Dumbest Things People Have Said About Your Chickens/Eggs/Meat

[Irishhenman]

Aren't red belly blacks an elapid (cobra relative)?


I was always amused by folks who insisted that snakes were "venomous, not poisonous." Of course, I used to live in Oregon where we have garter snakes that retain enough newt venom in their livers to poison foxes, crows, and other small predators that eat them. As a kid we knew that rattlesnakes were bad if they bit you, and you didn't let little tiny dogs eat garter snakes near creeks. Of course, the ideal was to teach the fool dog to leave all snakes strictly alone.

In all fairness though there are only two species of snake that are actually poisonous, garter snakes and rhabdophis snakes. In most cases venomous is the correct word.

 

[enola]

Garter snakes are NOT venomous.

 

[vehve]

Garter snakes are NOT venomous.

From Wikipedia:
"Garter snakes were long thought to be nonvenomous, but recent discoveries have revealed they do, in fact, produce a mild neurotoxic venom.[5] Garter snakes cannot kill humans with the small amounts of comparatively mild venom they produce, and they also lack an effective means of delivering it. They do have enlarged teeth in the back of their mouths, but their gums are significantly larger.[6][7] TheDuvernoy's gland of garters are posterior (to the rear) of the snake's eyes.[8] The mild venom is spread into wounds through a chewing action."

 

[Papas Chickens]

From Wikipedia:
"Garter snakes were long thought to be nonvenomous, but recent discoveries have revealed they do, in fact, produce a mild neurotoxic venom.[5] Garter snakes cannot kill humans with the small amounts of comparatively mild venom they produce, and they also lack an effective means of delivering it. They do have enlarged teeth in the back of their mouths, but their gums are significantly larger.[6][7] TheDuvernoy's gland of garters are posterior (to the rear) of the snake's eyes.[8] The mild venom is spread into wounds through a chewing action."

Garter Snakes are not venomous per se but they do retain toxins from there prey as The Yakima kid mentioned, such as newts, salamanders, frogs, ect. Now Gopher Snakes can be both poisonous and or venomous do to the fact that they eat small prey such as newts, salamanders, frogs, ect along with your average mouse, small rat, small gophers, ect. But one fact that most people do not know and should is that a Gopher Snake can and will hibernate with Rattlesnakes and also breed with them witch in fact can make the hybrid just as dangerous as a Rattlesnake. In my 30+ years as a reptile keeper and a freelance herpetologist i have seen 3 Gopher Snakes with fangs and venom glands witch makes the Gopher Snake venomous to humans and animals.

 

[bigmrg74]

Good for them. I hope they win, and I hope they get millions in damages.

I am so tired of animal advocates. They are harassing a woman who lives a mile or two from our Nevada place because her horses stand in horse flops by the feed trough every night, starting at about 4PM, and stay there until she gets home and feeds them. They insist she needs to clean up every flop out of if falls out of Dobbin's rump. And she's mean because she keeps her horses walking when they make horse flops while being ridden.

If they're that worried about a horse standing in its own poop, then why doesn't the lady ask them to help her out in cleaning out that horse's pasture every day?? They go thru a week or two of that nonsense and then maybe they'll realize that it really doesn't bother the horses that much, they just wants to get fed.

 

[lazy gardener]

Wow! Great read regarding snakes! Gopher snake x rattler.... hmmm. Does that make it a GMO snake!!!! I can tell you that about 30 years ago, I chased down a large garter snake, finally caught him in a ditch. Caught him to show my kids that snakes are not harmful. Well, the ungrateful creature did not want to be the object of a nature lesson, so he hauled off and bit me. I can tell you that they don't have fangs, but they do have raspy jaws. I got quite an abrasion from that bite, and it burned for days before it finally healed completely. Since I've had chickens, I have not seen a frog, toad, or snake in my yard. Coincidence??? I miss them. Other reptile/rodent trivia for the day. Did you know that chipmunks will eat frogs? I caught one in the act, sitting on my wood pile happily gnawing on a frog... he'd already eaten the arms and legs off the frog.

 

[SpringPeeper]

Garter Snakes are not venomous per se but they do retain toxins from there prey as The Yakima kid mentioned, such as newts, salamanders, frogs, ect. Now Gopher Snakes can be both poisonous and or venomous do to the fact that they eat small prey such as newts, salamanders, frogs, ect along with your average mouse, small rat, small gophers, ect. But one fact that most people do not know and should is that a Gopher Snake can and will hibernate with Rattlesnakes and also breed with them witch in fact can make the hybrid just as dangerous as a Rattlesnake. In my 30+ years as a reptile keeper and a freelance herpetologist i have seen 3 Gopher Snakes with fangs and venom glands witch makes the Gopher Snake venomous to humans and animals.

I think you may have been fooled by rattlers with aberrant patterns. It is not possible for an egg-laying species and a live-birthing species to produce young, despite the rumors about silkies being half Maltese.

This is an urban myth.

 

[Papas Chickens]

I think you may have been fooled by rattlers with aberrant patterns. It is not possible for an egg-laying species and a live-birthing species to produce young, despite the rumors about silkies being half Maltese.

This is an urban myth.

No im sure they were Gopher Snakes i had many herpetologists review and study my findings and they also said what i stated. Just like a Lyre Snake can interbreed with a Hog Nose Snake witch studies show are possible with certain breeds. Anything is possible in nature, take for instance the Komodo Dragon can reproduce without breeding or the Seahorse were the males are the one that gives birth to its young not the female or the Platypus that is a mammal but lays eggs and produces venom and has a duck bill and beaver tail, go figure.

 

[vehve]

Quote: Anyone who says God doesn't have a sense of humor should take a look at the platypus.

 

[SpringPeeper]

No im sure they were Gopher Snakes i had many herpetologists review and study my findings and they also said what i stated. Just like a Lyre Snake can interbreed with a Hog Nose Snake witch studies show are possible with certain breeds. Anything is possible in nature, take for instance the Komodo Dragon can reproduce without breeding or the Seahorse were the males are the one that gives birth to its young not the female or the Platypus that is a mammal but lays eggs and produces venom and has a duck bill and beaver tail, go figure.

Can you show me one of those studies, please? Which herpetologists? I'm not finding this ground-breaking research in the archives of the herpetology journals I am subscribed to, and science still considers it an impossibility, so you'll understand my interest in your verified proof. Which subspecies of gophers and rattlers were you studying?


Lyre snakes and Hognose snakes both lay eggs. I agree some snakes with the same birthing method can interbreed- I own some such specimens. But egg layers and live birthers cannot. Gophers lay eggs that have to incubate. Rattlers birth live baby snakes.