Unwelcome shop visitor

jamiemackie said:
Wow, makes me realise how much of a wimp I am living in England. The scariest thing id find in my garden would be a large garden spider.

Jamie
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If it wasn't for the kids, I think I would take the snakes over spiders. I hate spiders. I actually have had some tarantulas in my yard over the last couple of weeks.

I think I may try some of the snake repelling ideas some of you have given me. The high nitrogen fertilizer sounds like an easy one to try. However, I think the roosters would make me crazy. I have also read that geese, guinea fowl, and pot bellied pigs work for snakes too.

-Mike
 
The nitrogen remedy should work til it rains :-)
The roosters can be substitued with hens. I just like watchin' the roosters fight:-)
All the other critters will work also. Guy I know lives in copperhead central and keeps a goat in his fenced in yard but any of them critters will kill snakes
 
I hate spiders too. somehow when snakes move its kinda cool (I still wonder how on earth they climb trees) but spiders are just nasty
 
Right now I've got a family of white mice started in the shop, and they're perfectly
welcome compared to serpents where they don't belong, not that we have any
poisonous snakes but any snakes in the shop is not allowable. Wish I knew where
the white mice came from- I caught one and they are albino (pink eyes) if they get
to be a problem good ol victor and peanut butter.
Ken.
 
My wife takes the used cat litter and spreads it around the perimeter of the yard, especially across the driveways, to keep out the snakes. Seems to work.
 
I am just getting over a spider bite on my left foot.Boy, did that thing itch! [for 2 months]
There are quite a few timber rattlers around here I keep a lookout for the ones over 5 ft. I know of a man that will pay $1000 per snake,alive and unharmed. Now, try to measure it.
 
Wow! Frost bite still seems so much more appealing than all of these critters. Throw another log on the fire honey.
 
I freak out when a wasp comes in my garage when I'm grinding. Keeping a .22 shot pistol around for reptilian retirement, I agree with Paul.
 
they say smaller bay rattlers are more poisonis than the adults. they supposed to have more concentrated venom.--marekz
 

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i ran into a baby this weekend hiking with my dog and it about scared the s**it out of me. it was pretty hot this weekend and honestly didnt expect to see rattlers. but there out there in the high desert. that little guy is about 9 in. long and silent as hell. there pretty creatures but the little ones scare the hell out of me
 
I have been very close to both adult and baby rattlers and never even been struck at. It is a bad feeling to look down and see a rattler well within striking distance. I am pretty confident that as long as it isn't particularly pissed for some reason, you pretty much have to step on one to get bitten.

I have gone three whole days without a rattler in my shop, so I guess that is an improvement. Still haven't closed up that hole though...I should do that.

-Mike
 
I tell hundreds of thousands of school children, outdoors sportsmen, public utility employees, miltary personnel, every year that there is no reason to ever kill a venomous snake in the field. You can't kill it unless you can see it. And if you can see it, it can't hurt you. My job is venomous snake research and I've worked with them all (figuratively) for nearly fifty years. Contrary to popular assumption, rattlesnakes do not attack human beings. But they can sometimes be defensive when threatened. Leave them alone and your chances of being bitten in a lifetime drop to virtually zero. Just common sense.

Don't think I'm a hard-headed snake-hugger. Around the house where there are children and pets, he has to go. In the absence of a professional who can move the snake, it should be dispatched in a safe, humane and responsible manner. If the law and circumstances allow, a shotgun is best. Otherwise, law enforcement can do it. I don't want a rattlesnake residing free in my knife shop either, so I would simply hook it into a trash can and release it away from the immediate vicinity. But I cannot and do not expect other people to do the same. It's a potenially dangerous animal and under some circumstances, they have to be killed.

I don't lose a wink of sleep over a snake being killed close to the house. Killing for the sake of killing is a different matter. Approximately 90% of all snakebites in the U.S. are inflicted during (or immediately following) the deliberate killing of a venomous snake. Those are pretty high odds. Most take place on adult men, on the thumb and first finger. Women rarely get bit. They yell, "Honey, come kill this snake!" LOL

North American pitvipers are reticent to respond with a defensive bite, even when stepped upon, which is why most bites are on the fingers. Killing, handling, removing rattles, etc., are the most common scenarios resulting in a bite.

So that's my two-cents-plus on the subject. Hope no more show up in the shop so that you can concentrate on the real task at hand; making great knives!:)

Cheers,

Terry

Terry L. Vandeventer
ABS MS
 
Why not get a pet mongoose? They are as easy to keep as rabbits, they are cheap (I assume) and they are the mortal enemies of snakes.

Jamie
 
If you have alot of those around likely you also have rodents by the hoardes. Get rid of the rodents and the snakes will leave.
 
there was a 68 year old fella out with his son and grandson. While the son was out in the woods somewhere, granpa and grandson went up a deer stand and upon coming down granpa got pit by a rattler. the son and grandson put him up on the 4 wheeler , to get him to the road,but granpa didnt make it. They say the eastern rattlers arent as deadly as the western ones are.They say he died possibly because he had hypertension-high blood pressure and that the venom just overloaded his system.I was just thinking, man they or he must of went right by it going up the tree to the stand. I would have thought the rattles would have been audible enough at such a close range.It is unfortunate. I try not to kill anything if i dont have to and as tvandeventer said if there a tthreat to my family then i need to act. The church peoples who dance with those snakes-----why dont they get bit more often?? Maybe there faith takes away their fear and the snakes could sense it and not feel a need to strike- anyway--thanks=-marekz
 
Most rattlesnakes stay perfectly still and quiet when approached. Their protective coloration renders them invisible to enemies. It is counterproductive forto make a sound (rattling) or worse, striking at a much larger predetor who is unaware of the snake's presence. A snake that bites a person usually becomes a dead snake! So they stay still and quiet.

I've examined over 2000 rattlesnakes in the wild and only 15 have ever rattled at me before I saw them. Less than that have ever struck at me. Granted, I treat thgem a little better than some people. They are by definition retiring, shy animals but equiped with toxic venom. Contrary to popular belief, babies are not deadlier than adults. There is no learning curve that babies experience that teaches them how to use their venom. Given the choice, get bit by a baby rattlesnake rather than an adult. :D It's about the amount of venom. Adults produce more.

Rattlesnakes are remarkable creatures. They are the most highly evolved of all reptiles. Purely American. They were on the first American flag, "Don't Tread On Me." Native Americans revered them. Ben Franklin wanted the rattlesnake to be our national symbol rather the Bald Eagle which he considered to be a bird of low character. Snake venom is used to make antivenin in case you get bit. It's also used to treat muscular distrophy, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, anti-rejection drugs, etc. We can save hemophiliacs from bleeding to death and on the opposite end, we can dissolve blood clots. It's used to treat stroke victims and as a pain killer. And in the Southern Copperhead, the venom is used to treat breast cancer! And least of all, rattlesnakes are beautiful. While I do not use it personally, I admit that their skins make beautiful knife sheaths....:(

Left alone, they are an important component of the environment and a vivid part of our heretage and history. Challenged, they can take your life. Around the house with children & pets, they are unwelcome and have to go by whatever means. Out in nature they can be observed or even photographed safely at a short distance. There, they should be respected and left alone. You'll be a happier and healthier conservationist and sportsman.

Cheers,

Terry


Terry L. Vandeventer
ABS MS
 
That sucks when they get inside:eek: I had to take care of one awhile back that was a few feet from Dad's shop in Mom's garden, I called pest control they wanted nothing to do with it so out came the .410 we just can not take the risk with children and pets and a nursery school 50 yards from the house...inside the fence they are fair game, outside the fence they are fair game to the King snakes that we are lucky to have around...

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Thanks for chiming in Terry... there is DEFINITELY no one around here better to educate on this subject than you!!! :) :cool:

I won't lie... I'm glad we don't have to worry about them here in western WA. It's always interesting, as soon as you get to the eastern side of our state, there are signs at places like rest areas, "Watch out for rattlesnakes."
 
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Terry,
Very interesting info, and an interesting line of work. If I had tried to hook it into a trash can, I would probably have ended up being one of those guys that the story starts, "There was this idiot who used to make knives...." I will leave the handling to the experts, and as you said, around the kids and dog do what needs to be done. I am still looking forward to winter when I don't have to constantly scan the ground ahead of the kids.

-Mike
 
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