Prii's first Kill

This was waiting for me down at the mailbox. Now before you get upset with me, I have kids, grandkids and dogs. This guy would have gotten one of them. I believe it is an Eastern Diamondback. Interestingly it had no rattles. Maybe it had just shed? Yes I used the car to dispatch it. I think it is at least four feet in length.

That's a good start towards a nice pair of boots, or maybe you can use it to wrap your steering wheel.

A GOOD snake is a DEAD snake. A BETTER snake is a belt or a hatband!

Joe

Gut it; skin it; roll it in flour with pepper; fry it up ... just like chicken with tiny bones.

You may want to consider some rodent bait around the car this fall.

Bob Wilson

was gonna ask "whats for dinner?" but guess no need anymore

nice

BTW, are you going to do like the WW II fighter pilots, and paint a small snake on your front door? When you get 5, you can call yourself an ace!

Joe

So everybody hates snakes? Wow, no wonder we're up to our ears in mice.

Where are the snake rights people when you need them. Give me your address and I will give it to them so they can come protest. :lol:

A friends kid did a school science project by putting a rubber snake in the middle of the road and observing people's reactions.
A surprising number of people never even saw it, or at least the assumption was that the people that ran over it with no reaction never saw it. Of the people that saw it, most went of the way to run over it, usually stopping and backing up to get another shot at it. I think it's safe to say most people don't like snakes

Normally, I would never kill a snake, not even a poisonous one, but this one had taken residence up near my mailbox and they are territorial and as I said I have kids and grandkids

I guess it all depends on where you live and how your culture interacts with snakes.

When I lived in the California Sierras I had an interesting conversation once with my then-girlfriend's grandfather. After I described a close encounter I had with a rattler over the weekend, he told me it was OK to let it go or to kill it -- depending on whether anyone was or would be at risk. BUT, he cautioned me, emphatically, if I were to kill it, he would have my hide if I didn't cut the head off of it and bury the head. He said the bees would pick up the venum and cause problems by spreading it.

I wasn't any surer then than today about how to take that warning. But I certainly have remembered it!!

:rip: Poor snake. I sympathize with the OP's motivations - kids and all, I get it - but I hate to see anyone killed... ahem... in cold blood Poor fella was just trying to make a living for his slithery family. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, I guess.

That was slimy of you

If it was near your mailbox you didn't need to kill it. The obvious solution was to box it up and mail it to bestmapman.

Tom

That's an incredible slice of Americana! I, too, have memories of my mom's dad's tales.

To the OP: That may not have been a rattler - they do not lose their rattles when they shed. In fact, with each shed they add another rattle. The babies are born without rattles, but have a little nubbin on the end of the tail. With the first shed comes the first rattle. I grew up around Timber Rattlers...

A close-up of the shape of the head would make identification easier. Rattlers, like all pit vipers have a very distinctive arrow-head, or triangular-shaped head. However, your snake does have the "fat-in-the-middle" shape of a rattler...

Yes, they are territorial, and if that was a mommy you DO NOT want a nest of babies - they are much crazier than the adults (I have found adult rattlers to be fairly shy, unless they are shedding, which renders them almost blind and makes them very testy). The babies attack anything and everything as a way to survive into adulthood.

It was definitely a rattler, You can tell the tail has a nubbin had one or two rattles, but usually a snake this large has several. I'm very familiar with pit vipers and the heat sensitive pits on the head. Honestly it's the Cottonmouth's that I dislike most. Rattle snakes will usually leave you alone and warn you of their presence. Usually it's only a fool or a kid that get's bitten by a rattle snake. Most snake bites are to the hand because usually some fool is trying to catch the snake that bit them. In the woods I leave them alone

All I can say is, "ewwwww." The end that's missing the skin is really gross!!

Ha, that's what I always say about bugs, rats, snakes and other critters no one likes. "Hey, he's just trying to make a living."

I need a new case for my iPhone. I like the pattern on that snake.

Think we can make a connection? LOL!

we had snakes around when i lived in Virginia, had 3 acres out in the middle of the woods outside Stafford. when a snake got big enough to notice, we got rid of them. sometimes we would catch them and carry them out in the woods and ditch em. but that was for rat snakes, blacks and garters.

moccasins and copperheads our parents would not let us get near em and they were as good as dead as soon as they became aware of them

as far as rats go, werent many of them around, our cat brought home at least 3-4 a week all summer long