NOT what you want to wake up to.

okay, so yesterday my kids brought in a snake. you can read the whole story here .


SO this morning I went out and killed it, fed it to the hogs. and have been sick all day. I woke up puking. Feel like crap, so I decided to take a small nap.

then Rayley just came out of her room and woke me up with a snake that was brown on top and green on bottom, just like the one they brought home last night.
It took me a second or 60 to realize this was just a beanie baby snake. it looked JUST like the one they suprised me with yesterday.

I would have opened that last bottle of Boones farm, but we have baseball tonight.
Do you think Rusk (the mental hospital ) takes applications?

It was bad enough when they did it to me with out knowing it. you can read it here.

Sorry, I didnt copy and paste, but, with out the pictures its not the same.


I deal with snakes okay. I dont freak and scream, or have a heartattack. UNLESS, my head is elsewhere, like when I was alseep today, or looking for something in a bedroom in the other story.

I just hope that my kids dont decide to start searching OUT snakes to feed the pigs...

I swear, if you survive them kids you deserve a medal, or flowers, or a case of wine....Geez


Seriously, it must be snake season. This morning I picked up Bay's friend, and her little sister. The little one is 3, I am dropping her off at daycare for a week or two. Anyway, the 3yo tells me
Lexy has a rattle moccasin in her pack pack
Lexy tell her to shut UP!
I ask Lex, do you have a snake in your backpack?
Yes ma'am, but it's a little one, only a few inches long.
SHOW ME!
I look, and yes, it is a water mocassin, not a cotton mouth, the other kind, and a baby one too, even worse. So I tell her to dump it out. She looks at Bay and says, "WE got a whole slew of them in the pond, tomorrow we will get another one"....

I just finished reading your blog when I came here and saw this. I'm with Erin. I would just have died about 3 years ago. No way I could have lasted this long with them.

Geez, that sounds like alot to go through for a couple pork chops. You should check out the grocery store...you wouldn't have to wait a year and a half.

I think it is the weather, or all kids are Addlepated, or they have lost their bloody freakin minds or something.

i REALLY don't think the state mental hospital would be much fun, but this place would be.....

http://www.escondidaresort.com/spa.shtml

I have lived in Maine all my life and have only seen two garden snakes, less then 10 in long. It's just too cold up here I guess...I envy all the warm weather all of you in the south seem to have, but I do not envy the snakes, alligators, crocs, and other miscellaneous creepy-crawlies that you get down there that we don't get up here.

It must be in the air. Inlaws have a herd (no idea what to call them, but there are about 12) garden snakes that live in the crack under there front step. They like to come out and sun themselves. They scare me constantly, I know they are harmless but just seeing it slither by jolts me, every time. Saturday we were down at the garage and Saige went up to use the bathroom and came back with two of them, one in each hand. ugh

LOL ERin! Thats pretty bad!! She is gona regret that snake bite!!

The creepy crawlies dont bother me as long as I am half way expecting them- its the suprises that kill me! LOL

Karen, there are times when I wonder why my kids are so bound and determined to send me over the edge. Whats funny is BR is pretty much scared to death of snakes. He will kill them, but mostly cause he is freaking out.

Thats why I ddint kill this one till this morning. He just ignored me each time I said something about it last night. Mostly because his 'male ego' made him know that if it was done while he was home, he had to do it (not true) The first thing he asked me this morning was "you killed that snake yet?"
Now this is a hunter, a man who can deal with lots of stuff, but he cant deal with a snake.
I am the same way with Spiders. truthfully.

But its best if they bring these things home when its just me. LOL

oh and you can be guarenteed that when they are all grown, there will be something happen for me. I will DEMAND a party. a HUGE "I GOT THEM GROWN" party.

Lucky, oh but I will be paying CENTS on the dollar for my pork, AND it will taste like pork used to. Not the watered down version of yucky fat infested, steriod fed pretend pigs you buy at the store.
As a matter of fact, my mouth is watering right now for a REAL chicken egg. a fresh one. Not a 3 month old one you get at piggly wiggly. The yolks are BRIGHT yellow, they stand UP, and they have such a rich flavor.

If I could just make my kids milk a cow, I would have it made. Cause real cows milk is absolute heaven. LOL

oh Tara, my kids would just DIE if they could have some snakes that lived here and they could play with them.

But even garden snakes will kill my chickens, or eat the eggs, so .... LOL

My philosophy on snakes is "there has never been a good snake unless its a dead snake"

BR also wont let them have hamsters or a guinie pig, says he aint buyin no rat and we aint gettin one for the house. LOL of course he HATES my rope snake in the fish tank. Its a fish that looks like a snake. He wont even look in there anymore. LOL

Thank GOD he also shot down the iquana. they BEGGED for that.

I can leave snakes alone when they aren't bothering me. The kids had a "pet" snake one summer. Not in the house, they just found it outside every day and lugged it around and played with it. They named it Ned. The only time I freked out was when I came across a snake in the garage and it reared up at me. OH HELL NO! I got the rake and dragged it out of the garage and down the driveway and killed it. DH wasn't home, and if he had been he would have been more freaked out than me and I probably still would have had to kill it myself. DH doesn't do wildlife.

Ok chelle conviced me, we all should meet at her house in a year and a half...August approx. for pork chops, eggs and hopefully by that time, some fresh milk.

We have lots of snakes here. I try to ignore them as best I can. I did have to do battle a few times when I found big black snakes was in my chicken house. Those dang black snakes get really long and they are strong too! It nearly killed myself fighting those huge snakes, but I won both times. It is quite tough to kill a snake with a big stick, when the snake is fighting back, but like chelle, that snake was not getting my eggs no matter what! That is when I learned how bad snakes can stink! The smell comes out when they are stressed and what not.
My youngest has a story about the first time we went out and left her home alone. A snake got in the house and scared the crap out of her. She was on the computer and it dropped from above someplace, to the floor near her. She freaked out and called a neighbor to come help her.

There was a snake on our farm that we killed maybe 25 years ago. It looked an awful lot like a copperhead, but we weren't sure. Scott wanted to know for 100% sure so that if it was he could go on a snake killing rampage and if it wasn't he could just let the local population be. Anyhow I took the dead snake in to the biology dept of the local university and the professor who looked at it opened the bag. It was upside down and he said, I can tell you right now from looking at it's belly that it's not a copperhead. Let me flip it over and tell you what innocent creature you killed instead. So he flips it over and says, Holy shit! That's a copperhead! But then he pryed open one eye and said it wasn't. Venomous snakes in this region all have pupils like a cat's eye, with a vertical slit. Non-venomous ones have round pupils. That one looked exactly like a copperhead from the top, except round pupils. I told him thanks, but I was not getting close enough to a live snake to see it's pupils if it looked that much like a copperhead.

That being said, I don't raise livestock so I wouldn't knowingly kill a snake unless I believed it was dangerous. I like living things. I used to watch Steve Irwin all the time and despite the fact that he was kind of nuts and his wife should have locked him in a box, I do share his love of animals doing their thing. Snakes are good when they're not in the house or near the livestock. They keep the rodents in check and I'd rather have snakes than rats.

I think us watching steve erwin is what has me in the place that I am right now. My kids grew up watching him. We watched BEFORE they were born.

BRett is so fast its scary... that kid; at 3 and 4 years old, could pluck a lizard out of the sky as it was jumping to get away from him. He CAUGHT a mouse once in the barn. He was maybe 2.

And they have that same stupid fearlessness that Steve had.. LOL

I can tell you, there was NOT a dry eye in our house when we found out he died. And when we watched his funeral thing on TV we were bawling again.

But I do blame my kids 'activities' on him. LOL

The day we were supposed to get married BR went squirrel hunting that morning. He had no more than stepped out into the woods that he stepped on a copperhead. needless to say he killed it. there are times he waxes poetic about 'what if he hadnt seen it adn it had bit him'... I tell him he would still be stuck with me. He'da just lost a leg in the process

I too love living things nature intriques me, but, I also like my dogs, cats, etc. and have seen what various wild animals can do to them, so basicly anything except a deer that comes up in my yard (and even them but for differnt reasons....) is treated like a potential rapist. Shoot now, then ask if they were just wanting to borrow the phone. LOL

But I have mountain lions, bobcats, rattle snakes, copperheads, water mocisians, coyotes (that come UP to the porch, and they tried to kill my dog. He survivied but was paralized for a long time. He still has issues), chicken hawks, (that have already gotten 3 chickens in less than a week....), piney woods rooters (these will tear up a dog, even kill it, DESTROY a garden, and run off 'good animals') and they just reintroduced bears. WHY? I dont know. THey have been gone from here for many manymany years. Its the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. ANd of course, we cant kill them during the 'introduction' period. so we are supposed to suffer through them. I mean this has worked so well for folks in Idaho with the wolves...

even squirrels aint real safe. Used to we only hunted them in the woods. I fed the ones at home. Till my aunt had thousands of dollars worth of damage to her car. They made a nest of her hoses and things, ate through her electical wires, etc. It was a disaster.

Crows eat the seeds from my garden, will steal eggs from my coop (its amazing to watch them do it. ) , and pick corn off the stalk. Coons, will slit the throat of a chicken, eat the head, then leave. doing this to dozens at a time. PLUS< they will eat all the corn, watermelons, okra, peas etc.
Skunks, well thats self explanitory, plus the rabies issue. and they 'tame' really easy. Not running from you like most wild animals.
Minks (again, chicken killers) , armadillos (who carry lepordsy, and are mean as a bear), they are all pests for me.

Now, if I am walking in the woods, hunting or just scouting and I see one of the above, (with a few exceptions), I wont just kill to kill. BUT, if I come home and see one here, I will sit up all night to catch adn kill it. Even deer will destroy an entire crop of peas in just a night or two.

Of course, like Karen said, we are in differnt situations. I do have things that even the cutest of wild animals will destroy (rabbits LOVE fresh veggies just coming up. Luckily, they taste good and you can kill them in any month with an R in it. ) And if you dont its a differnt situation.

I had pet snakes, a red tailed boa and a couple ball pythons. They don't bother me in a cages but I came to like the rats more so the snakes had to. Honey... I HATE that. My husband also starts projects and does not finish them, there is a hole in the bathroom ceiling. I got up with the kids one morning a couple months ago (this is never good- I do NOT function I am just in a daze til about 10) anyway I went in the downstairs bathroom to pee and while I was on the toilet a mouse dropped out of the ceiling hit my shoulder and got tangled in my bathrobe. I was screamed and freaked like there was an ax murderer after me. Mice do not bother me, except when they land in my clothing while I am peeing.

Rabbits.... grrr I hate the damn things. They destroy my garden eat my berries. There are thousands, the cat loves it, keeps her occupied day and night. The dogs tend to keep the deer away, we will catch a couple first thing in the morning every now and then. No bears here but at camp (in the Adirondacks) it is not unusual to spot a few in the yard a day. when we were kids we all (me and 7 or 8 cousins) all slept on the screen porch. The bears never bothered anyone, they were pretty use to humans but we took turns all night standing guard to be sure no one was eaten.

::thud::

Chelle... I'm TERRIFIED of snakes. If I see something slither, I freak out and run.

So... you get rattlesnakes often in your neck of the woods? In the new walking trail by my house, they warn of coral snakes. ::shudder::

Amy, There is a timber rattler up here. its like 4 times as big as the diamond backs y'all get in south Texas. and its protected.

I dont know WHY its protected. they are ALL OVER the county next to me. (a river, or at least what WE call a river seperates us. My hubby runs them over in the woods all time time on accident.. )

But, you are not supposed to kill a Timber rattler. LOL

Actually, I have lived here since Jan 05, and this is the 4th snake we have 'seen' One came after bitties that I had in a cage, 2 were found down in the pasture. So far none have been poisiness.

Now, my MIL, 1/2 mile up the road, and my grandfather about 1/12 of a mile behind me, kill dozens of copperheads a year. I have just been lucky here. BUT this land never had ANYTHING on it. nothing. cows ran here 50 years ago. Thats it. so me bringing in chickens will bring them in.

The bitties a few years ago were out there less than 3 days before they got attacked. I have had these out about 4 or so days I think.
The dogs just usually keep them ran off from the imediate house area I think.

I would rather meet a rattler than a Coral, Coral will kill you.

We have Timber rattlers in our area, because they were endangered, so they released something like 200K of them a while back....Now they are BIG

Yep erin, pretty soon we will be cowering because of timber rattlers and bears. STupid freakin morons... Dont they know that we got rid of them for a REASON? LOL

Umm..... I guess I don't know why snakes are protected? They shouldn't be protected! They're DANGEROUS! I really don't know why God created them......

I'm scared to death of the coral snakes as well, but as long as I stay on the paved walkways and I'm aware of my surroundings, then I should be OK (hopefully....)

Coral snakes cannot bite you unless you grab them, their mouths are too small. They have to chew, no fangs, but are deadly,.....like within a very short time deadly.
Timber rattlers in your neck of the woods too but you hear them, and they are HUGE!

I shoot them, shhh don't tell.

amybeccaz wrote:Umm..... I guess I don't know why snakes are protected? They shouldn't be protected! They're DANGEROUS! I really don't know why God created them......

I'm scared to death of the coral snakes as well, but as long as I stay on the paved walkways and I'm aware of my surroundings, then I should be OK (hopefully....)

The reason they want to build up the population of some of these animals (snakes, wolves, etc.) is that they're apex predators. They eat all the other smaller animals. Wolves eat lots and lots and lots of small vermin like rats and mice, as well as some of the midsized stuff. The smaller animals carry a lot of diseases that impact humans. Rabies is treatable if you catch it in time, but a lot of the other diseases are becoming antibiotic resistant. If you can kill off the vermin, you can control the spread of the diseases. Apex predators are great for that. But of course they come with their own problems. They kill farm animals and can kill humans. But the thought is that we're in more danger from the out of control populations of small rodents carrying diseases than we are from the rare attacks on humans.

I guess we'll find out.

Its when the peta or PITA as I like to call them, get involoved in taking them OFF the endangered species list so they can be hunted, that your problems start. Its a known fact that if you dont hunt and controll them, they end up attacking things/people they shouldnt. And they end up starving to death.

A hunter is the biggest conservationalist you will ever meet.

I agree with that! I feel like hunters are almost always good stewards of the ecosystem. No hunter I know likes the idea of his favorite game going extinct. They WANT the animals to thrive and be there in the future. And yes, animals were hunted to extinction... a few hundred years ago. But in the modern age, animals that are legally hunted usually have healthier populations than those that no one is interested in.