Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Real Bad Snake

I got really hot clearing some brush this weekend, so I jumped in the pond for a swim. When I came to the other shore, a pretty big head of a Copperheaded Rattlemocassin popped out of the water about 5 ft away from me. Now I know that it was a Copperheaded Rattlemocassin, because as my friend tells me that that is the name of any snake that scares the heck out of you. Apparently, they come in variety of colors, shapes and sizes.

Normally, my yellow lab swims circles around me, when I go for a swim. This time he didn't stand a chance, as I was hightailing it out of there so fast that I must have hydroplained.

Yeah we got some pretty mean ones here in Bama also. Mine decided to come out from between the brick veneer and the cinder block as I was crawling through the access under the house. I think I dented the 1/4 inch steel framing of the crawl space when I saw him eye to eye at about 1 foot distance!

Ed,

I took the liberty of looking up Copperheaded Rattlemocassin and found the following information.

Copperheaded Rattlemocassin: Scientific name; "Frightenicus poopinensius". Prefers warm stagnant waterways, original range from Hico, Texas north through East Central Indiana and some embedded populations near Malinta, Ohio. Extremely dangerous and venemous. Once considered extinct, it now thrives in man-made ponds throughout North America. Primary forage is Aquamax Grower 600, tilapia and white amur. Only means of eradication is to prepare an aluminum sulfate/gypsum mix and apply liberally throughout pond. Show extreme caution around this species.

Bruce ya crack me up, I had to pick myself off the floor!

Bob

My girlfriend always looks at me like I am crazy, but while I was reading Ed's post and Bruce's reply my DOG looked at me like I was crazy. Probably had something to do with me falling out of my chair laughing.

While I didn't find any results when I searched for Copperheaded Rattlemocassin I can relate because ANY snake that pops up within 10 feet of me triples my heart rate.

BTW, Ed,, You have one smart dog.

Bruce, You are unnecessarily scaring people. I have found that a daily ration of Heavy (not light) Budweiser pretty well keeps them at a distance. It must work pretty well. I've never been bitten.

I did however, kill a 47 inch rattlesnake recently. 13 rattles and a button. I wasn't scared though. It was late afternoon and I had already taken my JUJU juice snakebite preventer.

I think that Bruce and Dave Davidson are trying to use satire to create a laugh for all of us.

W. Robinson seems to have missed the joke. As far as I can tell, no snakes have been injured to this point. :rolleyes:

Protection will only get you so far. Protection is not guaranteed. In the great state of Alabama some matters are handled on a one on one, need to know basis. God bless the snakes and water turkeys...............kill them all!

I don't know of any law protecting snakes in GA...we kill any and ALL poisonous snakes we come accross...

This post amuses me because anywhere I am with whomever I am with, the snakes are always poisonous. They stay that way until I show them a picture in my Texas Snakes book. Next time I'll have to patronize them with the "copperheaded rattlemoccasin" term. Of the coral variety.

The only good snake is a dead snake

Honest mister game warden I have no idea how he got under my tires!

Well, now that there is another snake topic going. I have a new story, 2 days ago i was moving a car tire which I have placed on one of my small trees to keep it from floating away until it gets waterlogged. After carefully moving the tire, I saw a small tail pull inside the tire,(the tire is kinda flattened out due to something that was on it in the dump where i got it. I got a stick and started prying on it to open it a bit so i could see inside it. Being the snakecatching fool that I am. I saw a baby watersnake crawling so i raised the tire up to make him fall down to the bottom where it was more open and i could check him out a little close to make sure he wasnt a copperhead. Thats when i saw a larger head pop out of the water in the bottom of the tire. Another older, larger watersnake, then i got to prying around on the flatter part of the tire again and found a full grown, approximately 2 ft long watersnake. 3 snakes in one tire!!! well, not knowing if there may be another snake, perhaps a copperhead inside i just added my other tree to the top of the one already in the water and carefully put the tire back on top. Otherwise i would have dug em out and carried them away from my land and pond and put em out. I never kill snakes unless poisonous and in the immediate area of my house,etc. I have a huge respect for them, most of them are very helpful to the natural balance of things. perhaps not a watersnake though since they mainly eat fish and such. But nonwater snakes that eat rats and such are a very important pest controller. Anyway, just an hour or so ago i went to push my flatbottom out to go sink some more things in my pond and concentrating on where i wanted to sink them, and not paying attention, when i started pushing the boat out, about 2 feet from my foot was a medium sized water moccassin. Lucky for me he didn't hang around, he sit for about a second and took off into the water. He could have probably gotten me if he wanted. That was very stupid for me to not be thinking about that. As everybody i'm sure knows, snakes favorites spots are under landed boats. I'm always very very cautious when doing such things because i am a snake catcher but this time i wasn't focused and am lucky i didnt get bitten. It only takes one slip up and and today it happened. Im just glad he decided to take off instead of fight. Everybody be careful!!! This post ended up alot longer than it was supposed to be. Sorry lol Time to try and round up some snakes and get em away from my pond now. I'll be more careful this time, don't worry.

Being the snakecatching fool that I am. I saw a baby watersnake crawling so i raised the tire up to make him fall down to the bottom where it was more open and i could check him out a little close to make sure he wasnt a copperhead.

Didnt think the copperhead was a watersnake.

I haven't made any yet, but I plan on putting one on my dam and few in the back 40. Snake Traps

A buddy of mine was hunting in the National forest one morning. Moving through a thicket he stepped over a log and heard the rattle of a 4' timber rattler. He eased his gun down and killed it. Went on his way and shortly got back to the road where his truck was. A game warden was waiting and asked what he shot at. He told the truth thinking it was self defense. The game warden started writing him a ticket. After some discussion the game warden went with him to "the scene of the crime". Studied the the dead snake and its proximity to his boot print and finished writing the ticket. Moral of the story--LIE or get snake bit.

In Texas ? I may be way off the mark here, but I'm betting my Game Warden would trade shots with me, first head shot wins. With kids & dogs, there's no room for deadly snakes on my property...he better have a thick ticket book too...just keep writing as I reload.

A few weeks ago I built a bench out of a couple of logs and a 2X12 and put it by the waterfall at the creek. Last weekend I went by there to look it over and take a break, as I was doing some spring improvements at the dam farther up the creek. When I sat down, I looked over at the waterfall and there was a piece of old plywood stuck in between the two large rocks that form the spillway. Well, we can't have that, so I jumped down onto the creekbed to get rid of it.

Now, I'm always telling people how I'm not afraid of snakes and how beneficial they are and all that. Well, when I jumped down there, I accidentally stepped right next to a very large one. He jumped and looked like he was coming at me, and I just about p****d my pants. I let out a yell and started falling all over myself trying to get away from that thing in my rubber boots! I nearly fell in the creek, stumbled and scrambled up the creekbed in the opposite direction making all possible haste. By the time I caught my breath and went back to see if I could find him, he was gone... somewhere. He scared me so bad that in my scramble to get away I didn't even realize it was a large, healthy copperhead!

So, I guess I AM scared of snakes when I d*** near step on a big fatty. "The copperhead prefers forested areas with rocky bluffs and ravines." (My back yard.) Haven't seen him again, though. And only one mocassin, when Ivan came through.

I had the same type of experience yesterday. I have an aluminum boat pulled up on the bank. I sat down on it and a large snake came out from under it and over my foot. Every gland in my body was barfing adrenalin. I thought of Ed and the copper headed rattle mocassin.

I am another that has been lying to myself about not being scared of snakes.

I'm building a snake den on our property so that we can have more snakes. To many people, this sounds absolutely crazy, I know.

We don't have any venomous snakes in this part of the state. We also don't have any water snakes which are really the most agressive. That means there really isn't any danger from any of these snakes. If people freak out because they see a snake, I'll help them deal with it.

There are all kinds of beneficial things that snakes do. I also like diversity and snakes are certainly part of that.

I definitely don't buy into the idea that "the only good injun is a dead injun" type of thinking. There's a time and place for everything

Boy I can't BELIEVE what I'm Reading here.....WOW!!!

Norm, I agree 100% with you. I don't even kill rattlesnakes unless they are in the general vicinity of the house or pond. I've already killed my pickup load just like I have with jackrabbits. The biggest problem I have is when they make me hurt myself.

You know, at 62 YOA, I have never met anyone who has been snakebit. I expect others have different experiences. To date, I have only met 2 seriously agressive rattlesnakes and 2 cottonmouths. With the exception of these 4 snakes, they are usually happy to be left alone. That has not always been true with peoples puppy dogs.

One bit of advice as far as aluminum boats in ponds. I sometimes forget to do this myself, but before climbing aboard and possibly having an unwelcomed "boating buddy" shake the boat around, i've often had snakes inside the aluminum bench(s) in flatbottom boats. If you shake the boat around they usually start crawling around and in a flatbottom u can hear them rubbing against the metal due to it being so thin. Just a tip to hopefully save somebody from the dreadful "unwelcomed boating buddy" not fun to find a snake in the boat with u out in the middle of the water. That means, TIME FOR A QUICK, UNPLANNED DIP!!!! LOL

Good tip Keven. We once turned over a little john boat and there was a big mink stuck under the seat. I guess there was a big enough gap between the seat and the boat bottom for him to squeeze in when it was upside down but not right side up. We wound up getting something to pry the seat up against the boat bottom so he could squeeze out. He wasn't happy. Assume he was there hunting mice as mice messing up Styrofoam under seats had been a problem.

My big fear when turning over my boat or canoe is a skunk.