MILK SNAKES! AHHHH maybe graphic

[babyboy1_mom]

IT IS ARE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT ALL LIVING CREATURES!!

I will agree with this, but I will also say that it is my first priority to protect my pets/family members. I believe that it is every pet owners responsibililty to protect the animals that are in their charge, however they feel the need to do so. I admit that I do not like any snakes. As long as they are out in the field, away from my home and coop, then they are free to do as they please. Would you not protect your horse or goat or other animal if there were a bear, mountain lion or such trying to get them? I know that snakes are like any wild animal that has to find food for themselve, but not on my flock or eggs.

I have had snakes go through the wire on my coop and couldn't get back out because they had eaten the eggs out of the nest and DH has killed them. DH just killed a water moccasin, not 20 feet from my doorstep. I have a 4 yr. old little boy that plays in my yard and he is more important than ANY snake.

I understand what all of you are talking about when you say that people should relocate the snake, but I am not getting close enough to snake to catch it to relocate it.

BTW, I do not believe that it has anything to do with ignorance. It has to do with fear, whether it is fear for yourself/family or your flock, doesn't matter. To me, that is the reason that most people kill snakes.

Dorothy

 

[carwinew]

The Fort Worth zoo herpetarium (snake house) had an exhibit with poisonous and non-poisonous snakes that resembled each other side by side with buttons you could push guessing which was a "good" snake and which was a "bad" snake. We took our kids lots of times there to educate them on the snakes.
Basically in the USA venomous snakes have a wedge shaped head like a backwards triangle. This includes all rattlesnakes, water moccasians/cottonmouths and copperheads. The only other one that is commonly found is the coral snake which resembles the king snake, a "good" snake. They are both banded in yellow, red and black. The old saying that our kids were taught is "red to black, venom lack; red to yellow, kill a fella' ". A red band adjacent to a black band is a king snake, while the red band adjacent to a yellow band is a coral snake.
That said, some tropical snakes released by idiots who had them as illegal pets can survive in the far south.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

The Fort Worth zoo herpetarium (snake house) had an exhibit with poisonous and non-poisonous snakes that resembled each other side by side with buttons you could push guessing which was a "good" snake and which was a "bad" snake. We took our kids lots of times there to educate them on the snakes.

Wow, that sounds like a really cool exhibit!!!! I would love to have something like that to take my children to. I have spent a lot of time teaching my kids how to recognize the difference, but at the same time, teaching them to NEVER touch any snake even if they KNOW it is safe, without an adult (a KNOWLEDGEABLE adult) present!

I know some seem offended by the term ignorant. I don't think anyone here is using the word ignorant in a derogatory fashion, but quite literally, and simply pointing out the need to educate yourself about the animals around you.​

 

[amazondoc]

(edited by staff)

 

[Ugly Cowboy]

(quote removed by staff)
It aint cruel to kill it if there's a reason. And this is a dang good reason.

And on another note, my coops as secure as I know how to get it, critters start to diggin like crazy when they smell chickens, dont ya know. Unless someone knows some way to prevent them from diggin... Always open to advice.

 

[Calebs Acre]

I have had serious fears of snakes my entire life. When I went to work for the animal shelter in Brooklyn, NY, I made a conscious effort to get over this fear. I started with a baby ball python. Literally, I peed my pants as I held it, I was that fearful. But, I made it. I kept trying to touch snakes and not give into the anxiety and fear and got a bit better, but not wonderful.

One afternoon, I had to go into a room to water the exotics and there was a secure cage with a rattle snake and another with a cobra. That cobra kept striking and striking and striking at the glass and scaring the hell out of me. I had nightmares for months. It set me back.

Well, my friend at the shelter introduced me to a python was was VERY friendly and after a few days, I actually was pretty comfortable with this giant snake. I wouldn't want to own it, but I didn't pee my pants, either.

I actually began transporting snakes to my vet, 30 miles from the shelter so they could be rehomed. But, one cold night, I had a 15 foot boa in a bag in the back of my Corvette. While driving 60mph on the Belt Parkway, I looked in my rearview mirror and it had gotten out of the bag and was arched up less than a foot from me. Well, let me say that I was screaming and trying to call people on the cell phone and it was the WORST 20 minutes of my life, making it to the vet.

From that point forward, I can NOT reconcile my intellect with my fear. My anxiety can manufacture the feeling of the snake wrapping around my ankle and leg and that's it.

I agree that each person has to make their own decision about what's right for them. I would scream and run and yell at my husband to kill the snake if it came anywhere near me. I understand that we have a garter snake in our garden and I just do not want to see it. I don't want it in my yard. Just typing this is making my skin crawl.

So, PLEASE, unless you have ever felt this way, don't judge others.

 

[Ugly Cowboy]

Quote:
(edited by staff)

Ok, first of all, I aint scared of snakes, my Texas buddy studies and collects rattlers for God's sake and I help him all the time! Second, I know most of the snakes around here, I aint seen 'em all yet, but then who has? Thirdly, I sure dont kill stuff for no dadgum reason! Im an avid hunter, but we eat the kill. Ya have to shoot cattle or horses on the ranch once in a while, but everything has a reason. Does that make me mean? I said it once and I'll say it again and agian, this is a topic on killin the critters after your animals. If ya dont like it, stay off it.

 

[Ugly Cowboy]

Quote:
Thank you! Now I myself aint afraid of snakes, or actually, anything else but bees. I am scared to death of bees, and they like me A LOT, chase me all over God's green earth. So I know what its like to be "phobic" and there aint nothin like it. So dont tease folks about stuff, cuz I can plum garantee ya that everybody on this earth is scared of somethin, and it aint fun to be teased, now is it?

 

[silkiechicken]

All right everyone. Let's be curteous to each other now and play nice. Incase anyone has forgotten, you can review the rules of the forum here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/misc.php?action=rules

And the rules of the Predators and Pest section here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5808

Thank you.

 

[Sparrow]

Quote:
I assure you I'm not judging anyone on their fears. That would be a horrid thing to do, and it would certainly not help me try to help others with their animal fears.

I have phobias, too. Ones that might seem really ridiculous to other pe ople. My inner ears don't work exactly like they should and I have quite frequent attacks of dizziness that make me really nervous about driving. I drive, but if at all possible I try to go places when I can ride/drive with someone else. Each attack scares me really badly, and I DREAD it happening when I'm driving by myself. I even have nightmares about being dizzy! I love to scuba dive, but I am terrified of being on a boat in choppy/rough water because of my stillness illness. I've had horrible , vivid nightmares about that which I can't shake for the longest time. I'm really phobic about experiencing these sensations, so I definitely know what it feels like to be deathly afraid of something.

The reason I'm "big" on the snake/other reptile subject is because I feel like in a lot of situations, people can be helped to feel even slightly more comfortable around these creatures. I have seen it happen so many times in person using my own animals as a medium, and it's a great feeling when I watch someone begin to see them in a different light. I know that not everyone will like reptiles, and that a lot of people will never care to try to see them a little differently than they did before. BUT, to me it's so great when it happens that I like to try and provide information whenever I can.

I just want to clear that up so no one now or in the future thinks I'm a PETA wacko. Far from it. I can't stand those people.