the snake's belly. Too bad I can't post it on here.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Well, that is interesting. When I was young, scientists agreed that snakes did not eat dead animals. I was fascinated by snakes back then, and I read all sorts of books about snakes. That's how I got my information.

Now that someone here has disagreed, I have looked it up, and apparently the conventional wisdom changed in the 1980's. That was after my interest had dried up.

 

[Jstpssng]

Well, that is interesting. When I was young, scientists agreed that snakes did not eat dead animals. I was fascinated by snakes back then, and I read all sorts of books about snakes. That's how I got my information.

Now that someone here has disagreed, I have looked it up, and apparently the conventional wisdom changed in the 1980's. That was after my interest had dried up.

Most likely PITA told the snakes that it's cruel to eat live mice.

 

[MossRoad]

 

[garry1p]

If you watch it to the end he says its fun to feed the snakes.

I don't understand the "FUN" part.

 

[Joe1]

Why is a fear of snakes irraational?

sorry don't agree. maybe if venomous, otherwise relocate.
ophidiophobia: an intense irrational fear of snakes.

 

[big bubba]

Why is a fear of snakes irraational?

fair enough, it could be a matter for debate. my point is that while we all have our own fears, to carry out our particular fear (if we're not immediately threatened which is usually the case) and senselessly kill a snake because of our unfounded fear of snakes is irrational to me. not based on fact, just our own prejudice.

so it's not our fear of snakes itself i have problems with, but the actions we take to carry it out.

btw i lived in SLO for years, one of my favorite places on the planet, regards

 

[newbury]

Started my tractor, heard a clunk and smelled a funny smell

Watch out !

There goes another mouse trap.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I used to feed dead mice to snakes, but we were told to make them jump around to simulate life. A vet said to warm them up if necessary and smear them with egg yolk.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Why is a fear of snakes irraational?

A fear of anything that does no harm is irrational.

 

[MossRoad]

If you watch it to the end he says its fun to feed the snakes.

I don't understand the "FUN" part.

Imagining the mice are your enemies.

 

[MossRoad]

I used to feed dead mice to snakes, but we were told to make them jump around to simulate life. A vet said to warm them up if necessary and smear them with egg yolk.

I was watching that kid's video, and the 2nd snake came out and struck at the mouse before the kid was even looking. It smelled it and came out. Pretty interesting.

When I was a kid I had a friend that had snakes. That's the only reason I knew they'd eat dead animals.

 

[MossRoad]

When our children were young we had a birthday party for them at the local zoo. They brought in all kinds of animals for the kids to handle. One was about a 12' albino python. They let the kids handle it with supervision. But they told the kids they had to handle the snake first and then take it out of the room because if they let the kids handle the chinchilla first, they'd smell like dinner to the snake!

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I was taught you could trick them into eating dead animals but that they would not do it in the wild, where there was no one to tie strings to the mice.

 

[sunandsand]

I have a longtime client from St. Petersburg, Russia, who I have worked with since the late 1990s. He sells fur hats (think "Hunt for Red October"), nesting dolls, and other similar items on Amazon. He came over a few years ago with his son to go through his inventory, which is in my hangar.

We were visited by a four-foot-long snake, which turned out to be a harmless Black Racer. Black Racer snakes have a Napoleon complex: they don't back down from anything.

I didn't want to leave it in the building because I was afraid if I saw it later, I would be startled and might get hurt.

So I was able to catch it. Wearing a pair of gloves, I held it up just behind its head with one hand and about two-thirds of the way down its body with the other. It was thrashing wildly.

Junior took a cell phone video and e-mailed it to Mama, who was home in St. Petersburg. You could have heard her shrieks all the way from Russia without a cell phone.

I took the snake outside and released it. It made a mad dash—or maybe a mad slither—into the bushes and has not been seen since.

Unfortunately, "Made in Russia" is not a real good selling point right now, so the inventory sits. I am worried about them. Neither one can leave the country, and Junior is of prime military age. He's a good kid; he's smart, and it would be a tragedy if he became just another sacrifice in Putin's senseless war.

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida

 

[RB5]

ok this is pissing me off. I watched the same Academy d 5 times, because it would not give the screen back after I watched and closed it. I had to refresh my screen to be able to reply.

I'd rather my tractor eat a snake than have a squirrel make a nest under the hood. That rodent chewed up some sensor wires and caused my tractor to run very rough and have a stop light illuminate on the dash. I turned it off and called for service. It cost me $3k or so to get that fixed. I'm not completely sure, because I had service and a couple other things done that pushed me up to $5k.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

It would take an awful long time to run up a $3K - $5K cat food and vet bill for my three cats!

They are very good at there job!

Plus I'd rather snuggle with a cat than a snake!!!

 

[masseyrider]

Unfortunately, "Made in Russia" is not a real good selling point right now, so the inventory sits. I am worried about them. Neither one can leave the country, and Junior is of prime military age. He's a good kid; he's smart, and it would be a tragedy if he became just another sacrifice in Putin's senseless war.

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida

Kinda sorta like the war with Iran?

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Imagine if we had turned on FDR after a month.