Absolutely DEATHLY afraid of SNAKES!!!

[Davie]

As in prior posts about SNAKES you all know I'm deathly afraid of snakes

About 3 weeks ago I was out getting registration photos of some of my horses and the teenager that helps me do chores had come over and was going to feed for me while my girlfrind and I finished up with the horses.

The next thing I hear was a screech and the young man coming out of the barn like it had been set on fire--I looked at my girlfriend and said SNAKE--he is more afraid of them that I am. He went and got his friend and they managed to scare it off--NOT KILL IT!!!! My girlfriend went into the barn to check it out and said it was about 4 ft long and 2" around--I was not about to go check it out #1 I was holding a stallion and #2 I'm DEATHLY afraid of them!!!

Sighting #2 was last week when Brayden called and said he was checking the little bantam hen that was sitting on a nest up in the hay and when he lifted the tarp to check on her the snake was about a foot and a half from his foot--he said he cleared the barn gate with ease and I could tell he was still in panic mode as he was breathing hard.

Well sighting #3 was last night. Was about to get the hay and lifted up the tarp -- nothing but then I thought I saw something sure enough lifted the tarp again and there was a snake up on the top fo the stall wall--it was that big boy again--made about a dozen phone calls and finally got ahold of a friend whose better half is not afraid of them so we waited.

When Clint and Vickie got there of course the snake had moved but he moved a bale of hay and found it down between the next row and the wall.

Well now the STORY CONTINUES------

Clint moved a couple of bales along with the little hen's nest and finally located the snake again after he had taked one jab at him with the shovel--He said well you have more than one--MORE THAN ONE!!!!!!!!

Long story short by the time he had moved 6-8 bales so he could get a good look at what was down there--he started killing THEM----NOT ONE, NOT TWO, NOT THREE, BUT 4!!!!! All were over 5 feet in length and 2" around. They were all non poisonious (thank GOD in 33 years here have never had one that was poisionious)--he killed 3 hog and 1 king--the king was over 6 feet as Clint is 6 feet tall. Clint could even tell if they were male or female--had 3 femals and a male--he said he never like to leave them in barns so he makes sure to find them, kill them and dispose of them.

When he had killed the 4 we watched all the chickens and guineas circle around them and one red hen jump on one of the snakes took a quick peck and jump back. Clint took and threw them over the fence. YUCK, EECK!!!!

We stood around talking for a little while and as they were getting in the trucks to leave I decided to go back into the barn to put the little hen back on her nest and I looked before I went in and there was ANOTHER ONE--hollared at Clint and he had just told Vickie "I think I got them all but not sure"--he said "told you". Came back and mortally wounded the fifth but as he was bring him out of the barn to finish him off he fell off the shovel and got lost behind the feed barrels. Clint tore that place apart looking for him but we never found it but he said it would not live--I sure hope not.

What an evening. Had I known that many were in there and they were as large as they were my poor horses would have starved to death as you could not have gotten me in there on a BET!!!!!

If I see them outside and I have room to get away from them I can kill them but when in a confined place even though the barn has a 15" aisleway I panic.

Now it will take me several days to not be on HIGH ALERT and jump at every little thing or should I say large thing I see.

Did I say I'M DEATHLY AFRAID OF SNAKES!!!!!!!

That was more than this soon to be 57 year old lady wanted to encounter on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Someone told me to just leave them alone--they kill mice -- not on your life--the only good snake is a DEAD SNAKE--I can handle the mice and besides that is why I have barn cats that are great mousers. Guess I'll have to make that trip to Dollar General I've been putting off and stock up on Moth Balls--I understand snakes don't like the smell and will leave the area.

Tired this morning as I did not sleep well--kept seeing those dead snakes all night.

 

[bonloubri]

Wow...that is a bunch. I know everyone says not to kill king snakes or any others that are not poisonous but I don't like them in the barn. We try to keep the barn clear of mice (with the help of Nicki & Miss Kitty) and keep feed sealed up as to not attract snakes. So far so good and hope it stays that way.

 

[bevann]

Wow...that is a bunch. I know everyone says not to kill king snakes or any others that are not poisonous but I don't like them in the barn. We try to keep the barn clear of mice (with the help of Nicki & Miss Kitty) and keep feed sealed up as to not attract snakes. So far so good and hope it stays that way.

I agree about snakes.I am constantly told "They won't hurt you" My theory is that if I see one and it makes my heart stop and/or I mess my pants-that hurts me.Get them off my property.I have a cat for mice-I don't really like cats, but he is more tolerable than a snake.

 

[AshleyNicole]

I can't stand them either….last week I saw one in the back of the barn, it was a copperhead so I shut the barn door to make sure the horses wouldn't get in. Later that day my mare with a foal by her side had a snake bite on her muzzle. She's fine now and I found her pretty far from the snake but I feel bad…maybe I should have tried to kill it. I am so terrified of them though that I'm sure I would have gotten bitten. 5 snakes though!!!! I doubt I'd ever go back in the barn again. I'm still on high alert and she was bitten last weekend….every stick could be a snake

 

[Bess Kelly]

Add me to that list of "I HATE SNAKES" people.

Pretty much I've been lucky in how my property lies relative to woods, water, etc. So my barn is not the preferred location BUT there has been one found there...young, small, black snake....who did not live long after I knocked it off the board and attacked!

There was a king snake at the edge of the property one day who turned and went the other way -- been told that they will actually kill a poisonous one. Maybe but, I sure ain't waitin' to see!

Darn FIVE ??????? Wonder if they actually hatched there and have been there all along? You know, they like eggs......

At my barn they'd starve, I have two of the BEST mousers in town and my minpin who mouses, too.

FIVE??? I'd almost burn the barn

 

[Katiean]

There aren't even enough mice for my cats that the cats are catching baby bunnies and baby birds. One of my cats even took down a quail. I have been thinking about getting my dog rattle snake trained. I would hate for her to get bit. We had a dog when I was a kid that was a collie/coyote that got bit by a rattle snake and after he healed not even a lizard got near the house.

 

[Mellis815]

So here is a funny story, regarding snakes...which I am also not a huge fan of (I run if they are the size of a pencil, but I won't let my husband kill them)

When I was younger I had a sleep over and for some reason I was having a dream about snakes...so I am a sleep "talker" and who knows what I say, but apparently the story goes like this, (my friends name is Melissa). Me: "there is a snake in my bed", Melissa: "what"? Me: "there is a snake in my bed" and apparently at this point I threw my blankets off,flew out of bed, cleared my bedroom floor (Melissa said I flew) and by the time she made it to the light, I was standing on top of my dresser, and it was a stand up one with 6 drawers...!!

To this day, she still can bust up laughing at me....oh it was a good night! LOL!

 

[Margo_C-T]

I do not fear snakes in general, but do have a VERY healthy respect for anything poisonous(around here, that's rattlesnakes, pretty much)-and if I encounter one, I do my best to NOT leave them alive. A good long-handled shovel is a good 'snake dispatcher', because you can stay at a safer distance while being able to chop off its head(just make the first blow count!)

I have 'trained' myself to handle small wild snakes; there is a variety of black-headed, brown-bodied garden snake that I find here every now and then, and when I am able, I will handle one, just for the experience of it. They are NOT 'slimy', but cool and satiny...but it IS amazing how strong a snake can be, even a small one!

I most often find king(or bull)snakes around my premises. I have found them inside my barn a few times-once one was clear up near the ceiling(of my metal Butler barn, w/metal 'rafters'...beats me how it 'climbed' up there; it was NOT over against a wall...but it was feasting on some baby swallows, right out of their nest! That made me mad, and I got the stepladder and a hoe, climbed up and knocked the stuffing out of the snake! He dropped one little swallow, fell to the floor; I got off that ladder FAST and chopped off his head w/ the hoe! Another time I came in to find one up in on the rafters; knocked it off onto the haystack w/ a long piece of pvc(first thing I could grab!), where it slid off and disappeared under the metal pallets my hay sits on. I was bummed, because I really DON'T want to be surprised by a snake IN the barn...but as luck would have it, that very night, when I went out to feed late hay, I spotted it, and was able to grab it by the tail before it could slither back under the pallets! I used a broom handle to keep its head away from me while I carried it by the tail OUT the door and well away from the barn to turn it loose.

Just another day in rural America!!

Margo

 

[Marty]

Dear god Margo! ewwwwwwwww boy have you got guts!Snakes guts that is!!!!!!

You are so freaking me out.

Dan killed a copperhead yestarday way out front crossing the road heading to my place! Davie I am probably worse than you about my fear of snakes.........and frogs.

Davie, You've got a nest and an infestation. The very best thing you can do is get your helper to give your place a complete overhaul if its needed. When we bought this place, it was bascially a junk yard and very snake infested. Snakes were hiding in piles of junk all over the place. Soon as we cleared it out, the snakes left. If you have any stuff laying around, like a wood pile, things like that where they like to hide, now is the time for that overhaul. Mow, mow and mow and mow some more and keep on mowing the whole place everywhere. Get your entire place down to the nubs and keep it mowed down. This helps a lot. Then, do a major barn clean out if needed. If you have any feed bags laying around, get rid of them, they seem to always love feed bags, or maybe its the paper, not sure, but I've found a lot of snakes in empty feed bags in the past so they go right out to the trash fast as I can empty them out in the cans. Last but not least, get some cats! I have a hay shed and I used to get snakes hiding in there. Now I feed the cats in there and I haven't had a snake in my hay or anywhere here for a long time. Feed the cats where the hay is. Good luck Sister!

 

[AppyLover2]

Darn it. I've still gotta go feed this morning. Knew I shouldn't have read this thread.

 

[Margo_C-T]

Marty's right; it will help a BUNCH to keep things as cleared off/out as you can(and go around and fill any old gopher or other open holes you see, as snakes will take over those to 'hang out' in. I had a BIG bullsnake a couple of years ago around the place; saw it occasionally, and would 'herd' it away from the buildings w/ a long stick(if it hadn't nearly given me heart-failure by appearing underfoot...I nearly stepped on its tail on day, walking past my horse trailer! Because I felt it was a help in keeping the local outside'rodentia' population in check,I was one day saddened to find it dead, STUCK halfway into a previously unknown(to me)hole in a metal culvert that is 'hidden' under one of my driveway turn-ins...I never even knew the culvert was there; it was(inappropriately) completely buried, so not doing its 'job'.

I have had a pony, a mini, and a Rottie rattlesnake-bit in the years we've lived here. The dog was bitten in the open pasture across the road(before I built a large fenced yard for my big dogs);the little horses were both bitten on the extreme western edge of my property-one in fact, in the western neighbor's pasture, where by permission, we'd been allowed to graze her...so I always felt the snakes were 'nesting' somewhere on their property. In each case, the bite happened in the late fall...time when the snakes are about to go into their inactive time, and IMO, when they are the most 'cranky', it would seem...and the time to be most careful in watching out for them--the poisonous ones, at least!

Margo

 

[Davie]

Hi Marty

I never leave feed sacks--they get dump, back into the back of the truck and taken to the trash can. I usually only see one maybe 2 a year and they are small and I kill them. Last year only saw one out in the pasture and he was headed off the property so let him go.

I have chickens but am very very careful about picking up all the eggs daily as I know snakes love to eat them. I also have guniea (sp) hens and they I've been told help keep snakes away.

I also hear that you can either put Sulfer out or Moth Balls as they don't like the smell. I did use Moth Balls years ago and never saw one in the barn.

Keep the barn fairly clean but do need to move all the hay out before this years hay comes in and repair the plywood floor that sits up on pallets to keep the hay off the ground.

This is the fist time I've every had that many and that big. I know right now we are seeing a lot of dead snakes on the roads and they are very large--have not seen so many large ones dead on the road. I even ran over one the other day that was long enough I hit it with both front tires.

I do keep the yard around the house mowed very short and the area around the barn is a dry lot.

Will tell you it was very hard to go into the barn last night and feed that is for sure. I have to unload feed tonight and go pick up a couple of yearling shetland for a gelding party that we are having tomorrow and I will have to put one of these boys in the barn next to where we found the snakes.

Davie

 

[Shortpig]

I am terrified of snakes. I've always had nightmares about snakes and also can't sleep with my arms over the edge of the bed. I almost stepped on a water moccasin when I was a kid. My brother snatched me up and threw me just in time. We lived in New York then and we also had a close encounter with a large snapping turtle. So now I live in NW Oregon where it rains and rains and rains. No poisonous snakes in this area. I will run screaming even if I see a garter snake can't handle them. So I can't imagine living where you have snakes that large. My horses would be feeding themselves at this point.

I would be terrified to think of one of my furry kids being bitten by a poisonous snake. This is why I don't cross the mountains to where they live.

I wish you the best in getting rid of them from your area.

Marie

 

[wildoak]

Sounds like a bad movie LOL....snakes just keep coming! Both of our Jack Russells have been rattlesnake bit, one of them twice, but they are such snakers they go after them. The older JR is gone now, but she was fearless. FYI, there is a rattlesnake vaccine for dogs now - last time Dexter was bitten he'd had the shot and swelling etc wasn't nearly as bad. He was back to looking pretty normal within just a couple of days, so I'd say it's a worthwhile investment for your dogs if you live in a snakey area, not that expensive and might well save a life.

We had a rash of them last summer when it was so dry here - found one on the carport, right outside my kitchen door under the car!!! That's the one that got both dogs. And I think three young rattlers in and around the barn. Scared me the most finding young ones, probably meant mom was slithering nearby.

My barn is well lit, but I don't go out there at night now without a flashlight to get there.

The old timers around here said this used to be pretty rattlesnake infested - there is enough people growth in the area to have driven them back, but I know they aren't all gone LOL.

Jan

 

[Davie]

Was talking with Jan (MulitHitch) and she was readying a self defense article about using Wasp Spray as a self protection spray instead of Mace or Pepper Spray. The article says if sprayed in the face of an intruder it will temporally blind them until they can get to a hospital--but it will give you time to get away since it will spray up to 20 feet away.

It also goes on to say that when sprayed in the face of snakes or mice it will kill them. Guess what will be my first weapon of choice will be out in the barn now--Several can's of Wasp Spray. 20 feet away is better than a shovel length. I have really good aim with Wasp Spray.

 

[Dontworrybeappy]

Ok Davie, you're officially a jinx now... yesterday after I had read your thread I was down cleaning up the barn and as I was raking, apparently I raked up a gopher snake! He (or she) responded by wrapping itself around the plastic tines and starting up the rake - that's when I first saw it!

I squeaked and stuck that rake way out in front of me and walked him into the bushes away from the barn aisle. I'm not afraid to handle tame snakes, but I'm not going to try and pick up an angry wild one!

I had just said to a local friend that I hadn't seen any of our gopher snakes this year - but I guess it's the season now!